The benefits of installing a Home EV Charger Cheshire
Posted on 18th September 2022 at 22:53
There’s a new phrase that’s entered our vocabulary since the arrival of electric cars (EVs) … it’s called ‘range anxiety’.
While people understand the advantages of such vehicles, including savings on running costs – fuel, tax, congestion charges and of course, the environmental benefits to the planet - there can be concerns about the availability of charging points, or even running out of juice completely and getting stuck somewhere.
In truth, if you do run out of power in an EV, it’s not for lack of warning as vehicles have a charge percentage/remaining mileage display, giving just as much information as a conventional fuel gauge. But if you run low and know you won’t have enough power to complete your journey, you will need to find an appropriate charging point …and once you do, the time involved can vary from 30 minutes to up to half a day depending on how big your battery and how fast the charging facility is. You may also be in a queue for the charger before you even start to ‘fill up’!
Home charging: peace of mind
Much of this uncertainty can be avoided if you have a specially designed charging point installed at home. The convenience of the location means you can charge your car at any time you’re not using it, as well as taking advantage of any special electricity tariffs you’ve signed up for. Basically, you will just pay your normal electricity unit price rather than generally higher – and widely differing – public charge point prices.
The sunshine bonus
Of course, if you have solar panels at your property, the benefits could be even greater: when the sun shines, you can be charging your car for free. And there’s been no shortage of sunshine in 2022! There’s an additional plus if your solar energy system includes a battery, as that could help offset any overnight/hours of darkness charging too.
Can I use an ordinary domestic electric socket to charge my EV?
Whether they have solar power or not, first time electric car drivers often start by topping up their vehicle’s charge from a socket they already have in their garage or driveway – but this can be a lengthy business and is not as safe as a purposely designed home charging point.
The ideal solution
The system we offer at Titan Electrical is a custom-made residential charger installation which can not only power up most electric cars in around six to nine hours depending on the vehicle range, but also has a number of built-in safety features.
For example, it can be dangerous to connect your car directly to the grid: when a battery becomes too charged and conducts electricity through its leads for long periods (like ten hours), the leads become very hot, which could cause damage to the car itself, or be a fire hazard. This simply does not happen with one of our installations as they have a specific ‘EV’ setting to regulate this.
Are there any grants available for a home charging station?
And there’s more good news – there could be financial help available when you buy a dedicated home charging station. It comes from the Government which is offering grants of up to 75% (up to £350 per grant) towards the cost of installing certain electric vehicle smart charge points at domestic properties across the UK. Check if it applies to you at : Grant schemes for electric vehicle charging infrastructure - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Titan Electrical uses only trained and certified engineers for all its installations - to find out more about its home EV charger service, click HERE
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