EV Charging Article in E&T Lack of Joined Up Thinking

Thanks for the heads up - very interesting article. He didn't even mention heat pumps, another load to add to the local LV network. The whole smartmeter thing has been a costly disaster so far and as pointed out, useless to the DNO. The aims are good but implementation has been very poor. I thought the units would be able to provide the house with a price for the electric in real time and you could choose what you were prepared to pay e.g. for your car pay anything up to 50% charge, pay up to ££ for rest of charge, pay lowest price possible for charge etc. This could be pre-programmed into the car or the "charger" on the wall (there is an app for that). Presumably other smart devices could be treated accordingly e.g. freezer, heat pump etc.

I can and do meter my electric (not got a company smartmeter) but on it's own it doesn't make one jot of difference to how much power I use. I can schedule a charge period in advance, but have no way of varying the tarrif yet. Hopefully version 3 of these devices will be a bit more advanced, and useful.

I don't know the answer to your question about fuse sizes, but 300A seems more likely based on the size of cables you can see down the average trench (not big).

Unbalance is also an issue with earthing of course, a whole other topic!

Thanks for the heads up - very interesting article. He didn't even mention heat pumps, another load to add to the local LV network. The whole smartmeter thing has been a costly disaster so far and as pointed out, useless to the DNO. The aims are good but implementation has been very poor. I thought the units would be able to provide the house with a price for the electric in real time and you could choose what you were prepared to pay e.g. for your car pay anything up to 50% charge, pay up to ££ for rest of charge, pay lowest price possible for charge etc. This could be pre-programmed into the car or the "charger" on the wall (there is an app for that). Presumably other smart devices could be treated accordingly e.g. freezer, heat pump etc.

I can and do meter my electric (not got a company smartmeter) but on it's own it doesn't make one jot of difference to how much power I use. I can schedule a charge period in advance, but have no way of varying the tarrif yet. Hopefully version 3 of these devices will be a bit more advanced, and useful.

I don't know the answer to your question about fuse sizes, but 300A seems more likely based on the size of cables you can see down the average trench (not big).

Unbalance is also an issue with earthing of course, a whole other topic!