My Better Third recently bought an electric car (Renault Zoe). Our intention is to get a fast-charger installed, but we currently [sic] can't find anyone who will quote for it so she is dependant on the "slow" or "travel" charger which runs from a 3-pin plug. When we got it home the instructions were quite explicit about the special requirements for an EV charging socket even for the "travel" charger. The main things were the need to be connected directly to a dedicated 32A breaker in the consumer unit via at least 2.5mm solid wiring via a dedicated 30mA type A RCD and additional C20 breaker physically close to the socket.
So I duly installed a new breaker in the CU, ran the wiring through to the garage (using 4mm cable because it's what I had to hand) to an RCD & C20 breaker and from there through the wall of the garage to a weatherproof mains socket on the outside wall of the garage. The job was overseen and signed off by a neighbour who is (amongst other things) part-P certified. It took me a day to do, but I have no problem doing the job properly for this sort of thing.
I happened across a set of videos on owning and operating EVs under the banner "The Fully Charged Show" which seems to use an organisation called "Rightcharge.co,uk" as their technical advisor. In these videos we are shown the new owner of an EV plugging the same charger (it's made by panasonic) into an ordinary mains socket in the kitchen (running the cable out through an open kitchen window!). So I'm moved to ask whether either:
(a) I've just wasted a day of my time and the coffee and buns supplied to my supervisor doing something that was completely un-necessary, or;
(b) There is an organisation promoting unsafe (legal?) practices to the EV-buying public.
I emailed rightcharge asking a couple of questions but haven't received a reply, so I thought I'd ask the professionals.
Regards,
Pete
