C&G Indicates lack of qualifications for Electricians and EV charger installs

Does anyone have to any electrical qualifications at all to register with OZEV as  an approved installer?

Well the article does ask if the electrician is capable to install, AND REPAIR them. 

The repair bit, I'm sure is where most electricians (myself included) would have to say no; I can certainly install them...........but which bit in the box might be faulty when its not working - not a clue.

Can I point out that the "leaked," audit report that the author pf the article managed to come by is freely available on the internet. 

www.permanex-power.net/s/OZEV-Domestic-Chargepoint-Audit-2021.pdfwww.google.com/url

Andy

Many thanks for posting the link.

So a real achievement with the improvement over the previous audit with CPS registered contractors now achieving full compliance with BS 7671 on 17.3%  on their brand new installations? Looking at this from the other direction 82.7% of brand new EV installations by registered contractors do not comply with BS 7671.

Looking back there was actually a link in the article referred to.

Describing it as “leaked” was an attempt to sensationalize the story.  

I spoke to an electrician last week who was audited, he was pulled up for running the circuit SWA cable and a shielded data cable through the same holes in floor joists.

Another I spoke to was pulled up for not using fire rated cleats on a SWA run a few inches above floor level in a garage below shelving.

Both thought their work was okay.

There’s an advertisement running on Facebook, as shown below.

As a local electrician I am biting my tongue as I can tell a different version of the story, but it’s probably a bit too controversial to tell.

Taking two of the statements from the article together:

• Almost all understand the major risks associated with working on the devices
• Yet only three in ten have undertaken specific training to do so

it might seem that the industry has done pretty well at educating itself without the need for special training courses - perhaps section 722 and the CoP have done their job nicely.

Most of the reported failures seem to be more BS 7671 requirements (e.g. Data/LV separation or fire rated cable support) rather than anything truly EV specific.

  - Andy.

Both EV and PV are the domains of principally large companies doing cheap lash up installs as quickly as possible whilst charging the highest prices possible. When you can buy a regulatory installation guide, then why bother with dilutee tradesfolk (same as smart meter installers) who lash it in as quickly as possible, but hold the golden ticket of OLEV registration/approval, when your usual electrician can do the job properly and within regulatory requirements, yet can't be arsed with the associated costs and bureaucracy of OLEV registration?

I go nowhere near either, but leave it to the preserve of the most extreme badgers out there, and the useful idiots who part with large amounts of cash in the belief that they are salving their consciences because they are 'doing their bit for the planet'.

A bit of a ramble.

The cost of a self employed qualified electrician setting up to do EVSE installations is over two thousand pounds, in fact it’s probably nearer three thousand if you add everything up for doing it as it should be done.

However with over half of qualified electricians no longer being able to do the C&G EVSE course there’s only two or less out of ten electricians who are likely do the new course as three in ten already have a C&G EVSE qualification, so “doing it as it should be done “ is unlikely to happen going forward for the majority of electricians; and that’s assuming the electricians that do are prepared to make the financial outlay.

The European Social Fund Urban Regeneration-Redundant Buildings Fund paid for my C&G Photovoltaic Installation and Maintenance training, worth about £1200 as it included the additional C&G qualification for giving advice on renewable energy technology. Then they paid for other related training including Working at Heights and giving customers advice on reducing their heating and electric bills, so all in all over £1500 worth of training.

Of course EU funding is no longer available, so for self employed electricians training is an expense they have to pay for themselves.

So given the pper-qualification requirements stopping many self employed electricians now having access to C&G EVSE training and the cost, how many are likely to do it?

On the other hand some EVSE installation companies are just giving their installers “in-house” training certificates as an alternative to recognised formal training.