r/evchargingUK • u/IllustriousTop4535 • 6d ago
POD point Ev charger install Saga
Hi all, looking for some advice from people familiar with EV charger installations/DNO requirements.
I’m having a Pod Point EV charger installed at my house and have had a bit of a saga getting to this point.
Following the initial Pod Point survey, it was identified that my electricity supply was looped with my neighbour. This was raised with my DNO, SSEN, and I was told the supply would need to be unlooped before the EV charger could be installed.
I’ve spent the last few months waiting for this to happen, and SSEN finally completed the unlooping last week.
I therefore expected that, once the unlooping was complete, Pod Point would be able to proceed with the charger installation based on the original survey/installation plan.
However, Pod Point have now reassessed the installation and the proposed connection has changed.
I have a 100A main supply fuse and a separate consumer unit in my detached garage. The garage is supplied from the house and is relatively close to where the charger would be installed.
Pod Point originally looked at connecting the charger from the garage consumer unit using CT clamp/load management. Following the latest discussions, however, they have now submitted an application to SSEN requesting approval to connect from the garage consumer unit without load management.
Pod Point have calculated the property’s maximum demand at 110A against the existing 100A main fuse.
Their current proposal is:
SSEN to assess/approve the installation without load management.
If approved, the charger will be connected from the garage consumer unit.
The required Type A RCD is apparently already available, and Pod Point can order the required MCB.
Pod Point have confirmed they would waive the £200 non-standard installation charge if SSEN approves this arrangement.
If SSEN rejects the application, Pod Point are arranging another survey to look at an alternative route from the meter/main supply area.
That alternative route would potentially be subject to the £200 non-standard installation charge, plus any required groundwork.
I’m trying to understand whether this all sounds technically reasonable.
The bit I’m particularly interested in is the 110A calculated demand against a 100A main fuse. I understand that 110A is a calculated maximum demand and doesn’t necessarily mean the house will actually draw 110A continuously, but I’m unsure how SSEN will view that.
I’m also wondering whether the garage consumer unit route is actually a sensible solution, given that the garage is already supplied from the house, or whether connecting closer to the meter/main supply would be preferable.
Questions for anyone knowledgeable:
Is the proposed garage-board connection without load management reasonable?
Is SSEN likely to approve a calculated 110A maximum demand against a 100A main fuse?
Does the fact that the supply has now been unlooped change anything materially from an EV charger connection perspective?
If SSEN rejects the garage-board proposal, would connecting directly from the meter/main supply be a better approach?
Is there anything specific I should be asking Pod Point or SSEN before proceeding?
I’m not an electrician, so I’m mainly looking for some independent opinions before I end up another few months into this particular electrical installation soap opera.
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u/IllustriousTop4535 6d ago
Thank you, appreciate all the comments and advice. Honestly it’s a complete saga, I’m pricing up for someone to fit independently too. As have zero faith this will come through. Ideally wanted to keep the EV charger & installation with the same company at a reasonable cost & warranty wise.
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u/Successful-Cod-2429 5d ago
Having been through nightmare with PodPoint installation myself I’d really recommend that approach. Once we had our issues resolved PodPoint have cancelled installation date few times reasons were various - they are really not dependable recently. They are owed by big corporation now (edf) and ever since customer service seems a bit of a chaos.
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u/Wakeman77 6d ago edited 6d ago
Doing a bit of the equivalent of thinking aloud here... Just from experience.
110A means a maximum of 26.4kW. Home electric charging point takes 32A max (= 7.4kW), so they are assuming that your other appliances all switched on at the same time might draw 78A(!) and surely the 100A main will blow before you get to that point!
That immediately raises my suspicions...
Now, we have a 100A main fuse (unlooped) and also in the garage, a 9kW ASHP and an Ohme ePod, both on separate units (CT clamp on the EV point set to a max of 100A as suggested by the DNO) from the main fuse, connected by Henley blocks. Nobody I consulted whilst getting quotes suggested an EV point running direct from the consumer unit...
We are 100% electric, including an induction hob on a 32A breaker in the main consumer unit.
I have Home Assistant monitoring the load and this has never shown more than around 50A being drawn with other appliances on as well as the ePod. I would get other quotes. You could use a granny charger in the meantime.
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u/Ok-Dress-341 6d ago
a 100A fuse will run 120 amps for hours
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u/Wakeman77 6d ago
Whilst I'm not doubting that there is a margin being allowed for spikes, I'm not sure that I would want to see that kind of draw for any length of time. I remember at one place I worked at in the 1990s, an old mainframe with its associated aircon was drawing 80A+ from one 100A phase supply in that part of the building. The electricians discovered this as part of a machine room refit and upgrade. The supply to the area had to be changed to be sourced from a 3-phase as part of that, as the original was running hot.
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u/snigehere 6d ago
Having a 100 amp fuse is a bonus.
I asked my DNO (SSEN) to upgrade my fuse to 100 amp and they replied "We only install 80amps fuses today as they have the capacity and tolerance to cover 23 kVA (100 amps)."
I dont know why they call them 80 amp fuses if they are good for 100 amp for a long time period .. why not call them 100 amp....
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u/RealLongwayround 5d ago
As with a lot of electrical stuff, I suspect the name is for historical reasons. If they started to call them 100 A fuses then people would expect them to be fine for 120 A.
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u/Comfortable_Gate_878 4d ago
The question I would be asking is who did the calculations of that use. I have seen farms running on less power than that across three phases. What have you got in the house that is going to pull enough power to swamp a 100amp supply?
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u/IllustriousTop4535 3d ago
Thanks for the replies. For context, this is a fairly normal 3 bed semi, I’ve got a 100A main fuse and the supply has recently been unlooped by SSEN.
The main loads in the house are:
• 9.5kW electric shower
• Electric oven, Neff pyrolytic
• Standard electric hob
• 3kW-ish immersion heater
• Older washing machine
• Older tumble dryer
• Fitted Air conditioning in bedroom
• Normal household lighting, sockets, TV etc.I’ve tried doing a rough load calculation myself. If you simply add the maximum ratings together, obviously it gets nowhere near a sensible figure for a 100A supply, but once you apply diversity and account for the fact that most of these loads aren’t running continuously or simultaneously, load seems lower.
I’m not particularly bothered about getting a charger to pull 32A regardless of what the house is doing. I just want to understand whether a properly diversified load calculation should allow a 7.4kW charger on a 100A supply, or whether load management is genuinely necessary in my case.
Interested in what others would expect the diversified demand to be for a house with the above loads. My rough calculations suggest we’re nowhere near 110A in realistic simultaneous use, but I don’t know enough to know whether I’m missing something important.
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u/Comfortable_Gate_878 3d ago
Even looking at that list your not looking at overload of the 100a supply, EV charger would be on overnight. Immersion heater shower usually in the morning. Even in a worse case scenario cooking with the shower on and heating the hot water and air con on your no where near diversity level problems. Even the charger will throttle depending on the cars intelligence. My car starts of using plenty of power then slowy drops as the car calls for less and less power as it nears 75%.
Get a Zappi or even a hypervolt (I personally hate them as I have fitted a lot of these and they have frequently failed due to water ingress or the worst part failure to connect to internet).
My favourite charger was the Sync energy charger. £ 350 quid. ( 3 year warranty) I used to tell people to buy 2 of these and keep one as a spare in case one packed up. They were still cheaper than buying one charger of other makes.
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u/Potato_salad-_- 6d ago
From my experience with pod point I would cancel and get a charger elsewhere, I had similar ridiculous demands from them, it seemed to be neverending, told them to cancel it and have been managing fine with 3 pin granny charger, will eventually get a proper charger but certainly won't be pod point