UK Car chargers promoted by electricy suppliers supliers beware long rant

[Pip]

So I don't post here much but I'm feeling a liitle annoyed/abused/p*ss off.
Why is it that as electricians we pay for, and have to have yearly assessments, regulation upgrade courses, insurance etc. Are told that the next technology advancement is the new source of income (solar?) And the answer to all our dreams to make a good living etc. The latest being installation of car chargers, the saviour of the planet, the best thing since sliced bread. Pay for the course, get a certificate. New test instruments needed to do the job, earthing issues, no good for PME, load monitoring blah blah blah. Let's not start on OLEV. Technology catches up yippee maybe this the way to go. Pod point. Project EV etc...

Then the energy supplier gets involved, money to be made, sell to home owner a charger without any any knowledge of thier installation, 60amp incomer, TNS system, no load monitoring, just needs a 32amp commando plug and a few notes for the electrican regarging installation.
No grant, no OLEV notification, eff all.

Why are the regulations, notifications, and who knows what else are put in place and they can be circumnavigated in one foul swoop?

Rant over

 

[Dave OCD]

No different to being undercut by unqualified cash in hand bodgers in other aspects of electrical work I guess. Very frustrating though.

 

[Pip]

And there lies the rub, I've been in email conversation with this client for the last week asking the questions (site visit tomorrow) and he has purchased the charger and had no knowledge of what is required other than can I have a 32amp commado plug please. As you say cash in hand bodger, thank you very much. FFS

 

[Vortigern]

Yeh @buzzlightyear was asking about doing a course. I said don't bother its all been superseded by pods that just plug into an external socket. So much for the course then!

 

[Pip]

Exactly so much for our national grid knowing where the biggest load will be at 6pm, or the feed from charged cars back into the grid, or our homes over night orhave I just been reading science fiction?

 

[Greenarmy]

I feel your pain.
People can plug their chargers into a standard socket , with little knowledge. The regs on the other hand have us jumping through hoops.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Diesel van, towing a Petrol generator to charge an electric car, the mind boggles.

 

[Welchyboy1]

So I don't post here much but I'm feeling a liitle annoyed/abused/p*ss off.
Why is it that as electricians we pay for, and have to have yearly assessments, regulation upgrade courses, insurance etc. Are told that the next technology advancement is the new source of income (solar?) And the answer to all our dreams to make a good living etc. The latest being installation of car chargers, the saviour of the planet, the best thing since sliced bread. Pay for the course, get a certificate. New test instruments needed to do the job, earthing issues, no good for PME, load monitoring blah blah blah. Let's not start on OLEV. Technology catches up yippee maybe this the way to go. Pod point. Project EV etc...

Then the energy supplier gets involved, money to be made, sell to home owner a charger without any any knowledge of thier installation, 60amp incomer, TNS system, no load monitoring, just needs a 32amp commando plug and a few notes for the electrican regarging installation.
No grant, no OLEV notification, eff all.

Why are the regulations, notifications, and who knows what else are put in place and they can be circumnavigated in one foul swoop?

Rant over

Do you have a link for what you are referring to ?

 

[Pip]

Do you have a link for what you are referring to ?

Octopus energy supplying Ohme car charger, The Ohme smart cable has a built in A type RCD, and all run from an app on clients phone, cable also supposedly knows when to charge your car at the cheap rates from Octopus. That might be the app and smart meter combined I don't know

 

[Welchyboy1]

Octopus energy supplying Ohme car charger, The Ohme smart cable has a built in A type RCD, and all run from an app on clients phone, cable also supposedly knows when to charge your car at the cheap rates from Octopus. That might be the app and smart meter combined I don't know

I was planning on breaking into the Ev charging market.......seems like I’m too late now lol!

 

[Pip]

I was planning on breaking into the Ev charging market.......seems like I’m too late now lol!

Well someone still has to install a 32 A Commando plug, and after my site visit today it will probably be a better earner that fitting the chargers and dealing with OLEV so maybe there is a silver lining

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

I can see your points about the energy companies seemingly circumventing things,

Personally I am happy to play the OLEV game and keep the installs coming in, around 15% of my installs are outside OLEV grants etc. A typical install makes me £275-300 profit for maybe 5 or 6 hours work.
Not bad going at all.