Electrical car charging points - what do i need as an installer?

[Welchyboy1]

Hi all

have just undertaken the city and guilds course, but is there any scheme i must now join up to so i can install these in a domestic and commercial setting

nothing was mentioned during the course about this

also i know owners can apply for a grant to get these installed but is there any requirements on the installers they must use to qualify for grants???

anybody clued up to this

thanks

 

[uksparks]

I was looking at doing that qualification just for the knowledge on it etc, I know it's a case of follow the instructions but you never know if it came to getting a job, it might make the difference.

 

[yellowvanman]

Where did you do the course?

 

[Welchyboy1]

It was free they emailed me and said it was under a grant, the company was group horizon, at stevenage

pretty interesting actually, not as straight forward as i first thought!

the earthing set up can be pretty involved given certain circumstances, but they are well stretching it out putting it up as a 2 day course, could easily fit it into a day tops


could be a potential money spinner, but prob another waste of time, i think they are bringing in a newaccreditation scheme out like solar mcs that installers will need


but currently british gas are installing them for free with a gov grant but i dont think i can do the same was just seeing if anyone had any info?

 

[benji]

i thought brit. gas had contract with renault.read something about bg charging £3k per install

 

[Welchyboy1]

Their website now says free install?.

 

[sparky6078]

Try looking on Electric Vehicles Charging Station, Power Distribution Units | Rolecserv they run a coarse along side NICEIC for installing EV points, they also manufacture there own charging points. There are offering free install through a government scheme.

 

[benji]

yes i googled it later think it said if you didn,t have internet you would have to pay because you wouldn,t be eligible for the grant? ,don,t think it could be £3k though

 

[Engineer54]

pretty interesting actually, not as straight forward as i first thought!

the earthing set up can be pretty involved given certain circumstances, but they are well stretching it out putting it up as a 2 day course, could easily fit it into a day tops

What's not as straight forward, and what fancey earthing provision do they want to install a car battery charging point??

 

[benji]

read somewhere that anything metalic in garage had to be moved well clear of car or protected by barriers

 

[Engineer54]

read somewhere that anything metalic in garage had to be moved well clear of car or protected by barriers

And if the garage itself is a metal framed affair, then what?? lol!!

 

[Welchyboy1]

And if the garage itself is a metal framed affair, then what?? lol!!

The tutor brought that up about electrical garage doors and said we could suggest rubber insulating the external side of the garage door!! Lol

that would be a short conversation!

The regs have just been updated, at first you was forbidden from exporting the pme supply from a domestic or commercial property and had to rod all charging points

now thats been relaxed and you can export pme for single dwellings only without tt'ing



you also have to treat tns systems as potentially future pme systems too so you can only directly export a tt earth in most other instances



if you have any simultaneous accessible conductive parts between the different earthing systems you have to insulate them(eg class1 external light fittings to classs2 etc) or makethem inaccessible

the range is around 10 meters to account for the lead length, the car length and your arms length

the get out of jail free card is to install a 1:1 230v isolating tranny if you cant achieve separation or installing a rod is too problematic


all in bs7671 really!


inside the garage you only have to install supp bonding to all other pipework etc

 

[uksparks]

I can't see why it's so complicated, surely it's just a battery charger fixed to the wall? Well a bit more complicated, actually maybe not, it's a damn battery charger.

I don't see an earth rod next to my Duracell charger, or one that I plug in then put on the van battery?

Can someone explain who knows, why it is so involved.

 

[spark 68]

It is similar to the caravan regs mate, PME is a no no on them too, amongst other installations where PME can be problematic.

 

[uksparks]

It's not something I have ever really looked at to be honest, so you can plug a caravan in on a 16A plug in your house, but different rules when you have a remote plug thing.

I do feel the car charging point is a load of baloney, it's only a battery charger.

 

[spark 68]

It is partly to do with the difference of potential between "true earth" and the PME earth, and partly to do with the potential dangers of a broken suppliers Neutral.

It is not just caravan sites that can be/are problematic with PME for much the same reasons, but Marinas, agricultural buildings for livestock, even domestic outbuildings where extraneous conductive parts are present.

It can be done, however the bonding requirements can become complicated and/or expensive in some cases, and in other cases forbidden entirely in the case of Marinas and caravan pitches.

 

[Engineer54]

It is similar to the caravan regs mate, PME is a no no on them too, amongst other installations where PME can be problematic.

Not according to Welchyboy1 it's not!!

I'm getting the impression that this all OTT myself!! What do these electric car charging points actually consist of, that they are so worried about??

I'm just thinking back to the factory where i did my training, that had a vehicle battery charging area/bay in the middle of the factory that was charging upto 20 sizeable batteries at any one time, ranging from forklift to maintenance car batteries. Damned if i can think of any specialised earthing arrangements in place. Only thing i can remember being out of the ordinary, was a dedicated extensive air extraction system...

 

[spark 68]

Not according to Welchyboy1 it's not!!

Where does he say that E54 ?

It is exactly due to that, have a look for yourself on the IET site, under wiring regs > updates, where AMD2 is free to download, I cannot post it here as it is copy protected.

You need to log in though (free to register). http://electrical.------.org/wiring-regulations/updates/index.cfm

 

[Engineer54]

Where does he say that E54 ?

It is exactly due to that, have a look for yourself on the IET site, under wiring regs > updates, where AMD2 is free to download, I cannot post it here as it is copy protected.

You need to log in though (free to register). IET Wiring Regulations updates - IET Electrical

Here......

The regs have just been updated, at first you was forbidden from exporting the pme supply from a domestic or commercial property and had to rod all charging points
now thats been relaxed and you can export pme for single dwellings only without tt'ing

I will if i get time, if not when i get back to China, (leaving here tomorrow (10th) late afternoon) .....if i remember!! lol!!

 

[spark 68]

I think we are talking at crossed purposes lol

I didn't say it was forbidden (in all cases), it was just similar to caravan regs for pretty much the same reasons.

There are other caveats which are too lengthy to post here, you would need to have a read of it yourself

Actually it is more or less the same as other situations where extending PME can be problematic, domestic and otherwise.