Investing in an electric vehicle can already cut your carbon footprint significantly, but did you know you can ensure an even more eco-friendly charging experience with a home EV charger?
Keep reading to find out how you can make your electric vehicle charging greener.
One way to decrease your carbon footprint is to invest in an electric vehicle charger capable of charging your EV with electricity and solar.
Some of bestselling solar electric vehicle chargers, such as the VCHRGD Seven, have built-in solar compatibility. So, if your home has solar panels, you can charge your electric vehicle with surplus solar energy for free. Choose solar and slash your carbon footprint even further.
When demand for the electricity grid is at its peak, fossil fuels are used to generate energy to cope with the increase.
To lesson the strain on the grid, take advantage of the charge scheduling smart feature on your home EV charger and set your electric car to automatically charge during off-peak hours (typically 11am-6am). More eco-friendly sources of electricity are generated during off-peak hours too, such as wind.
And that’s not all. It’s cheaper to charge your electric car during off-peak hour – especially if you have a home EV charger that can sync with your energy tariff integration, such as the Ohme ePod and Ohme Home Pro. Or, if you are with British Gas, the Hive Mini Pro 3.
On a similar note to charge scheduling, you can choose specific tariffs that are more suited to help the environment and help save you money. For example, Octopus Energy’s green tariffs are powered by 100% renewable energy, with the infamous Agile Octopus being the most commonly used. This innovative tariff provides pricing for you every half an hour, allowing you to take advantage of lower wholesale prices. Not only does the Agile tariff enable access to the cheapest rates through Plunge Pricing, but it is reducing your carbon footprint. The cheaper wholesale prices usually appear when the energy in the grid is greener, therefore reducing the need to burn fossil fuel during peak hours.
The only difference between charge scheduling and using a green tariff is that the tariff will find the information for you. In contrast, you will have to undergo the analysis yourself and set certain schedules with charge scheduling.
At the minute, one of the only electric vehicle charger brands that can use the Octopus Agile tariff is Ohme.
While most electric vehicle chargers are packed full of smart features, including charging analytics, some include environmental analytics that can help you make more informed decisions regarding sustainability.
For example, the Ohme Home Pro has the ‘Green Score’ feature, where you can track your CO2 consumption levels. You can use this information to be smart when it comes to sustainability and your charging choices.
Vehicle to grid is relatively new; however, it is a great way to manage energy usage and help support the electricity grid.
The idea behind V2G is that your electric vehicle acts like a battery pack, where you can store excess energy in your EV. If you do not need to use the energy yourself, you can sell the energy back to the electricity grid when it is needed the most.
For vehicle-to-grid to work, you will need a bidirectional electric vehicle charger and an electric vehicle that supports vehicle-to-grid, such as the Nissan Leaf.
With vehicle-to-grid, you can not only charge your EV, but you can actually store energy in your electric car and then export any surplus energy back to the grid. This helps to stabilise the grid and encourage the use of renewable energy; for example, electricity generated by solar can be stored within EV batteries and then given back to the grid. Not only that but you will be paid to do so.
As this is a new and growing area in electric vehicle charging, few EV chargers and electric cars have this capability; however, it is expected to snowball in the next few years to help make the transition to electric smoother.
If you are thinking about getting a electric car charger installed at home, please get in touch with us for free, unbiased advice. With expert engineers across the UK, we can install wherever you are – with quick installation times.
Browse our market leading range of home electric car charge points. Or, if you still don’t know where to start and prefer to speak to someone directly, call us on 03333 44 96 99 or fill in the contact form below. Our expert customer service team are always happy to help.
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This type of electric charger has it's own cable to charge your car.
This type of electric charger requires a seperate cable to charge your car.
Spread over a 60 month period.
Tenants and homeowners are eligible for finance.
You decide the amount of months.
Minimum of £1000.
We will contact you to process the credit application. Approval is subject to application, financial circumstances and borrowing history. 13.9% APR representative. T&Cs apply.
Your order is not confirmed until your application has been approved.
We lay SWA cable laid at 600mm deep, with a protective cable warning tape laid 150mm above the cable. These are laid on a sand or sifted sand soil bed then backfilled.
We position overhead cables at a minimum height of 3.5m and are run along a catenary wire. The cable run should not be accessible to vehicles.
Standard Installation
Our instant price is fixed if it falls within our standard installation package plus any additions that you have selected (extra cabling for example). This package covers the majority of homes in the UK. Before we undertake your installation we will carry out a digital survey to check that nothing has been missed. After reviewing the survey results some additional work may be required in order to complete your installation safely and to the required standards. If this is the case, we will contact you well before the installation date and advise the cost of any required work. You can then continue with your installation, or alternatively we will refund you in full if you do not want to proceed.
Included in our standard installation is :
• Fitting of a single phase charge point to a brick or plaster wall or other suitable permanent structure
• Up to 10 metres of cable, run and neatly clipped to the wall between the electricity supply meter / distribution board and the charge point.
• Routing of the cable through a drilled hole in a wall up to 500mm (20 inches) thick if this is needed.
• The fitting and testing of electrical connections and protections required for the charge point.
• An additional three way consumer unit, if required
• Installation of a Type A RCBO in an RCBO enclosure
• Up to 3 metres of plastic trunking to conceal interior wiring.
• An O-pen earth protection device if the charge point requires it. (This is NOT an earth rod)
• Up to 4 hours of labour from your installer to complete the work.
• Electrical testing of the whole installation.
• Handover and setup of the charge point and any app that may be needed.
Not included in our standard installation (additional work) :
• Where the installation requires additional cabling over and above the amount you have told us about.
• Upgrade/replacement of the main incoming supply fuse where the local DNO (eg Northern Powergrid) would need to attend site.
• If the charge point is to be mounted on a post/pedestal rather than an existing wall and where you have not selected a post as an extra cost option in your order.
• Installation of a charge point to a three phase supply.
• Where gas and water mains bonding (earthing) is not in place at your property. If this is not in place, additional work would be required before installation of the charge point.
• Any groundwork that has not been selected during the order process.
A Surge Protection Device is not included in our standard installation.
What else you need to know :
• On the day of installation, please ensure that the area around your consumer unit (fuse box), incoming electricity supply meter and proposed charge point location (including where the cable is expected to be run) is clear and free of obstructions.
• We will need your WiFi password as part of the installation process in order to connect your charge point to the internet. Please have this available for the installer. Details will not be kept.
• The charge point must be on your own designated off road parking.
• The charger will be fixed in line with current guidelines at a height where it cannot be hit by a vehicle.
• Our installers are not able to enter loft spaces; lift floorboards or flooring; take apart any furniture of work above a height of 2m. If you anticipate that any of this may be required, then please contact us and we can discuss in more detail and provide you with a quotation.
• Should there be extreme weather conditions our installers may not be able to continue with you installation if it is not safe to do so (for example flooding). They will always do their best to complete the work where they can.
If you have any questions then please contact our customer service team who will be happy to help. Please also read our terms and conditions.
