Paul Oliver has been driving electric since 2020 and has come to the conclusion that you don’t necessarily need a dedicated home charging unit.
Over to Paul…
What puzzles me is that across the EV media in general, I rarely see anyone questioning whether you need a home charging unit, yet it must be one of the complications that deters a lot of prospective owners, especially as more affordable used cars come to market. They may be put off by the added cost or not having suitable infrastructure.
I purchased a new I-PACE in August 2020. Worried by the published 30 hours 0 to 100% charge time from a regular 13amp socket, I duly purchased a bp charge point, added to which I had to pay for an electrician to provide a new circuit on my fuse board. Even though this came to over £1,000, I didn’t even question the decision. I thought I have an EV, then I must have a home charging unit. A year later, I moved to a new home (a real doer-upper), where I cannot install a new charging unit until a garage is built. So the car simply gets plugged into a standard socket from the shed.
The impact upon my usage of the car? Absolutely zero.
I drive 8,000 to 10,000 miles a year, with two or three trips per week of around 150 miles and then 20–30 mile local journeys on other days. After the long trips, the car may be down to 35% or 40% but plug it in at 7.00pm and it is back to nearly 90% by next morning. I console myself that even if I have three days of long trips successively, I can always stop for a fast-charge top up if I need to but I never have.
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The Jaguar has a beast of a battery at 90kWh, way larger than most. Home charging times for more common cars are correspondingly shorter. A 60 to 70kWh battery is easily going to be fully recharged overnight under normal usage. What is the point of having a home charging unit just so that you get to 100% at 3.00am rather than 7.00am. Treat it like a mobile phone. Plug it in at night and it will almost always have enough for your needs the next day.
I appreciate higher mileage users will have different experiences, but for most, they may be pleasantly surprised. My advice, for what it is worth, is try the car with your lifestyle before you commit to a home charging unit.
I am currently awaiting delivery of a new Kia EV6 which with its smaller battery, has a 15% shorter charging time. Even when the doer-upper is done up, I’m not at all sure I will be bothering with a home charging unit; I’ll just get an external 13amp socket added to the garage.
