Can You Wire An Electric Vehicle Charger To An Existing Cable?

what are the chances it's yet another glorious  sunny day here in the yorkshire dales and we're   back on one of our favorite topics today it's  ev charging we're gonna answer a question we   get asked a lot on the channel and it's related  to garages and outbuildings and can you add an   ev charge point to the supply that already feeds a  garage. of course, the garage or parking area is the   natural choice for the location of an ev charger  and that's what this homeowner wants to do here   the garage is detached from the house but it  does have an electricity supply but the garage   was built some time ago so possibly they weren't  thinking about the future and ev cars coming along   so if you're thinking about any development stick  around because i've got a top tip for you that   you may wish to consider if you're planning any  building work i've popped inside the garage to   have a look at the electrical supply and behind us  there's a small consume unit that's typical that   you find in most garages or detached buildings  it's feeding sockets and some lights so this place   could form a useful retreat if you want to escape  from the relatives over those busy holiday periods   but is it enough to feed an ev charger well  there is a few options however let's look at   the distribution board itself the first problem  is there is no spare capacity to add a new circuit   for an ev charger now that could easily be  upgraded and replaced however the next problem   and possibly the most major one we want to think  about is is there the capability in that cable   to feed the garage and what is a new seven  kilowatt load that you'd ideally want to   add if you want the maximum capacity from an ev  charger the main consumer unit and the circuit   that feeds the garage is in this cupboard here  and that gives us a clue as to how much power is   available to the garage if we look at the circuit  breaker for the garage we can see it's rated at   20 amps so that is significantly short of the 32  amps you would need if you wanted to install a   seven kilowatt charger however there is a solution  to that that we'll discuss a little bit later on   while we're looking inside there the circuits  will see that the rcd that feeds the property   is a type a which is good news because it means if  you had to add an additional circuit in there and   there is space for it the rcd itself is suitable  for an electric vehicle charge point however the   one at the garage end isn't because that's a  type ac and that would need to be upgraded if   the cable itself isn't suitable to feed the garage  and we want to run a new cable back here however   there could be a few challenges because this space  is fully decorated and we may not necessarily want   to bring in a new cable and have to do some major  alterations to the wall so unfortunately the power   supply feeding this garage isn't large enough  to accommodate a full seven kilowatt electric   vehicle charger however that doesn't rule out  being able to fit a charger it's just that   we'd have to de-rate it to not exceed the power  supply of 20 amps that's coming into the garage   and therefore we wouldn't be able to charge the  car at the full speed of a seven kilowatt charger   so let's also explore another scenario where the  cable itself and the circuit breaker are rated   at 32 amps to supply the garage we also need to  think about what other appliances are using power   in the garage itself and we can see here we  can see that emergency beer fridge behind us   and we can also see what's known as the bubbler  drop a comment below if you know what a bubbler is   but there also may be scenarios where you  have tumble dryers and other appliances in   the garage and they will obviously be using  some of that power and again that doesn't   restrict us having a full powered ev charger  because depending on the brand and the make of   charger you choose there are options in some  ev charges that allow them to current share   with other appliances that are in the garage so  let's think of the scenario you're charging at   seven kilowatts and somebody switches the tumble  dryer on or another appliance in the garage   you would have a current transformer fitted to the  circuit feeding the garage that would sense that   something else is drawing power and automatically  turn down the ev charger to a lower current draw   during the time where that appliance is using  power so that's a neat solution uh a little bit   tricky obviously if you then also need to  use the current transformer to monitor the   incoming supply to the property uh but don't  forget there are also some of the charges that   enable us to have one or two current  transformers to deal with that situation   so before we leave the garage let's just consider  one more scenario that could get us out of jail   what if the cable behind us was underrated  at the circuit breaker so in other words   the cable is thick enough to carry more current  so we may be looking for something or a six or   ten millimeter and the electrician has underrated  it with a smaller sized circuit breaker that could   be a great situation however some caution about  that when the electrician originally installed   this cable it will have considered lots of  other factors including the voltage drop between   the distribution board and the garage and possibly  some other thermal constraints and the cable has   been derated for a reason so don't assume because  you've got a thick cable you can just increase the   circuit breaker so we've spoken a lot about power  supplies to garage but let's not forget that other   problem we have when it comes to ev charging  the internet connection because all chargers   have to be smart and obviously the easiest way of  getting that connection is to use wi-fi or some   other ethernet based connection so you can enable  things like smart charging and smart tariffs so   if the garage is a long way from the house we  certainly know that wi-fi could be a problem   so if you're gonna have to pull into the cable it  may be worth pulling in an ethernet cable as well   to feed either direct to the charger itself or put  a wireless access point in there the advantage be   you can also have wi-fi in the garden so the  solution for this installation is it's going   to need a new cable pulling into the garage  to feed the ev charge point and that's a   considerable amount of work because it is a  detached building and there's also existing paving   down there but fear not ross from rs electrics  is already beavering away digging that trench and   facilitating that new cable also going to put  an external distribution board near the meter   enclosure to feed the garage itself which brings  me that top tip i promised at the start of the   video if you are planning to build a garage or  have any other major works done on your house   think about that future you may not believe that  evs are with us you may be holding out with petrol   and diesel for as long as possible but at some  point they are coming and think about that cable   if you're building a garage put in a bigger cable  to facilitate a future ev charge point now as we   turn back to some advice once given by rich heppel  the smart home expert the most expensive cable   is the one you don't run and that can certainly  be the case if you find you're having to pull   in a cable to a detached building  that could have easily incorporated   during the build phase or even a simple duct  to run that on this property the owner is also   looking at upgrading to have some solar put in the  garage and some battery storage which is another   great option that we'll be looking at on the  channel soon check out our other ev charging   videos we've got everything in there including  that other installation stopper the looped supply   i will leave a link in the description  for that or in the eye above my head   and we look forward to getting your top tips on  detached buildings and ev charge points in general

Channel: eFIXX

Views: 45,221

Keywords: ev charger installation, electric vehicle charger installation, ev charger installation using existing cable, ev charger garage consumer unit, ev charger installation garage, ev charger installation at home, ev charger installation explained, efixx, efixx ev charger, ev charger existing consumer unit, charge amps, ev charger current sensor, ev charger current transformer, ev charger existing circuit, ev charger outside house, ev charger installation uk, charge amps ev charger

Id: 75N2FjepWZM

Length: 7min 36sec (456 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 14 2022