u/Jacobs_Realm

I live in Oxfordshire, and I am in the process of getting at-home charging setup so I can purchase an EV. For those who are interested in pursuing it, I thought I'd lay out the headache and cost of the process so far. The process is a bit ridiculous and expensive.

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Step 1 - County Council Permission

To get an EV Charger installed at a property without off-street parking, you need to have a safe way of crossing public footpaths between your house and the vehicle. Cable trunking is not a legal solution. If you want to do it properly and not risk being fined, you need a charging gully installed across the path and a dedicated EV charger (which meets their specifications). Granny charging is not allowed.

To get this, you need to have a EV charger installer confirm they can install one at your house. And to make an application for the county council to come and verify they can install the gully.

If they say no, then you're shit out of luck and need an ICE vehicle or somewhere else to charge. If they say yes, you will need to go get planning permission for the installation of your EV charger.

This part can take 8-10 weeks.

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Step 2 - Planning Permission

Once the county council have said they can install a charging gully, you can now proceed to get planning permission.

To install an EV charger on a house with no off-street parking, you need planning permission. You will need to supply the product specification sheet (containing size, colour), elevation drawings, land and site drawings, photographs of the proposed installation spot, the confirmation from the county council that they will install a gully (providing planning permission is accepted).

As well as correctly filling out all other forms.

Submitting this will cost £548 (+£85 if you use the planning portal).

At the moment there is a 2 week delay in putting the application forward, no idea how long it'll take after it has been properly submitted.

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Step 3 - Insurance

Either your Home or Motoring insurance must insure for third party injury up to £5,000,000 when you're using the charging gully and your EV charger. So phone your insurer up and make sure this is included, pay for any alterations and additions to your policy.

They must cover you charging your vehicle using a charging gully.

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Step 4 - Notify the county council so gully installation can progress

If you have a successful planning application, you can now go back to the county council and inform them of your successes. You will need to show them your successful planning application, and supply them with your insurance details.

They will now be able to schedule the installation of the gully. This will not happen immediately and will depend on the availability of their works team.

Installation will cost you £300 (+£100 per year licensing fee) you will need to tell them your insurance details every year.

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Step 5 - Tell your installer what's happening so they can schedule installation

You're almost there... Now tell your installer what's happening so they can get to it.

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Step 6 - Try not to cry when you're charging your EV for the first time, this process is going to cost me near £2k in total.

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EV Charger Installation and unit cost - £950

Charging Gully Installation Cost - £300 (+£100 licensing)

Planning permission - £548 (+£90 if using the portal)

Insurance Admin Fee - £30 (+any additional insurance cost)

Drawings - N/A - I used illustrator to create all my technical drawings, but it wouldn't be cheap if you need new ones.

Background:

• Yearly Milage - 16,000-20,000
• Daily Commute - Avg 46 miles
• Semi-Regular 80 mile and 200 mile trips.
• Current Car - 2016 Hyundai i20 Coupe
• Location - Street parking on a quiet cul-de-sac, at home charging, I live and commute through the countryside, lots of 20mph, then 60mph driving.
• Semi-regularly transporting around guitar amps and photo/video gear that I throw the seats of my Hyundai down to carry.

Things I like about my current car:

• Size
• The Styling, it looks kinda cool and it doesn't look 'family oriented'
• General reliability (though, it is currently shitting a brick hence looking for a new vehicle)
• Boot size when the back seats are down.

Things I dislike:

• Road noise
• Lack of comfort on longer drives
• Lack of Apple Car Play
• Boot access is okay, sometimes a little tight for the larger equipment.
• Carrying capacity isn't fantastic, and I've gone through suspension as a result... Whoops

In an ideal world, I'd get a car similar in size and function to my current vehicle. But that doesn't seem to exist in an EV, at least, not with decent range and carrying capacity. And I assume due to battery sizes? EVs tend to be larger vehicles and SUV type affairs, which I'm generally not into, and loads are just a bit ugly or 'family orientated' in design?

That said, the Polestar 2 and Ioniq 5 both look wicked (and I'm aware the Ioniq 5 is bloody massive). And when you look at 2021-2023 models, you can find some bare-spec or premium models for between £14,000-£16,000, with 40,000-70,000 miles on the clock depending on spec.

I realise that both cars, when new, are premium options for those with a decently hefty budget. But used at this price and vintage, can they make any sense, or is it just a bit mental to go for one?

Hey!

I'm looking at switching to an electric vehicle, but I don't have any off-street parking. So I've been looking at my county councils rules around cable channels and how you get one installed.

Cost wise, it appears to be £300 for installation, then £100 per year for a license to use it.

But, every year I will need to provide them with...

• Proof of liability insurance unto £5 million.
• A satisfactory Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) on your home EV charger from a registered electrician.

For those who've installed a charging channel and are using it. How are you getting the EICR and how much is it costing you every year. At the moment, it seems like I'll be spending £300 on fees just to be allow to run a cable across the path.