u/bitchstewie_va

My house is pretty simple electrically so far as I know.

The box below is in the garage and everything goes in and out of that.

The drive and outside wall of the house is about 2M to the right of the box through either a brick wall or a hole drilled through a door frame.

I am going to get a local electrician out to have a look and give me some options on either getting a wall mounted EV charger installed outside or on getting an EV rated socket installed.

I believe to comply with regs any of those options are likely to require some additional works but at this point I'm not an electrician so don't know what they are.

Is anyone able to tell me anything obvious to an electrician that I need to consider from the photo below please?

I'm one of those people where I can feel a bit pressured when you've got someone stood in the garage suggesting you must do X, Y and Z so any homework I can do in advance is useful.

Thanks in advance.

https://preview.redd.it/j8zbcdy4qu2h1.jpg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=098c0b7c58e3a899cdef955556f2febd06eb6428

I have a model 3 on order.  I have access to plenty of "cheap enough" charging between work and superchargers so I'm not jumping in with a full charger installation right away but I would like to be confident if I need to "top up" from home the odd day that I could do so.

Apparently Tesla no longer supply a granny charger so I was going to buy the Tesla one which is £180 but it doesn't quite have enough reach so I would need an extension lead like the ones Toughleads sell.

So around £220 all-in.

A Cord Plus 10M charger is £135.

Looks like the moment I put a link to the Cord EV website the post gets pulled by some content filter so third time lucky.

I'm seeing conflicting info on the safety side of this.

The charger above is type 2 and maxes out at 10A and can be downgraded plus I would say Cord look like a reputable brand v some of the "who on earth makes this?" stuff you see out there.

I plan on getting a local electrician to quote on a charger install and also see if they can check/inspect/replace the 13A socket in the garage which is literally 2 feet away from the consumer unit.

I wouldn't be plugging this into the lounge next to the TV or anything that seems daft.

Is there anything to be concerned about please as I keep reading a range of view from "this is absolutely fine" to "your house will burn down".

I have a model 3 on order.  I have access to plenty of "cheap enough" charging between work and superchargers so I'm not jumping in with a full charger installation right away but I would like to be confident if I need to "top up" from home the odd day that I could do so.

Apparently Tesla no longer supply a granny charger so I was going to buy the Tesla on which is £180 but it doesn't quite have enough reach so I would need an extension lead like the ones Toughleads sell.

So around £220 all-in.

A Cord Plus 10M charger is £135.

I'm seeing conflicting info on the safety side of this.

The charger above is type 2 and maxes out at 10A and can be downgraded plus I would say Cord look like a reputable brand v some of the "who on earth makes this?" stuff you see out there.

I might look at getting a local electrician to quote on a charger install and also see if they can check/inspect/replace the 13A socket in the garage which is literally 2 feet away from the consumer unit.

I wouldn't be plugging this into the lounge next to the TV or anything that seems daft.

Is there anything to be concerned about please as I keep reading a range of view from "this is absolutely fine" to "your house will burn down".

I was hoping I could get some best practise please.

I have an EV on order (Tesla if that matters) and it's my first EV and initially all I know is I'm on a three year lease so in three years who knows what I'll do car-wise.

I haven't rushed in to getting a full EV charger because they look to be around £1000 and £1000 buys quite a bit of public charging at my mileage plus the car won't be here for a couple of months so there's no mad rush to do something asap.

It would be nice to have the option to "top up" at home and this is where I'm not an electrician so I'm trying to do some homework.

I could use a three pin charger but I believe I'd be best getting a proper EV rated 3 pin socket professionally fitted rather than just plugging into some random household/garage socket?

I also believe that as Tesla offer a commando adaptor I could look to get a commando socket professionally fitted and charge from that.

I believe both of those should be fairly simple.

Before I look to speak to the electrician we usually use (last time I spoke to him he mentioned he was about to embark on taking some "EV installation exams") I just wanted to see how often and how safe you see EVs being charged like this?

As a non-electrician you see manufacturer supplied 3 pin chargers so it seems reasonable to assume you can charge from a 3 pin - doesn't seem quite that simple though.

Just to be really really clear because of the subreddit rules I'm not asking how to do this myself.

I'm asking what to be aware of before speaking to the usual qualified professional electrician we usually use.

Very tempted by the £249/month PCH so I'm doing a crash course in stuff I need to know about a Tesla Model 3.

My needs are basic. I get in the car I drive it. It's usually just me.

I can't see a single reason I need any more than the "base" as it's just a means of getting from A to B in relative comfort.

The commute is around 20 miles each direction and I could probably put in a home charger but don't have one right now. I do have a drive. Pretty much all my workplaces have chargers and I'm about 7 miles from a "Super Charger".

My current car is cheap reliable and mine and does around 60mpg and I wasn't really thinking of changing it but this is seriously tempting as I LOVE lots of glass and the ease of automatic etc.

As I understand it build quality is now much much better as most of the UK cars are made in China? I've done an insurance quote and that's sensible. I believe VED is included in PCH so other than insurance and charging running costs should be covered?

I did the self serve test drive yesterday and came away with a good impression but not necessarily "wowed" though some of that is possibly just down to the sheer amount of stuff to take in when you turn up and the car is there waiting for you to get in and drive it.

Took a moment just to figure out that once in drive it doesn't "creep" like an auto and the sensation when you take your foot off the accelerator is very different to the coasting/neutral sensation you get in an ICE car.

I was impressed with the build quality more than I perhaps thought I would be. Everything felt solid and well put together. The lower plastics are pretty cheap and nasty but who really goes tapping those in the real world.

Driving around I think my biggest takeaway was the lack of noise and just how "calm" it felt. Liked the glass roof though it's not been a very sunny day so it was easy to forget it had one unless I looked up.

Sound system seemed fine but I always seem to say that with every car I've had.

I think where I struggled a bit was just the sheer amount of "stuff" in the menus compared to my very basic current car. It did have me wondering just how much I'd actually use all that stuff.

Bit weird getting used to buttons for things like flashing the lights but this is a MY26 so did have an indicator stalk though I didn't manage to work out if you can do the "three blips" when pulling in/out.

It's certainly given me a lot to think about over the next couple of days. I liked it a lot but I like my current car a lot and if this PCH offer hadn't caught my eye I never would have bothered looking let alone driving one.

I suppose right now where I am is if I woke up tomorrow and found Tesla have pulled the £249 PCH offer would I be gutted and I'm not sure I would.

I have some thinking to do.

So what other things should I be thinking about when it comes to the "base" 3 that I might not have considered please?