Hyundai Ioniq 5

[Joeboy]

When my smart meter was installed I'm pretty certain he said if I had had 16mm meter tails he would have changed them to 25mm and the fuse also.

In the chat with SSE they mention my arranging for Octopus to attend,on the same day as the upgrade so the tails can also be upgraded to the,meter. Hmmmn, going on history so far. Unlikely!

We will see what they come back with in New Year as they now have a few photos of the box and it's contents.

[Stinsy]

I got my house upgraded for free. From a 60A main fuse to a 100A 'box' with an 80A fuse. This was all part of a leccy supplier deal that included a free 7kW charger, but of course the leccy is a bit more expensive than other deals.

However ......... whilst I don't know what rights you have to a home fuse upgrade, there has been a lot of criticism about the UK's home ratings, and I'm sure 80-100A is now recommended, so you might come under some DNO rule about simply making the supply fit for purpose going forward, plus the 'green' issues relating to leccy heating and BEV's. Best of luck.

I think there is even growing pressure for new builds / estates to possibly be 3phase, and issues around current but old legislation that forces the DNO to offer the cheapest price/package to developers, even if they think longer term a larger power supply would be warranted. Basically they can't not offer the low power option. Of course the developers can opt for more power, but they'll probably try to minimise build costs, rather than avoid the higher upgrade costs of doing it retrospectively.

Prob is: Joe has a "looped supply". This means the supply comes from the street to his neighbour and then to him. It is impossible to upgrade such a supply by swapping the main fuse (and its carrier if necessary). Joe will have to pay for the groundworks and cabling required to link his house directly to the mains.

This is a big problem in London where a lot of taxi drivers live in Victorian terraces. The taxi driver wants 7.4kW for 12hrs every day but the house has a looped supply and 60A main fuse, these houses are often "all electric" with storage heaters, electric cooking, etc., too.

[Joeboy]

I got my house upgraded for free. From a 60A main fuse to a 100A 'box' with an 80A fuse. This was all part of a leccy supplier deal that included a free 7kW charger, but of course the leccy is a bit more expensive than other deals.

However ......... whilst I don't know what rights you have to a home fuse upgrade, there has been a lot of criticism about the UK's home ratings, and I'm sure 80-100A is now recommended, so you might come under some DNO rule about simply making the supply fit for purpose going forward, plus the 'green' issues relating to leccy heating and BEV's. Best of luck.

I think there is even growing pressure for new builds / estates to possibly be 3phase, and issues around current but old legislation that forces the DNO to offer the cheapest price/package to developers, even if they think longer term a larger power supply would be warranted. Basically they can't not offer the low power option. Of course the developers can opt for more power, but they'll probably try to minimise build costs, rather than avoid the higher upgrade costs of doing it retrospectively.

Prob is: Joe has a "looped supply". This means the supply comes from the street to his neighbour and then to him. It is impossible to upgrade such a supply by swapping the main fuse (and its carrier if necessary). Joe will have to pay for the groundworks and cabling required to link his house directly to the mains.

This is a big problem in London where a lot of taxi drivers live in Victorian terraces. The taxi driver wants 7.4kW for 12hrs every day but the house has a looped supply and 60A main fuse, these houses are often "all electric" with storage heaters, electric cooking, etc., too.

Well, the first guy that came said he thinks it's a looped supply while the lassie from sse on the phone said their records say it is not a looped supply. Also the first guy(charge point folk) said the loop may be to my prop first then to the neighbour. As clear as mud at this point! If it's all too dear and I kept the 60A and had the ev plug fitted I could charge the full 7 kW for 5 hrs while doing other stuff or limit the vehicle charging to 5kW. 60A would be a touch over 14kW. I can easily timeshift that around to cover most of everything most of the time although it would be excellent to have the extra headroom!

[Joeboy]

With hindsight it would be max grid electricity for around 4 months per year, the rest of the time the PV is doing the heavy lifting.

With the V2L capability and pack size in the EV I'd likely be able to utilise V2L for topping off scenarios and catch up later in the week to top everything off on the 60A supply. I think it continues to be worth getting to the bottom of the 100A upgrade though?

I'll update the definitive in the New Year. Nothing ever easy eh?

[Stinsy]

Mid loop (power goes to you then you neighbour) is easy to tell, end loop much more difficult.

Post a pic of your cutout (main fuse).

[Joeboy]

Mid loop (power goes to you then you neighbour) is easy to tell, end loop much more difficult.

Post a pic of your cutout (main fuse).

Are you not busy tonight?

[Stinsy]

Can't tell 100% from the picture but it looks like you are indeed middle man in a looped supply.

There seems to be two cables at the bottom of your main fuse instead of one...

[Inskip75]

Our DNO un-looped for free before EV point installed - Electricity NW will not allow any EV chargers on looped supplies whether you are first as I was or at the end - but reading various other forums in seems not all DNO's do it for free.
They did all digging and making good on my neighbours land as I proposed the best/easiest route for the new cable and joint after discussions with next door.
We were both on 100A cutouts already - but its the initial feed cable which gets overloaded with 2 chargers, if that ever happens.

[Joeboy]

Just a thought and unlikely to go here but...

I was going to be 53G for a Tesla Y specced up so 82kW so £1,547 per kWh.
I5 is about 47G with the current 73kWh pack so £1,553 per kWh

Much of a muchness and both very nice too. I have read about a number of niggles and outright faults in both the Y & I5. Fair enough, early tech and all that. Niggles at me though £50k and problems...

This led me down another path in my head. I was out goldpanning a couple of days ago, right out in the Aberedeenshire countryside and I was just wafting along in the leaf enjoying the views there and back. On return home I plugged in and the next morning the GOM said 92 miles (In January). That's 3.83 miles per kWh in Winter if the whole 24kWh pack is used. I wonder how much it would cost to convert my wee Leaf to a 62kWh pack? Run it on Leafbox, fit a tom tom satnav and the original is crap. I know I can get 4.5miles per kWh in Summer easily so that's 279 mile range. Wonder if I can have V2L added.. Lets say I take my 32,000 mile car, convert it add the satnav, pay a bit to get the body brought back at the detailer and sealed i'd be cutting about in a nice bit of kit with a great range, taking care of the embedded energy guilt AND i'd have a spare battery pack to mod up to add to the home.
Say £20k for the works + £8,750 I paid for the car is £463 per kWh.

[dan_b]

Cleevley Motors have this on their website for Nissan Leaf battery pack upgrades

https://www.cleevelyev.co.uk/battery-upgrades/

24kWh battery replacement. Approx £5,500 (inc VAT) depending on supply cost of a battery, if one can be found in good condition.
30kWh battery replacement. These are harder to price as good 30kWh batteries are hard to find due to a tendency to degrade quicker. If a battery can be found the installation is £1,500 (inc VAT) plus battery cost.
40kWh battery replacement. Current price £8,900 inc VAT and fitting.
62kWh battery replacement. Priced at £13,500 inc VAT and fitting. This installation includes upgraded rear suspension springs and lowering brackets to get the bigger battery to fit.

There's a Dutch company called Muxsan which is also developing/has developed a CCS conversion and higher DC charge rate pack for the Leaf - not sure how much that costs as it's not officially for sale on their website yet but on their Twitter feed they talk about it being around €2500.