Charging at home comes with lots of advantage. It guarantees a reliable place to top-up your car battery, which can prove truly transformative to the whole Electric Vehicle experience. At the same time, the convenience that comes from installing a charger can make your home more attractive to potential buyers, should you ever decide to put it on the market.
In conjunction with home charging specialists, Ohme and Zappi, Power NI offers customers a choice of intelligent, safe, and award-winning home-based solutions that feature built-in dynamic load management – software that controls, and balances, multiple electrical loads in a home to best optimise and manage your energy usage.
Getting started
To get the home charger installation wheels turning, a free, no-obligation survey by our trusted local partner is needed to ensure seamless setup and reliable operation.
A survey is required to assess the property and to identify the best location for a charger, with a standard wall box delivering around 7kW of charging power, enough to fully charge a mid-range EV overnight. You can upgrade to a three-phase 22kW option, an attractive alternative as it can deliver a full charge in 5 hours. However, the three-phase element means 22kW is a more costly fit as this supply is not currently standard in homes in Northern Ireland.
After the survey, you will receive a quotation that covers equipment and installation costs, taking into account the type of work involved. A standard charger installation can generally be completed without extra site preparation, with the consumer unit in close proximity to the charger's proposed location.
One final consideration that should be given when it comes to choosing a home charger is tethered or untethered. Opting for the former ensures a charge cable is permanently attached to the wall box installed at your property, so you never have to worry about lifting one out of the house, the garage, or the boot of your car and back in again once finished.
The trade-off for these units is their size and bulk compared to an untethered wallbox – a concept liked by many because their compact dimensions make them less obvious. However, the big drawback regarding untethered units is that users must have access to their own charge cable and ensure this is always kept in a familiar and safe place.
Long-term savings
For those considering a home charger, it’s important to note that you will notice an increase in your electricity usage, but the increase in cost will still be much lower than if you are using public charging points or refuelling with petrol or diesel at the forecourt.
There are even greater savings that could be enjoyed by transitioning to Power NI’s tailored EV tariffs that have been developed specifically with Electric Vehicle drivers in mind. There are two bespoke green tariffs, designed to take drivers charging habits and annual mileage into consideration. The EV Nightshift tariff offers low-cost overnight charging, and EV Anytime is a flexible, single rate option intended specifically for those with a low annual mileage needing to charge throughout the day at any time.
Driving forward
As Electric Vehicle ownership rises in Northern Ireland, our goal is to eliminate charging as a barrier. Our smart charger and purpose-built tariffs offer new and existing owners of Electric Vehicles an affordable, convenient, and eco-friendly home charging experience.
Power NI is committed to supporting, and promoting sustainable transport, with EVs crucial to helping deliver a cleaner and greener future. That’s why we want to steer the transition to Electric Vehicle ownership, and why we offer clever tariffs and products that make this easier.
To find out more about Power NI’s home charger options, visit powerni.co.uk/electric-car-charger
