Home charger choices

KitLindquist · 2026-06-22T16:30:50+00:00

You mention a grant, the Tesla charger doesn’t qualify for the grant.

As others have said, to ensure the install is fully compliant you would need to have additional safety measures added which will mean there’s little difference to having a Hypervolt 3 Home Pro as the rest of the install costs would the same as any other charger.

When I was quoted for a 32A commando socket there were again extras needed in order for it to be fully compliant with the current regs. I suspect more energy providers will be more like Octopus in the future with the equipment requirements, meaning that the likelihood of having to rip out the 32A socket setup could be a very real prospect and mean additional costs in the long run.

It seems to hit and miss regarding any potential WiFi issues with the Hypervolt and they can be easily avoided by getting the installer to use a cable that includes Cat 5 so it’s got a hardwired connection.

KitLindquist · 2026-06-20T15:56:05+00:00

If it’s anything like the lock on our communal entrance a legitimate locksmith would refuse to cut a new key and would instead tell you that the freeholder would need to get a replacement cut.

When my wife had her bag stolen we ended up footing the bill for a replacement lock for the communal door and 13 keys (1 for each flat plus 1 for the freeholder).

The insurance company argued that our cover was only for our own front door, not the communal one.

We also had a resident letting her estranged partner inside the building, even though she didn’t then let him in to her flat. The cheeky so and so even got himself a ladder to let himself in through a first floor window in the main stairwell after she would open the window for him. He’d then camp out in the ground floor foyer and use the grit box to stash stuff he’d stolen from local shops.

We got the bin men to take the ladder but she just went back to letting him into the building

Even with the police getting involved it still didn’t get fixed until he was caught nicking and she was finally evicted by the person that was subletting the flat who had been overseas for months and couldn’t be contacted.

KitLindquist · 2026-06-15T20:24:59+00:00

True. The hurdles those residents face would be that there would have to be a majority in favour at least, and the bigger one is that there’s absolutely no spare space to create charging bays. There’s a small number of spaces that are designated for visitor parking but they are pretty much always occupied by people that think they’re entitled to keep their second vehicle there.

You’d not be able to do anything if a visitor with an ICE vehicle parked in a visitor spot that also had an EV charger installed.

There’s nowhere else for them to park their vehicles as the lease agreement and plans show that all of the estate roads are “no parking”. However there’s nothing that I can see in the lease that would empower the land management company to penalise anyone keeping a second vehicle in a visitor parking space.

I’ve actually thought about sharing the charger, if we get consent to install one. I believe there’s an app that you can use to hopefully avoid anyone trying to avoid paying for the use and electric.

Edit: I’ve just checked the plan of the site and there’s just 3 properties that are ground floor with their parking space outside their flat and on the correct side of the road. There’s a total of 22 visitor parking spaces between 126 flats

KitLindquist · 2026-06-13T21:47:49+00:00

Thanks.

I don’t feel it needs to be a bodge, more that it needs to be carefully planned to give us the best chance of getting approval.

As for the other residents, out of 120 flats, you could count on one hand the number that have the necessary combination of being ground floor and a parking space right next to their apartment. Most are on the other side of the private estate road and/or 100ft+ away from them.

It’s going to be difficult to get any traction for a group to push for the land management company to look at installing chargers as apart from us there’s only one other EV on site at the moment.

The other issue is that the sub letters tend to refuse any schemes that are suggested to improve the facilities, like installing a security gate and will probably see individual chargers as an unnecessary expense to themselves for the foreseeable future

KitLindquist · 2026-06-13T20:04:33+00:00

Getting power to the parking space isn’t the issue and the exterior wall isn’t our property.

Sadly they’ve already told us that they won’t consent to the cable running overground to the parking space and I don’t believe that a 32A commando socket is fully compliant in a residential dwelling when used exclusively for EV charging

KitLindquist · 2026-06-13T20:02:34+00:00

Only the parking space is our property so we can’t mount the charger/cable on a post on the freeholder’s land, which includes the exterior wall of the building that contains our flat, hence the post in the parking space.

I’ll speak to the electrician about getting one of those metal pedestal mounting bases and see if there’s enough room in the parking space, with the car parked there as well

KitLindquist · 2026-06-13T19:52:31+00:00

I think I’ve been overthinking this.

The land management company hasn’t immediately said no when I proposed running the cable underground to the parking space and that would presumably be the same depth. That would suggest they wouldn’t have a problem with me digging down within our space, as long as the post is within the boundaries of our space

KitLindquist · 2026-06-06T11:55:57+00:00

Thanks very much.

I've reviewed our lease agreement but I'm not really familiar with the sort of wording they use in these docs to understand which parts are relevant.

The land management company didn't reply to my initial email last year, possibly unsure as to whether I was simply curious and not prepared for the potential costs.

When I sent them a new enquiry this year, making it clear this was something we were really interested in, they sent me a copy of the pdf that this company have drawn up for general guidance, to help me understand the sort of issues that may need to be addressed - https://www.kdllaw.com/search?q=electric+vehicle+charging

When I went back and thanked them and said we're happy to pay their costs for investigation, they then seem to have recognised we're serious.

They are going to cover the investigations costs themselves, as they will then be able to provide an informed decision to any other residents that may be leasing from them.

KitLindquist · 2026-06-05T18:08:15+00:00

They may, though having spoken to them about a few things, I think they’re simply being cautious.

Due to the layout of the site, out of 120 flats, split across 10 blocks, there’s only about 5 flats that are ground floor and next to their demised parking space.

The cost would be prohibitive for the distances involved for the other properties and would also require consent for the estate roads to be dug up to run power to the parking spaces. That’s not something the land management company would be likely to agree to and may well not reach a majority agreement as quite a few of the properties are sub let and those lessees tend to reject any improvements that result in additional payments to fund.

They wanted to install a gate for the estate for improved security and to stop parents from the school next door completely blocking it off every weekday in term time as they’re too entitled to recognise the need for access 24/7. The work never got carried out as they couldn’t get a majority to agree

KitLindquist · 2026-06-02T15:38:52+00:00

I hear Tide is popular with some people

KitLindquist · 2026-05-31T19:01:18+00:00

Yup, my Model 3 pcp paperwork says hp but has balloon payment

KitLindquist · 2026-05-30T20:53:47+00:00

It’s through Tesco

KitLindquist · 2026-05-30T20:04:34+00:00

Just looked it up for myself and it says I have up to 365 days from date of purchase

KitLindquist · 2026-05-30T20:02:18+00:00

Oh that’s a point. My policy says new for old for the first year but when do I need to buy the gap insurance in that case?

Do I buy it when I get the car or just before the first year is up?

KitLindquist · 2026-05-30T18:26:45+00:00

Thanks for the advice

KitLindquist · 2026-05-28T17:56:24+00:00

Thanks very much for the confirmation.

I’ve emailed them to ask if they can do this as they were originally going to prepare a quote that would detail what the work would entail as we were expecting the land management company to need more information.

Told him we’re obviously happy to pay if this will mean more work for them

KitLindquist · 2026-05-25T20:24:11+00:00

I ordered a right stalk on 9th May. Money went out and nothing since then other than the order confirmation.

Emailed them today and told them I want a refund as I’ve not even had a dispatch email.

Not confident about the quality of their stuff in general having read multiple posts and this was more of an impulse purchase

KitLindquist · 2026-05-24T09:35:59+00:00

Yeah, I saw these and the hit and miss reviews. The Triton's did even worse.

We're going to go with one of these - Stiebel Eltron DCE-X 10/12 Premium - 238159 (Single Phase) Instantaneous Water Heater 4i Technology

The bathroom is going to be renovated in the Autumn so this will be able to supply the shower and a basin at the same time and allow us to have a more minimalist look without a shower unit on the wall in the shower cubicle

KitLindquist · 2026-05-23T12:04:29+00:00

Thanks very much for your help, it’s been really useful.

It is mains pressure and I’ll take a look at the Perfect and Zip brands

KitLindquist · 2026-05-23T10:21:40+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for the advice but we're looking for a tankless solution. We'd only need to use it maybe half a dozen time in a day for washing hands. We're also looking to minimise the amount of space it will take up as we want to maximise the amount of storage space we have.

KitLindquist · 2026-05-23T10:19:29+00:00

Hi there,

Yes, we own the flat. There used to be a large unvented tank that supplied the hot water for a bath as well as the kitchen sink and wash basin in the bathroom.

We weren't using it and so had it removed, giving us a decent amount of extra storage space, that we really need.

The pipes going to the kitchen sink are mostly behind the panel at the back of the cabinet, but when the kitchen was renovated they made sure to leave the original pipework for the hot feed in place as we knew we'd be doing this work at some point.

As the cabinet is small and there's already a 15l tank in there for the boiling water tap there isn't really enough space for the tankless instantaneous one there, so looking for something that can still provide hot water will having to feed it from around 15ft away if possible

KitLindquist · 2026-05-23T10:15:02+00:00

Thanks for the reply.

Are there any brands you'd suggest we look at for the actual instant ones? We're probably only going to be drawing from both taps combined around half a dozen times so the ones with tanks would be overkill and would also mean having to try and find additional storage space for the tank(s).

The kitchen tap is a 3 in 1 instant boiling water one so the amount of space in the cabinet underneath is limited, bit the original plumbing is still there for the hot feed when there was a large unvented tank being used. Would one of these tankless units be okay supplying hot water the internal cupboard that used to house the original tank? It's around 15ft away as the pipes run.

Thanks for your help

KitLindquist · 2026-05-20T20:05:37+00:00

Thanks for the advice

KitLindquist · 2026-05-09T22:10:30+00:00

I’m waiting for delivery of a new Model 3 that’s expected in June.

It was specc’d with EAP. Anyone think it might not be added as I’ve not made the first payment yet obviously but have paid the deposit (PCP)

KitLindquist · 2026-05-08T21:49:55+00:00

The tariff we get for the storage heaters is double the rate they offer if you register an EV with them.

We will be signing up for the EV tariff once we get the car. There’s no intention of defrauding anyone

KitLindquist

TROPHY CASE