If you are considering installing an EV charger as part of your home improvement plans, you may be wondering if your home has enough power to support the energy consumption.
Also, it’s not uncommon to see advice that you should switch to a three-phase power supply if you’re installing one – rather than splitting the load with gas – as the main source in terms of how you power and heat your home. EV charger.
But, that’s always the case and how do you know if you need to upgrade your supply? Energy expert David Hilton explains what to consider.
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What is three phase electricity?
There are two different types of electric supplies that you can have in your home. The most common, single phase, is the 240-volt supply found in most homes, which has two wires – one active and one neutral, (I know there’s a third wire but it’s earth, not power) and goes to zero 50 times a second.
optional, Three phase electricityContains three active wires so delivers a steady, continuous flow of power that never drops to zero, effectively delivering three times more power.
In basic terms this means you can run more electricity-based devices or things at any given time.
Understanding how your home uses power and what each item draws from your power supply so you can determine the total load seems like the way to establish whether you’ll need to upgrade to a three-phase supply for an EV charger.
But, before you run out and start reading the energy labels on all your appliances and create some complicated spreadsheet, or ask AI to try and do the work. How much energy does your home use?Let me make it easy for you.
Do I need three-phase electricity for an EV charger?
First and foremost, it’s fair to say that not all of your household appliances will be running at once, and certainly not at flat out and full speed.
But, what is accurate, is that when we look at all the things that use electricity in the home, the one that can potentially use the most energy is electric vehicle charging. And, that’s why statistics require a little more thought, start by evaluating how many miles you travel a day and how many electric cars family members have in the household.
For example, if you only have two electric cars and you travel 40 to 50 miles each day, that means if your electric vehicle has a reasonable range you can plug in the cars every other night and generate about 100 miles of charge per car.
I say nighttime, because most of the time you’ll set the charger to charge the car during this cheap period – depending on who your energy provider is and what tariff you’re on.
If your home has a single-phase supply, however, it brings some limitations. You can only charge the car at a maximum of 7.2kW as this is the limit on single-phase EV chargers. That equates to about 22 to 29 miles of range for every hour plugged in.
In my case, my electric vehicle only delivers about three miles per kilowatt, so I can charge a maximum of 132 miles overnight at a cheap rate. But, this was not much use if I needed to go on a long journey as my vehicle’s battery capacity was actually 82kWh. So, it took two overnights to fully charge my vehicle when it was very low.
Additional problems with EV charging using a single-phase supply in a case like mine? No one else can charge during that time, potentially leaving the car without any power.
So, if you have more than two cars, or one that really needs a full charge at once, then yes, you may need to consider a three-phase electric supply. And, although that may not seem like a problem now if you haven’t switched to electric vehicles yet, it’s likely to become one in the future.
Can you manage without upgrading?
That said, despite the fact that we may need it in the future, we don’t have a three-phase supply in our family home, and we’re not looking to switch to one just yet.
We have a single-phase 100 Amp supply and we have an EV car charger, Solar PV panels, Air source heat pumpDouble electric oven and one Induction hobPlus the usual other appliances such as TVs, Playstations, washing machines and tumble dryers (we replace Heat pump tumble dryer which has low energy consumption).
We know there may be some pinch points with EV charging in the future but we think with some careful planning and management, we can avoid any problems.
One of the extra steps we’ve taken to prevent problems is to have devices called CT clamps attached to the car chargers we have. This monitors how much energy is being used in the home, and if the load gets too high the car charger simply ‘slows down’ and charges the car at a reduced rate.
In summary, in my experience, if you have an average-sized house, a decent single-phase electric supply and at least 100 Amps, then a three-phase electric supply is not always necessary, even if you have a lot. Electro-Tech Fitted in house.
On a larger home, however, a three-phase supply becomes more important and can reduce the need for appliance management, especially with EV car charging.
The size and value of the home, combined with the cost of installing a three-phase supply, as well as your personal desire for convenience and how much car charging you need, will likely be deciding factors. For a new one Self buildingIt would certainly make sense, but for home renovations, you can manage with what you have, for now.
