reohn2 wrote:thirdcrank wrote:brooksby wrote:... do they work off the mains or do you need a special charging point in your house? ...
It's a special charging point outside. My nect-door-but-one neighbour had just had one fitted and so has somebody else just round the corner. I've a feeling they may be a requirement on new houses because some quite small new houses near hear all have them as standard.
Are they fed from the household elec supply through the meter?
There is an issue even here.
I toyed with a Renault Twizy, but the expense of battery hire was more than I spend on petrol for the same milage (£55 per month)
The other thing was that whilst there were a number of electrical points that I could technically use, there were different types of connectors
Within 10 miles there were a dozen, but... Some use a normal 3 point plug, some the "Type 2" (now becoming more standard), some the CCS, The CHAdeMO,Commando, Type 1, JEVS and Tesla. So a range of cables was required at £250 each. The Twizy uses a type F (not available locally) or a standard 3 pin which were rare
Secondly even with the cables there are differences in supply. We will stick with the "Type 2" as this is becoming the industry standard (according to some sources), the supply varies from 3kW to 50kW which affects not only charging time, but whether your car's circuitry can cope. I was told that despite higher charging rates being available, you could only use the 3kW with a Twizy
In summary reply to the OP....
There will need to be a massive standardisation in connectors and battery charging currents before any of this is possible. Otherwise you may find yourself with a charger in the street lamp outside your door that you are completely unable to use