Pod point a good choice and where to mount?

Nickj

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So, thinking I’m going to go for a pod point. Tethered unit 7kw and £559 after £350 grant. Anyone installed recently and any feedback? Is PP a safe choice in the U.K. ? Only other one I’ve really looked at is the Anderson and whilst it looks pretty is twice the price.

Second question is where is the best place to mount? I have a double garage ( or cartlodge as has no doors) and park in it most days. Am pondering fitting electric roller doors in the future so placement needs to consider this possibility. Heard that outside mounting is recommended?

Garage pics

Porsche Taycan Pod point a good choice and where to mount? BD493-C92-9-A82-4-E2-F-9-FB9-4-DFDC94-F57-D1



Porsche Taycan Pod point a good choice and where to mount? 94-AE0-C27-4541-4085-ACE7-2-F2-C79281013


Porsche Taycan Pod point a good choice and where to mount? 8-B7-C66-BA-E335-4-C6-A-B78-C-0-D44-BBDEEF3-C
 
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So, thinking I’m going to go for a pod point. Tethered unit 7kw and £559 after £350 grant. Anyone installed recently and any feedback? Is PP a safe choice in the U.K. ? Only other one I’ve really looked at is the Anderson and whilst it looks pretty is twice the price.

Second question is where is the best place to mount? I have a double garage ( or cartlodge as has no doors) and park in it most days. Am pondering fitting electric roller doors in the future so placement needs to consider this possibility. Heard that outside mounting is recommended?

Garage pics

BD493-C92-9-A82-4-E2-F-9-FB9-4-DFDC94-F57-D1.jpg



94-AE0-C27-4541-4085-ACE7-2-F2-C79281013.jpg


8-B7-C66-BA-E335-4-C6-A-B78-C-0-D44-BBDEEF3-C.jpg
If you like to reverse the cars in as shown would you contemplate the middle division pier Between doors? everything you do these days needs to have consideration for a 2 car garage possibly recharging two cars .... although Sod’s law would say 7kw might not be sufficient to bring two cars up to optimum 80/85% charge over anything other than 6-7 hours overnight hence suffice for one car charging only. Most chargers have a facility for work as part of a pair so adding a second charger becomes logical - if so you’d drive in as opposed to reverse and mount on back wall, handy to meter box power feed.
 

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So, thinking I’m going to go for a pod point. Tethered unit 7kw and £559 after £350 grant. Anyone installed recently and any feedback? Is PP a safe choice in the U.K. ? Only other one I’ve really looked at is the Anderson and whilst it looks pretty is twice the price.
I will chime in on Pod Point. I invested in them via crowdfunding back in 2015, so have followed their fortunes for personal reasons as well as for charging my previous i8 and now Taycan.

Charging experience on their public posts over the years has been pretty poor, I was always reporting broken chargers on their app. I gave up on using them after a while, and decided not to buy one when installing a home charger.

When I was having my Andersen installed I asked the installers about Pod Point (I still had an equity stake at the time) and they said they were amongst the worst chargers on the market and tried always steer clients away from them. The main reason was reliability and very poor service for the customer (and installers).

Good news for me is that were bought by EdF earlier this year so I have been bought out. Maybe this has bought a cash injection to improve their product and service (I doubt it).....
 

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In the US I recommend to friends/family that you put the EV charger as close to the garage door as practical - if you have a cable long enough it can reach the front of the car no problem - but it also then allows you to reach a car in the driveway - allowing for maximum flexibility as to where to park a vehicle and still be able to charge it.
 

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In the US I recommend to friends/family that you put the EV charger as close to the garage door as practical - if you have a cable long enough it can reach the front of the car no problem - but it also then allows you to reach a car in the driveway - allowing for maximum flexibility as to where to park a vehicle and still be able to charge it.
Yep I agree with that... The middle pier front could be an option but you will need to think about space if installing roller doors later (not in terms of fit but any possible reduced access). Then of course there is the cable run to the middle pier as opposed to one side of the garage.

The back wall has the benefit of being more tidy and central but you will likely need to park nose in and you will not have access outside of the garage for charing.

In terms of pod point I was also considering this but in the end decided to go with Zappi. The logic here was app; wireless access/updates; ability to regulate charge from 1.5 to 7+kw; ability to charge from SolarPV or a mix of both; and 7.5m tethered cable that wraps around the unit (not as neatly as Andersen but good enough). I don't have solar but I guess it is a bit of future proofing.
 


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Andersen and Zappi seem fairly similar in functionality (Andersen also does solar), I went for the Andersen as it is installed on an exterior wall so the better looking unit with the hidden cable was important to me.

One other thing to factor into a smart home charger choice could be your wifi signal. The Andersen app is pretty good but the base unit needs to be WiFi connected. My signal was just about reaching the unit when it was installed on my exterior wall, but I kept getting notifications when it dropped out (once or twice a day). I boosted the 2.4GHz signal on the relevant WAP for outside and it’s been flawless ever since.

So if you’re going down the smart route, check the WiFi in your garage.
 

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I went with PodPoint for my home install - I've not got my car yet so can't provide any feedback on how good it is...or if it works ok :)

My reason for going with PodPoint was I required a 10M cable length to reach my car, so tethered Andersen was not long enough, in fact I couldn't find a 10m tethered anyway and so had to look at untethered.
That left me with the rest of the players in the market place which all seem much of a muchness TBH, though I agree the Zappi has a lot of features especially if you have solar panels.

I choose Pod Point as I wanted something simple that just works, no need for any or much extra smarts, as they are the approved installer for Audi and partners (similar to Andersen and Porsche) I thought it would be a safe bet and that the VAG relationship with them would mean they are a safe bet for the Taycan.

I found the install process relatively fast and efficient, sent the forms and turned up when they said, install went ok (like I mentioned above I don't have the car yet to fully test). I did have to chase them post-install for the electrical certificate and paperwork for the ETS grant (applicable in Scotland) that did take some email, twitter and other chasing but did get it after a week of staying on top of them.
 

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<SNIP>
My reason for going with PodPoint was I required a 10M cable length to reach my car, so tethered Andersen was not long enough, in fact I couldn't find a 10m tethered anyway and so had to look at untethered.</SNIP>
More for the possible benefit of other thread readers than you (since you've already purchased) but the Rolec WallPod is available with a 10m tethered cable option and it works with the Octopus Agile tariff. (Apparently - I'm not an owner, just doing the rounds before purchase)
 


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If you like to reverse the cars in as shown would you contemplate the middle division pier Between doors? everything you do these days needs to have consideration for a 2 car garage possibly recharging two cars .... although Sod’s law would say 7kw might not be sufficient to bring two cars up to optimum 80/85% charge over anything other than 6-7 hours overnight hence suffice for one car charging only. Most chargers have a facility for work as part of a pair so adding a second charger becomes logical - if so you’d drive in as opposed to reverse and mount on back wall, handy to meter box power feed.
Middle brick post was an option as this was would I could chart outside also. Only worry on this is if i did fit doors that middle post may get modified!
 
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I will chime in on Pod Point. I invested in them via crowdfunding back in 2015, so have followed their fortunes for personal reasons as well as for charging my previous i8 and now Taycan.

Charging experience on their public posts over the years has been pretty poor, I was always reporting broken chargers on their app. I gave up on using them after a while, and decided not to buy one when installing a home charger.

When I was having my Andersen installed I asked the installers about Pod Point (I still had an equity stake at the time) and they said they were amongst the worst chargers on the market and tried always steer clients away from them. The main reason was reliability and very poor service for the customer (and installers).

Good news for me is that were bought by EdF earlier this year so I have been bought out. Maybe this has bought a cash injection to improve their product and service (I doubt it).....

Several work colleagues have all got pod points albeit under 6 months and all seem happy so far. Maybe they’ve improved recently? Both reported a problem but fixed remotely in under 30 mins so both thought service was great. Does the Anderson bring a technological advantage and is more than just looks ? It’s nearly double the money?
 
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Yep I agree with that... The middle pier front could be an option but you will need to think about space if installing roller doors later (not in terms of fit but any possible reduced access). Then of course there is the cable run to the middle pier as opposed to one side of the garage.

The back wall has the benefit of being more tidy and central but you will likely need to park nose in and you will not have access outside of the garage for charing.

In terms of pod point I was also considering this but in the end decided to go with Zappi. The logic here was app; wireless access/updates; ability to regulate charge from 1.5 to 7+kw; ability to charge from SolarPV or a mix of both; and 7.5m tethered cable that wraps around the unit (not as neatly as Andersen but good enough). I don't have solar but I guess it is a bit of future proofing.
Dumb question of the day. Which side is which from a charging port perspective on a U.K. the car?

Agree on your door comment.

Doesn't the PP have wireless updates and an app? Haven’t considered the regulated charging. Is this something I need? Think pp now comes with a 7.5m cable ( used to be 4.8m or so). Not sure what solarpv is but don’t have solar panels and won’t be considering the unless the incentives start again, and payback time reduces.
 
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I went with PodPoint for my home install - I've not got my car yet so can't provide any feedback on how good it is...or if it works ok :)

My reason for going with PodPoint was I required a 10M cable length to reach my car, so tethered Andersen was not long enough, in fact I couldn't find a 10m tethered anyway and so had to look at untethered.
That left me with the rest of the players in the market place which all seem much of a muchness TBH, though I agree the Zappi has a lot of features especially if you have solar panels.

I choose Pod Point as I wanted something simple that just works, no need for any or much extra smarts, as they are the approved installer for Audi and partners (similar to Andersen and Porsche) I thought it would be a safe bet and that the VAG relationship with them would mean they are a safe bet for the Taycan.

I found the install process relatively fast and efficient, sent the forms and turned up when they said, install went ok (like I mentioned above I don't have the car yet to fully test). I did have to chase them post-install for the electrical certificate and paperwork for the ETS grant (applicable in Scotland) that did take some email, twitter and other chasing but did get it after a week of staying on top of them.
Thanks for posting. Good to hear both sides.
 
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Andersen and Zappi seem fairly similar in functionality (Andersen also does solar), I went for the Andersen as it is installed on an exterior wall so the better looking unit with the hidden cable was important to me.

One other thing to factor into a smart home charger choice could be your wifi signal. The Andersen app is pretty good but the base unit needs to be WiFi connected. My signal was just about reaching the unit when it was installed on my exterior wall, but I kept getting notifications when it dropped out (once or twice a day). I boosted the 2.4GHz signal on the relevant WAP for outside and it’s been flawless ever since.

So if you’re going down the smart route, check the WiFi in your garage.
Is Anderson worth double if you forget aesthetics? If inside the garage not so worried as long as it wraps around for tidyness. Will check zappi out this evening.

WiFi signal good in garage as have by complete WiFi and have a disc in the garage as have a cctv camera in there and needed the disc to get this working.
 

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I have had a zappi v2 for previous six months and it has been flawless. Mine is located in a underground car park (under my apartment block) and so it is unable to connect to a network (which requires a hub device), so I can't use any apps or update its firmware.

Nevertheless it has worked away without issue.

It has its own screen which is helpful for keeping an eye on how much KWh has been consumed.

As my charger is installed in a car park with 100s of neighbours spaces, I valued the PIN code on the zappi which ensures that only I can use it to charge.

Looks like you don't have those considerations in your location!
 
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Anyone know how much the zappi v2 costs installed in U.K. roughly. Can see various sites but not are very clear!
Sponsored

 
 




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