Pod point a good choice and where to mount?

[Docjonday]

I have a pod point and have had one a while (Hybrid Panamera before the Taycan).

Never had any issues with it, and when I mentioned I was changing to a Taycan, I retained the existing unit as the switches inside were just changed to give 7kW, so no extra cost.

Im an electrician by trade so obviously knew about earthing arrangements etc for EV chargers. Most have this taken care of now, but you may require an additional earth rod installing with some chargers which can bump the price at survey time.

Ultimately they all really do the same job. If you use solar, I would recommend Zappi as this integrates better than anyone else's. If you want a nice looking unit, pay the extra and get an Andersen as they are by far the best looking unit on the market. For all other installs, just get the cheapest.

So, having posted my original enquiry on here a while ago, my Taycan finally arrives tomorrow. Hence, I now need to put the electrical infrastructure in place and need some further advice beyond the fab advice already posted.

My favoured option is to have an industrial 32A switched socket fitted in the adjoining garage to my house, sourced from a dedicated 32A supply, fed from an extra mcb tagged to my existing consumer unit or, create means for a dedicated 32A supply directly from my meter which, unlike my CU, is mounted on the opposite side of the garage wall. I then plan to mount the Porsche Mobile Charger Connect(PMCC) in the garage and plug it into the newly fitted 32A switched socket. My electrician is unsure whether an earthing rod is necessary as part of the job. Since the need for an earthing rod appears charger dependent, does anyone know if the PMCC makes one necessary to avoid a scenario where the earth could be lost and the vehicle become live? Or does the PMCC have a fail safe for this built in like some chargers?

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[snb7x]

So, having posted my original enquiry on here a while ago, my Taycan finally arrives tomorrow. Hence, I now need to put the electrical infrastructure in place and need some further advice beyond the fab advice already posted.

My favoured option is to have an industrial 32A switched socket fitted in the adjoining garage to my house, sourced from a dedicated 32A supply, fed from an extra mcb tagged to my existing consumer unit or, create means for a dedicated 32A supply directly from my meter which, unlike my CU, is mounted on the opposite side of the garage wall. I then plan to mount the Porsche Mobile Charger Connect(PMCC) in the garage and plug it into the newly fitted 32A switched socket. My electrician is unsure whether an earthing rod is necessary as part of the job. Since the need for an earthing rod appears charger dependent, does anyone know if the PMCC makes one necessary to avoid a scenario where the earth could be lost and the vehicle become live? Or does the PMCC have a fail safe for this built in like some chargers?

When I got my Taycan back in July my installer offered me a choice of chargers and I opted for Wallbox as it didn’t need an earthing rod.

The rest of my (home) install was 100% same as you describe ... it was handier to place an ECB in my meter box (& adequate) space and he drilled through the back of the wall in a loop to fit the charger alongside the meter box.

Just remembering at my holiday home I grabbed a bit of redundant 8.5kw shower cable and routed it from consumer unit / dist’n board to an outside wall and popped on. 32amp commando - I charge the car when I’m there using the Porsche Connect Charger it works fine although I did have to screw down the ampage to 28/29amps as it was throwing the trip (my electrician thought that was linked to a little DC current that flows down the line of new wiring but my adjustment of amp on connect charger was enough to cure the problem. (The fancy connect charger will not be supplier as forced option on my new Turbo due in 2-3 weeks so I hope I can still adjust the amps with the more basic connect charger! Mmm?)

Hope this helps,

 

[Docjonday]

When I got my Taycan back in July my installer offered me a choice of chargers and I opted for Wallbox as it didn’t need an earthing rod.

The rest of my (home) install was 100% same as you describe ... it was handier to place an ECB in my meter box (& adequate) space and he drilled through the back of the wall in a loop to fit the charger alongside the meter box.

Just remembering at my holiday home I grabbed a bit of redundant 8.5kw shower cable and routed it from consumer unit / dist’n board to an outside wall and popped on. 32amp commando - I charge the car when I’m there using the Porsche Connect Charger it works fine although I did have to screw down the ampage to 28/29amps as it was throwing the trip (my electrician thought that was linked to a little DC current that flows down the line of new wiring but my adjustment of amp on connect charger was enough to cure the problem. (The fancy connect charger will not be supplier as forced option on my new Turbo due in 2-3 weeks so I hope I can still adjust the amps with the more basic connect charger! Mmm?)

Hope this helps,

Thanks for the input. Good to know I’m on the right lines. My only concern is since I’m using the Porsche Mobile Charger Connect, rather than a Wallbox, I’ll likely will need an earthing rod, making the job vastly more complex since my property is surrounded by a large paved area with no earth to drop the copper rod into within 40 ft of the charge point. This link suggests the vast majority of chargers need an earth rod be added.

https://myenergi.com/pen-protection/

 

[bootsie]

Thanks for the input. Good to know I’m on the right lines. My only concern is since I’m using the Porsche Mobile Charger Connect, rather than a Wallbox, I’ll likely will need an earthing rod, making the job vastly more complex since my property is surrounded by a large paved area with no earth to drop the copper rod into within 40 ft of the charge point. This link suggests the vast majority of chargers need an earth rod be added.

https://myenergi.com/pen-protection/

You can buy PEN protection devices like this that are an alternative to an earth rod:
https://evonestop.co.uk/products/o-pen-ev-consumer-unit

Also, I think the earth rod is only required if the EV charger is outside - if it’s inside the garage I’m not sure it’s required. But I’m no expert (or even an electrician) so I’d get someone who knows better to confirm that.

 

[Docjonday]

You can buy PEN protection devices like this that are an alternative to an earth rod:
https://evonestop.co.uk/products/o-pen-ev-consumer-unit

Also, I think the earth rod is only required if the EV charger is outside - if it’s inside the garage I’m not sure it’s required. But I’m no expert (or even an electrician) so I’d get someone who knows better to confirm that.

Many thanks! Really helpful. I’ve now recommended that CU to my electrician. Given the lack of means to install an earthing rod close to my property, this looks a far more cost effective solution.

While my charger will be housed within the garage, the charging cable will go beneath the garage door into the car on the driveway when charging - the Taycan won’t fit in my current garage. Hence, while not an electrician, that strikes me as creating a risk for the vehicle to become live if the charger suffers a fault and can’t dump excess current within the circuit.

Really surprised the more I read about this that the topic hasn’t found more mentions across the forum. Statistics on those receiving electric shocks from EV through lack of grounding are surprisingly relatively high! It seems the only charger where you don’t need a dedicated earthing rod based on the new British Standards is the Zappi. Yet you can’t buy a Zappi it seems at present due to supply chain issues. And now using a domestic 13A socket in tangent with the Ionity charger a few miles away seems a bad option because I now read ongoing use of the 13A can create damage on your domestic wiring by placing too great a load on the circuit (which I’m guessing creates a heat build up and damage accordingly).

I’m sure these are ‘teething problems’ associated with the current stage of Ev adoption and installation knowledge presently being thinly spread across UK electricians. But the manufacturers should also improve matters by providing more guidance on what domestic infrastructure is required. Just recommending Andersson and leaving it at that feels the wrong approach and could be improved.

 

[wmras]

You can buy PEN protection devices like this that are an alternative to an earth rod:
https://evonestop.co.uk/products/o-pen-ev-consumer-unit

Also, I think the earth rod is only required if the EV charger is outside - if it’s inside the garage I’m not sure it’s required. But I’m no expert (or even an electrician) so I’d get someone who knows better to confirm that.

Part of the”problem” with the PMCC is ground-fault protection is already built in, but may be more sensitive than others. The OPEN device may be duplicating the PMCC fault protection, but I am not familiar with the PMCC UK version.

 

[Kingske]

Part of the”problem” with the PMCC is ground-fault protection is already built in, but may be more sensitive than others. The OPEN device may be duplicating the PMCC fault protection, but I am not familiar with the PMCC UK version.

I experienced that the US version of the PMCC is very sensitive to proper grounding.

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