Free Home charger installation?

[scotdoc72]

So - the £500 has arrived. But - yesterday I got an email from the wallbox installer (new motion) saying that if I have a survey before the end of march the 350 Uk gov grant will be covered - even if the installation will be several months from now.

My garage has plenty of 3pin sockets, but the wiring would need to be upgraded from the main household fuse box to the garage for a wallbox charger. So - the total estimated cost would be around £1500.

Questions:
1. If I’ve taken the £500, have I waived my right to a discounted wallbox installation from new motion? I wasn’t told what the terms of accepting the cash were
2. I’ll be keeping my xc60 in the garage overnight - and so (even with the larger battery) is it worth the hassle/expense of a wallbox installation, given that it will probably charge fully overnight?

[Clan]

Originally Posted by scotdoc72

So - the £500 has arrived. But - yesterday I got an email from the wallbox installer (new motion) saying that if I have a survey before the end of march the 350 Uk gov grant will be covered - even if the installation will be several months from now.

My garage has plenty of 3pin sockets, but the wiring would need to be upgraded from the main household fuse box to the garage for a wallbox charger. So - the total estimated cost would be around £1500.

Questions:
1. If I’ve taken the £500, have I waived my right to a discounted wallbox installation from new motion? I wasn’t told what the terms of accepting the cash were
2. I’ll be keeping my xc60 in the garage overnight - and so (even with the larger battery) is it worth the hassle/expense of a wallbox installation, given that it will probably charge fully overnight?

contact your dealer , updated charger situation info was sent out to them on Thursday ...

[Phil55]

Had my free charger installed today after a 9 month wait. You should have been eligible for a free charger as the offer was extended to the end of September but your dealer should have started proceedings at that time.

[Tony H]

@scotdoc Don't forget you are in Scotland - you could also qualify for a further grant on top of the UK govt one.
https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/gra...point-funding/
You could get another £250, or depending on where in Aberdeenshire you are possibly another £350.

Don't think of it just for your current car. The XC60 PHEV might charge from a granny charger overnight, but what might your next car be? In 3 or 4 years you might decide to go for a full electric you may need a proper charger to charge that, and by then the funding might have totally dried up. (for example when we got a charger fitted 2 years ago we got £500 from the UK govt and £350 from the Scottish govt, leaving us only having to pay Polar £49 to supply and fit the charger including all the cabling)

[PhilSwallowUK]

I had my New Motion charger installed yesterday after a 9 month wait. I wish I had taken the £500 when offered, although when I researched it at the time there were no Gov Grant install slots available.

The massive fail with this unit is that it does not have an option for off-peak charging - it is just a dumb charger, laughingly described as the “Advanced” model. According to Shell Recharge customer services they “hope to be able to offer scheduled charging in 2023” - I was staggered by this, quite frankly.

New Govt Regs starting 30/06/22 state that the ability to schedule charging for both off peak tariffs and to avoid peak demand if poss, must be provided. Good luck to all at Shell Recharge trying to comply with that!

On the plus side my electrics have been updated (brilliant installation by SMS Group), so if I engage in a conversation with Shell (my email should trigger that), I might suggest they take it off me, give me some cash and I will get a local electrician to fit one that I will buy. I will not hold my breath however . . .

[DoaM]

I took the £500 payment from Volvo, and arranged for a Wallbox Pulsar Plus to be fitted. This was £940 less the OLEV grant of £350 = £590, less the Volvo £500 = £90. I also applied for (and got) the EST grant of £250 ... so all in all I got a free charge point plus £160 profit.

PS the Wallbox app allows the setting of charge schedules. But I thought the car itself could also do this?

[DoaM]

Originally Posted by Tony H

@scotdoc Don't forget you are in Scotland - you could also qualify for a further grant on top of the UK govt one.
https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/gra...point-funding/
You could get another £250, or depending on where in Aberdeenshire you are possibly another £350.

I think the EST grant ended on March 31st, that's why I did mine back in February ... and I don't even have my new car yet.

https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/gra...point-funding/

[PhilSwallowUK]

Nice result with getting a profit from the deal.

If you mean the Volvo Cars app then the charging section is pretty basic, it barely gives the correct information straight away, usually needing a refresh. If I am missing something then I'd be delighted to know what it is.

Shell Recharge replied to some of my social media postings and said scheduled charging is coming soon, hmm

[PhilSwallowUK]

A quick update on this.

Shell reached out to me after watching my YouTube video about the lack of this key feature and offered for me to be part of a pilot to test out the feature. The test access was finalised today and a quick trial worked fine. I will run my charge nightly having set up a schedule to coincide with my cheaper night-time tariff.

The testing period formally starts on Monday so we shall see how it goes.