YOUR VIEWS
WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com
Panel beater
In common with many other home owners, I’ve installed PV (solar) panels on the house roof, principally for car charging. I discovered to my concern that the new 7.4kW Pod Point ‘smart’ charger and app don’t allow any variation in the charging current.
The PV panels can provide around 4kW, but my new charger charges at 7.4kW (32A). Most of the time, unless I’m occasionally needing a fast charge, I want a slower charge that’s entirely free of cost, drawing all the power from my roof panels and nothing from the grid. The app will allow me to program when to charge (daylight hours) but not to alter its charging rate. I therefore incur cost for around half the power used and needlessly draw energy from the grid.
This is unacceptable for both cost and environmental considerations.
Chris Monkhouse Prestbury, Cheshire
Socket solution
In regards to Jeff Yong’s difficulties with getting a home wallbox installed for the EV that his wife has on order (28 April), we’re also waiting for ours, having just taken delivery of a Jaguar I-Pace; but in the meantime, we plug our car into a three-pin socket and it’s charged by the morning (after driving about 50 miles in the day on average).