Home EV Charging (Australia)

Before you weigh up the $2K, ask the sparky exactly what that 3-phase run to the garage was actually terminated with two years ago — a lot of 'ready for later' work stops at a blank plate, not a charger-rated isolator. If it's genuinely terminated and tested, the install cost is mostly the Ocular Home Plus unit and conduit, not new wiring. For 200km a week the granny charger will keep up fine most nights. The only real case for 11kW is a second EV down the track sharing the same circuit, or wanting a full charge inside an hour on the rare big day.

Good point, I actually don't know what state that run was left in. Is that something I ask the original sparky about or does whoever quotes the Ocular Home Plus check it themselves as standard?

Whoever's quoting the wall unit should be checking it as standard, but I'd ask outright rather than assume. If they don't mention checking the termination at all in the quote, that's worth pushing back on before you sign anything.

Will do, appreciate the steer — wouldn't have thought to bring that up myself, would've just signed off on the quote as is.

With the battery already in, get the installer to confirm whether the Ocular Home Plus can talk to your inverter and only draw once export passes a set threshold. Mine's set to kick in past 4kW so it's mostly free sunlight going into the car instead of a few cents a kWh back to the grid. Changes the payback math a fair bit versus just comparing off-peak tariff rates.

Never even considered that. Is that a setting on the charger unit itself or does it need the battery system's app to actually manage it?

Depends on the charger — some do it natively, others need the inverter's API talking to a smart charger controller. Worth asking the installer specifically before they start, because retrofitting that after install is more hassle than it needs to be.

Running mine plain off a GPO in Newcastle, no solar, no battery, nothing like your setup. Still gets me about 15km an hour overnight which covers what I actually drive. Different equation entirely once you've already got the panels and battery paid off though.

That's the bit people miss comparing these threads. My $2K+ was the wiring from scratch, no existing 3-phase to build on. OP's really only paying for the charger and a fairly short run.

Curious whether Geely flags home charger installs for warranty purposes at all, the way some of the Chinese brands apparently do with aftermarket accessories. Anyone with an EX5 run into that yet, or is it a non-issue like it seems to be with BYD?

Slightly off topic, but does an install like this ever get bundled into a novated lease as a running cost, or is charging equipment always excluded from that side of things?

Asked my provider almost this exact question for my own install. Got told charging equipment isn't in the standard running cost bundle but might be added if I got a separate quote upfront. Still don't know if that's typical or just how mine works.

watching this one closely

Still not totally sure what 11kW actually changes day to day versus what I've got. Does the car charge noticeably faster overnight or is it more about the big top-ups after a long drive?

The wiring risk your mate's talking about comes down to the circuit behind the GPO, not the granny charger itself. An original, dedicated circuit in decent condition will run one every night for years without drama. What actually causes problems is a loose neutral or a GPO that's already been swapped out with a cheap aftermarket one at some point. A $150 call-out to check the terminals tells you more than either the $400 portable or the $700 wall unit will.

No idea how original that GPO is, house was built in the 80s. Worth getting someone out to check it before I spend anything on the wall unit?

80s wiring's exactly the era I'd want eyes on before trusting it nightly. Not saying it's bad, just that the outlet's actual condition is the variable that matters, not whether it's a granny charger or a $700 unit.

Never bothered upgrading on my Atto 3. Granny charger's covered every commute so far, no dramas. Only reason I'd spend the money is wanting the speed, not because someone told me the outlet's risky.

No idea what climate you're in but mine gets warm to the touch on the properly hot days up here. Not alarming exactly, just something I've started checking that I never used to bother with.

same boat, watching this

Your friend's right to flag it, though the actual risk with a genuine heavy-duty lead isn't the cable rating, it's ever leaving it coiled anywhere along that 15m run. A coiled lead under a sustained overnight load can heat up in the coil itself even when the cable's fine laid out straight. Run it fully uncoiled every time, check the plug end isn't warm a few hours in, and look at an actual outdoor-rated EVSE extension if this is a nightly thing rather than occasional.

It's stretched flat the whole way along the fence, never coiled anywhere. Does that mean I'm probably fine, or still worth swapping it out regardless?

Flat is the main thing you can control yourself, so that's a good start. Still wouldn't run a general-purpose Bunnings lead as a permanent setup though — a proper 10A outdoor EVSE extension rated for continuous load exists and isn't much more than what you paid for the Arlec.

Where would I actually find one of those — an auto-electrical supplier, or does a normal hardware chain stock them too?

Went through something similar before I gave up and started using the untethered chargers near the port instead. Wasn't the cable that got me in the end, it was the neighbours complaining about a lead running across the shared path.

No complaints yet, but mine does run along a bit of the shared side path too. Might just be a matter of time before someone says something.

Different problem to yours but same instinct up here — check the plug end by hand a few hours in, not just at the start. That's usually where you'd notice something first.

That's basically it. Costs nothing to check and catches most of what actually goes wrong before it turns into a real problem.

Did basically this for the first month before my proper install went in. Never had an issue, but I also wasn't doing it for two months straight the way you are.

glad someone else does this too

At least you're not paying twice for it. Looked at the same Arlec leads myself before just deciding to plug straight into the GPO since my car's parked right next to it anyway.

Does the lead length actually slow down the charging itself or is that purely a safety thing? Never thought about that angle until reading this.

Bit of both. Voltage drop over 15m on a lighter-gauge lead can genuinely slow the charge rate, not just add heat. Heavy-duty gauge like the Arlec minimises that but doesn't get rid of it entirely.

Priced a proper outdoor EVSE lead for a mate in a similar spot recently. Wasn't actually that much more than a decent heavy-duty Arlec once you compare them properly, just not sold in the same aisle at Bunnings.

How warm is too warm on that plug check people keep mentioning? Genuinely wouldn't know what I was feeling for if I tried it myself.

Noticeably warmer than the wall plate around it, not just slightly warm to touch. If it's getting close to uncomfortable to hold your hand on, that's already past where I'd want it.

this thread is making me nervous

Not exactly my segment, but curious if other renters running the cheaper Chinese EVs are doing the same lead workaround, or if this is more of a first-adopter thing specific to the Born.

Different situation entirely, but this made me go check whether my own outdoor GPO is actually on its own circuit or piggybacking off the laundry like yours seems to. Worth everyone checking, not just renters.

Two granny chargers pulling close to 10A each is roughly 20A combined, which most single-phase boards carry fine on the main switch — an RCD trip is a fault trip, not an overload trip, so it comes down to whether the circuits and outlets themselves are sound, not whether the board can take the combined draw. What actually matters is whether those two GPOs are on separate circuits. If they're on the same one, that's where I'd be looking first, not the board overall.

How do we actually find that out without getting someone out specifically to check? Or does that always need a sparky at the board regardless of what we try ourselves first?

Always needs someone at the board with a tester unless the circuits happen to be clearly labelled, and most aren't. Twenty minute job, worth doing before you decide anything either way.

Did something adjacent before I added the battery system, two chargers sharing a board. Staggered the start times an hour apart instead of both hitting midnight together, which kept peak draw down without touching the wiring at all.

That's a lot cheaper than the $8K quote if it actually holds up long term. Manual timer plug, or something smarter managing the schedule for you?

Just a basic timer plug on one of the two for now. Not elegant, but at $15 versus $8,000 it bought me time to work out if the bigger upgrade was even worth it.

We've only ever needed the one charger so can't speak to the two-car version of this, but $8K sounds exactly like the kind of upgrade that's easy to talk yourself into before you've actually hit a real problem.

Not your climate probably, but running two loads off one board up here in the wet season, I'd also want to know how hot that switchboard cupboard gets closed up overnight.

we've got the same setup, watching

To actually pull 22kW three-phase you need a cable rated 32A per phase, not just '32A' on the label without checking it's the 3-phase version — some of the cheaper ones are 32A single-phase only and will bottleneck you exactly like you're worried about. Length-wise, 5m covers most driveway layouts, 7m gets you the reach for an awkward second bay without dragging it along the ground. For the boot as well, a 7m 3-phase cable is heavier than most expect, closer to 4-5kg coiled, worth knowing before assuming it's a casual toss-in item.

Good to know on the weight, wasn't expecting that much. Does a 3-phase cable still work fine plugged into a single-phase destination charger on the road, or does it need the full 3-phase supply just to function at all?

Works fine on single-phase, it just negotiates down and only uses one of the three conductors doing anything. The cable itself doesn't care what's on the other end, that's handled between the car and the charger.

Whatever you land on, get in the habit of actually taking it with you every time you leave the house, not just for the road trip. Untethered means useless the one day you forget it — learned that one the hard way.

Does going untethered change anything if you end up with a mixed household of brands using the same bay eventually? Trying to work out if a cable like this is genuinely universal across Type 2 cars or if some of the cheaper imports still cut corners on the pin count.

Type 2 is Type 2 regardless of brand, all seven pins are standardised. What actually varies is whether the car itself can accept 3-phase input — some models are locked to single-phase no matter what cable you plug in.

Complete beginner question, but does going untethered actually save you anything on the install itself, or is it purely about the flexibility of carrying your own cable?

Marginal at best on install cost in my case, maybe a small saving not needing the tethered cable gland. Real reason for me was the two-bay routing, not the price difference.

Priced a 3-phase cable for a friend recently and the jump from 5m to 7m was steeper than the length difference should really justify. Worth shopping around before just taking whichever installer's default option.

this whole setup sounds expensive

Still on a plain granny charger over here so half this thread goes over my head, but is 3-phase basically just the faster option or is there more to it than that?