Charging EVs versus NZs net electricity generation

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marte, Jun 26, 4:44am
How often is ' Night rate ' power switched off & on?
I got the impression thats its hardly done any more & its really a throwback to the pre 1970's electricity supply. But, that since its there, it can & will be utilised & is quite handy when it comes to that.

At the end of the day, i think home solar power is the quick answer. Even 5 years from now EVs will still be rare & home generation makes sense for those who can afford a new EV,. The solar setup becomes both a investment in economy because of cheaper car fuel prices via electricity, plus cheaper electricity prices without having to invest so much $ into a power supply upgrade, & a physical investment in the house.

Any money our Government invests into building Hydropower stations pays itself back in like 40 years, is a boost the the economy & lowers unemployment for several years too. Plus, well its ' clean green ' & lowers NZ carbon emissions.
tygertung, Jun 26, 4:51am
After 2100 and before 0700 is when we get the cheaper power. But the hot water cylinder is on a separate circuit and switched by the power company. It can go on a bit later at night and have a boost in the afternoon.
marte, Jun 26, 5:00am
Ahhh, that makes sense. Smart meters & such, now.
I always thought that you have two seperate meters & one is 'night rate power' & thats cheaper & it only supplys the hot water cylinder & that they can turn it off when they want to, hence the cheaper power but at a slight inconvenience that somebody else controls when it heats up.
Well thats how mine works anyway. I just thought that everyones works like that. Oh, and you can run a Nightstore heater' on that same circuit.

https://www.canstarblue.co.nz/energy/electricity-providers/night-tariffs-explained/
s_nz, Jun 26, 5:45am
You have obviously been reading north american stuff.

In NZ typical power supply into houses is 230v at 60A single, with larger houses having two or three phases connected at 60A each. 230v, 100A is available in some area's, but I understand it is fairly rare.

Little point in a 50A charging circuit in NZ (unless you were charging multiple EV's from the same circuit. Most of the NZ new EV's have type 2 charging ports that max out at 32A in single phase mode.

30A dryers are extremely rare here. Almost all dryers plug into a standard 10A socket. Can get 20A units for residential use from the likes of speedqueen, but anything at 30A is going to be targeted at laundromats, rather than residential use.

Pritty much we don't go about 16A with a standard plug to charge EV's here. If you want 32A single phase, or any current of 3 phase you pritty much need to go for a hardwired EVSE.

Should note that EVSE's can be dialed back, so if say only 20A of capacity is availabe, they can be restricted to that amount. Also there are EVSE's that will communite with each other to share a set amount of power around mutiple cars. They are rare, but there are even ones that come with a clamp to put around the main power feed cable, and combined with the capacity of that cable will slow or stop charging if it is near capacity, in order to avoid popping pole fuses.
tweake, Jun 26, 6:00am
it will be interesting to see how things go with 20+amps being used to charge ev, heating loads and of course cooking loads. all on a measly 60 amp circuit. no to mention if ev is in a garage with 30amp subboard.
the problem may be for those wanting fast recharge times. either big ev's or those who want to go out at night etc. those with short range commutes, low charging requirements, should be ok.
likit, Jun 26, 6:10am
What happens when we start building apartments & you are on say the 12th floor, how do you charge your car. Do you charge perhaps while at work. Can’t see hanging an extension cord out over the balcony practical.
tweake, Jun 26, 7:11am
in some countries they simply past a law they must provide charging outlets for each parking bay.
kenw1, Jun 26, 8:00am
But it still has to come out as DC with very little ripple.
bitsnpieces2020, Jun 26, 8:01am
what about people who take home their work vehicle? Do you think they will be doing that and charging up the work car at their own cost ?
bitsnpieces2020, Jun 26, 8:02am
apartment buildings tend to have less parks than apartments.
houseofdad, Jun 26, 8:46pm
Yada yada yada yada yada yada yada. Tesla power roof.
tweake, Jun 26, 9:35pm
those who do not have their own carparks will not be owning ev's.
like wise with many townhouses that only have on street car parking.
they might have to kick out the tenants and turn the flat back into a garage so they can have somewhere to charge their ev's.
3tomany, Jun 26, 9:55pm
Is a household stove not 32amp? The EV charge port could share that wiring so long as it was smart enough to not ever run the two at the same time. Just an unqualified thought.
gazzat22, Jun 26, 9:58pm
Who is going to build it then.? Commercial electricity users are finding it hard to renew their contracts the news states.
kazbanz, Jun 26, 10:07pm
The bit that gets me is the pro EV crowd start trying to baffle with numbers.
"ohh it will only mean a 6% increase so ACTUALLY coal will only be needed for 6%" etc etc.
Utter bullpucky. Literally adjusting figures to suit themselves.
3tomany, Jun 26, 10:10pm
I can remember the outrage at the last government buying Chinese steel for bridge construction. Now the same people who were so outraged want our smelters all closed down to have enough power to charge their cars.
I just do not get it. Keep the industry and build the power generation needed for the future is my opinion.
3tomany, Jun 26, 10:13pm
the focus on EVs is distorting the picture. Remember our biggest coal user is industry with boilers that are also being fazed out and replaced with electricity, We need way more power than just what cars are going to need.
tweake, Jun 26, 10:18pm
the whole "don't have enough power generation" argument is bs.
we have to build more for population growth anyway. its simply a bit more of an increase, which has been done before easy enough.

the power generation side is not the problem. the connection at the house and distribution at street level is the choke point.
a lot of places will require upgrading and thats going to cost users.

without fast charging at home, longer distance travel and bigger ev's becomes less user friendly.
tweake, Jun 26, 10:20pm
also the phasing out with gas is a big issue.
ridiculous notion to phase out domestic gas when its use is almost nothing compared to industry.
alowishes, Jun 26, 10:34pm
And hospital & school boilers/heating systems - I guess they’ll all be going away from fossil fuels too?
ascotbks, Jun 26, 10:42pm
our idiot green controlled wellington council has approved multi story apartments with no parking. one is going up in adelaide road newtown. a large complex with such small apartments a bike wont fit. futuer slum but they dont see it. they assume everyone will walk or bus and never think of going anywhere but down town. may be fine for young party types for a couple of years. most will have cars, even some evs til they realise no where to charge. everone will use street and thats already full
tygertung, Jun 26, 10:54pm
Central Wellington is already so outragously congested that using a car to go down to the shops isn't a goer. There is no reason why there couldn't be bike parking garages in the basement. Bikes don't take up much room.
socram, Jun 26, 11:21pm
I was wondering about that. When we switched to gas hot water and stove top, I diverted what was the 15amp circuit for the hot water cylinder to the garage (which is large - 5/6 cars) for additional power points.

Although we have a 12 way fuse board located upstairs, there are limits to what we are allowed to install on each circuit and even if we wanted to share the oven circuit, I doubt it would be practical due to the design of the house.

When I wired up my house in the UK under the direction of my brother, a qualified electrician, it was ring mains. NZ just has spurs so when doing step daughter's large, brand new house, in the mid 1990's before LEDs, the electrician doing the final connections to the power board, stipulated:

a) power - no more than 6 per spur/circuit
b) lighting - no more than 12 per spur/circuit

Reading a great article in the motoring section in the Herald today. Cost of the charging box and installation by a qualified electrician, $5,000.

At the moment, I just don't think it is feasible or cost effective and harking back to when we first moved in, 35 years ago, there was an inefficient concrete inground spa pool running off a separate meter for the heating and in winter, we'd get home late at night after sport, only to find that the spa heater system/supply had been switched off by the power company and the pump still going, so the water was colder than when we went out!
tygertung, Jun 26, 11:23pm
Getting a new 16mm cable and new switchboard in the garage has always been well under $5000 in my experience, usually only about $1200. I dug my own trench though. I've done it twice as I need more power in the garage to run 180 amp welders and that sort of thing.
bitsnpieces2020, Jun 26, 11:30pm
Sounds like student accomodation then. Get them out of the rat infested iceboxes they currently habitat.