Pod Point Solo 3S review: EV charger and setup tested

Additionally, you can expect a standard installation charge which will include approximately 10m of cable from your main consumer unit/electricity meter to the external wall where your charger will be installed. We were lucky in that our home consumer unit was already in the garage and the wiring only had to be run through the ceiling and the opposite wall where our charger was located. Matthew told us that problems can occur if electricity meters and consumer units are located in the middle of the house or under the stairs, some distance from the chosen charger location. Some customers may choose to hire an electrician to move items before charger installation, but even if you do need to carry out the work the average additional costs are relatively limited, usually under £500.

Using our new EV charger at home

Setting up the Wallbox is impressively effortless – there are a few steps as you first need to pair your smartphone app with the charger and then connect the charger to your WiFi, but it’s a breeze thanks to the clear and concise instructions below. The Pod Point app you do this with.

Using the charger is also simple. Simply plug it in to charge in ‘manual’ mode or use the app to remotely set the scheduled times the unit will charge the car. We plan charging between 12.30am and 5.30am to benefit from the cheapest tariffs on our Octopus Smart electricity tariff, but in some cases a top-up was needed during the day and switching between charging modes is very simple with a single ‘charge’. Press the ‘ button – of course you can do this from anywhere your smartphone has an internet connection.

Enter your electricity supplier’s kWh cost (peak and off-peak) into the app; This will also show you how much your charge costs on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. There’s even a tab that shows the current CO2 emissions status of the national grid; so you can charge at the lowest levels if you want to minimize your footprint.

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