Wiring prep in advance of getting a Tesla

[PeteW]

Hi,

I'm a Model 3 reservation holder (UK), which means I'm still at least a year away from getting a Model 3.

The route from our consumer unit to where we'd want our charging point runs right through our garage.
But before the Tesla arrives, we will be renovating our house, including converting our garage to a bedroom, so I'd like to get the wiring in place for the charging point.

I don't need a charging point yet, I just want to get the cables run to it while there's still easy access and they don't have to go taking up the flooring etc.

So what do I need to ask the builders/electrician to do? Is it just to create a new 32A circuit run to the future location of the charging point?

Pete

 

[arg]

So what do I need to ask the builders/electrician to do? Is it just to create a new 32A circuit run to the future location of the charging point?

Yes, that’s the key thing to get in before decorating etc. Keep in mind that it’s a circuit for continuous use at 32A, so doing the bare minimum allowed by regulations is often not a good idea (a 32A circuit can sometimes just squeeze into the rules with 4mm^2 wire, but it is much better for a chargepoint to use 6mm^2 at a tiny increase in cost (sometimes even heavier is needed, eg if buried in the wall insulation you are presumably adding).

There’s then a few other things you could leave until later or get done now while you are at it:

• An outdoor unit will probably need a separate earth rod (depending on your house’s main earthing system). Usually easy to add if there’s a bit of flowerbed, gravel drive etc within reach, but if you’ve got concrete right up to the wall where you want the chargepoint you might want to consider where it needs to go and if you want to hide the wire during your current work.
• The circuit needs to be protected by a Type A RCD. These used to be rare, but are becoming more common. Some chargepoint designs put that in the chargepoint itself, but in your case you will probably be protecting the circuit with an RCD so better to make sure it’s the right type.