Your Questions Answered: What’s the best way to charge an EV at home?

I have ordered a new Geely EX5 Inspire, my first EV. I have been given lots of advice but still don’t quite understand what way I should charge my new car at home. It isn’t as simple as making the decision on whether I should have used 95RON or 98RON in my old petrol car. My house is an old free-standing Federation home with basic 10-amp wiring, no solar as yet. There are so many choices, many are expensive and I don’t want to waste thousands of dollars for something I don’t actually need. I only do a few hundred kilometres a week, and can park right in front of my house in a carport with the fusebox (and a 10A socket) roughly seven metres away from the car. What charger do I buy, and why is there such a difference in prices for these chargers? - Sasha

Answer: The problem, Sasha, is that are more points to this than a pineapple. If you want the most straight-forward, low-cost method of charging a new EV such as the Geely, then you would use the eight to 10-amp portable charger that comes with it as standard.

These chargers, known as granny chargers, plug into a standard 10-amp wall socket. At the time of writing this, if you buy an EX5 Extended Range, Geely includes a 7kW wall charger for free, although you need to pay extra for a sparky to install it. I can’t speak to the quality of the free 7kW charger; it could be good, or not so good.

So normally I’d say use the supplied granny charger and see how it works out for you in terms of your (relatively low) kilometre usage. However, you mentioned that you have about a seven-metre run from socket to car.

Most standard equipment granny chargers, including the EX5’s, are only about five metres long. It’s probably too short, but I would double check where the car will be positioned, and if you can easily park it in a way where the distance is more like five metres.

Don’t try using any portable charger with an extension cord, because the cord can overheat and cause a fire. Assuming the supplied charger is too short, you’d expect to pay around $250-$500 for a good quality Regulatory Compliance Mark approved 10-amp granny charger, the lowest extra-cost option here.

But I would be very tempted to bypass that and just get an electrician to install a 7kW wall charger, because even though the bill might total $2000-$3000 (for both the wall charger and installation costs) you will have the convenience of easier and much faster charging, plus you know the wiring is new and entirely fit for purpose (if your home has old wiring, even pulling 10 amps regularly on a granny charger might eventually put the wiring and power point under strain).

Keep in mind if you do go the 7kW wall charger route, and plan to install a home solar setup, you’d want a wall charger capable of integrating with the solar.

Why does the Zeekr 7X not have a safety latch to release the bonnet??In other words, there is no release under the bonnet to act as the second safety latch. Not too sure, but I believe every other car in Australia has a second latch release under the bonnet. - Rob

Answer: As you probably already know, Rob, (but in case our other readers don’t), the Zeekr 7X’s bonnet (or frunk) release is not typical.

It does not have any under-dash cable release to open the primary bonnet latch. Instead, it is opened entirely electronically, via the key fob or infotainment menu.

While it’s true there is no manual secondary release at the front of the bonnet, it does incorporate a secondary latch (which is electronically released) to ensure that the bonnet does not open on the move accidentally due to primary latch failure or improper securing.

You can see when standing in front of the Zeekr, using the key fob release, that the bonnet lifts in small increments, releasing the latches before you can then open it.

On that note, many new cars no longer have a manual secondary latch hidden at the front somewhere that you have to fumble for to open the bonnet.

Instead, they use the typical under-dash cable release, that requires a double pull that first releases the primary, then secondary latch. Then you can just go ahead and open the bonnet.

I was just chasing some information about the Range Rover Vogue for towing. The towing tongue looks very low to the ground when it comes out, when you push the button. - Damian

Hey Damian, if you mean the electronically deployable towbar fitted to later Range Rovers, (that automatically drops into position or retracts out of sight via button in the cargo area or via the infotainment screen), it might look low when you release it because of the Range Rover’s air suspension.

The air suspension typically drops the vehicle down to what is called ‘access mode’ to make getting in and out easier for occupants.

Access mode is 50mm lower than the normal driving suspension height; the Range Rover’s air suspension will raise the body back to normal height at speeds from 10km/h, thereby also lifting the tow ball and indeed the entire assembly with it.

The Australian Design Rules require that a tow ball measure between 3500mm and 460mm from the ground when laden (with the trailer attached).

So perhaps you might want to get a tape measure out to confirm this – setting up the Rangie so it remains at normal suspension height and then measure the tow ball height.

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