7.2KW EV charger for home | Copper vs Aluminium Armoured cabling - help needed from experts

[vriship]

Bought an EV about 10 days ago (MG Windsor Pro)
My society here in Thane has a big MLCP building where all cars are parked (8000+ capacity)
Home charger supplied by MG is 7.2KW

- They include 10Mtr copper 10 sqm mm Armoured 3 core cable.​

Below is what i have completed in terms of pre-requisite before the MG motors appointed vendor can come & install the charger:
1. MSEB EV meter has been applied & approved - should be installed this week in the MLCP building's Meter room
2. Load approved is 7.5KW - SIngle phase (confirmed with MG charger installation vendor that Single phase is ok)

Below is pending:
1. Cabling from Ground floor of MLCP to 3rd floor parking - Distance is 125 meters

- I am yet to purchase the cable & get the cabling done via local electrician​

Option 1: Copper Armoured 3 core 10 Sqmm cable: Polycab ~ 380/- per meter (48k/- INR)​

Option 2: Aluminium Armoured 3 core 10 Sqmm cable: Polycab ~ 105/- per meter (13k/- INR)​

2. EV charger installation by MG

Help needed:
- Need to decide if using an Aluminium cable instead of copper for the majority distance from Ground floor meter room to Parking slot ( ~125 meters) can be done using 10 sq.mm or 16 sq.mm Aluminium 3 core Armoured cable?
- Do a circuit breaker based switchover from Aluminium to Copper cable for last few meters up until the MG 7.2 KW charging unit.
- Does usage of Aluminium cable for majority of the distance result in comparitively higher power loss & subsequently more unit consumption recorded in the MSEB meter?

Any inputs or experience from fellow EV owners will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

P.S: We have about 16 Tata Power EZ charge community chargers installed in the ground floor of MLCP. Below are the issues:
1. About 8 to 9 of them are always not working.
2. Even with the working ones there is frequent disconnection that i have faced & then i need to restart the charging process from Tata power app.
3. Cost per unit is about 14.5 INR + GST as compared to your own MSEB EV meter that comes at a subsidized rate of 7 to 7.5 INR per unit.

 

[?dOuBtFiRe?]

First off, congrats on the purchase of MG Windsor Pro. Expect a seperate showoff along with pricing soon.

This MLCP Building is new to most people with EV. They have individual houses or get the EV setup separately in their appartment building.
However I worked in a factory building with a separate EV Car Park for about a week and it was a proper setup.

When their head honchos decided to get EV Setup, they had a tech team that designs EV Charging stations. They had drawn a main line from road to that spot by using heavy duty Electricity cables that one gets when you install a transformer/ Home connection. These were Aluminium Core cables that were provided by the EB itself. The distance would be 500mtr. The core of the cable ie., 3 wires will be in copper while the outer is only Aluminium. When they join this to the 10mtr cable provided, they will join the core copper cables only and not the alu ones.

I would recommend:
1) Take advise from the EB Installer of MSEB EV Meter. He should have done this a couple of times and he would have noticed.
2) Take advice of other EB Car owners in the same MLCP.
3) Ask MG itself. This is better as there might be some warranty niggles using Alu cables with their setup.

Don't bother about Tata Power EZ Chargers. There are lot of issues other than the wiring. Did you find out about what caused their issues?

I would add a few points to consider.
1) Are the cables that you are going to install exposed or concealed. If using a pipe make sure that they are heavy and no area is exposed to elements.
2) Take note of bends and turns are that you will deal with. These are the problem areas. Areas which gets exposed to elements.
3) Also plan if you have idea to get Solar power as an addon to your charging station. Maybe a hybrid for your EV. Then plan accordingly.

 

[yugaaa]

Below is what i have completed in terms of pre-requisite before the MG motors appointed vendor can come & install the charger:
1. MSEB EV meter has been applied & approved - should be installed this week in the MLCP building's Meter room
2. Load approved is 7.5KW - SIngle phase (confirmed with MG charger installation vendor that Single phase is ok)

Below is pending:
1. Cabling from Ground floor of MLCP to 3rd floor parking - Distance is 125 meters

- I am yet to purchase the cable & get the cabling done via local electrician​

Option 1: Copper Armoured 3 core 10 Sqmm cable: Polycab ~ 380/- per meter (48k/- INR)​

Option 2: Aluminium Armoured 3 core 10 Sqmm cable: Polycab ~ 105/- per meter (13k/- INR)​

2. EV charger installation by MG

Help needed:
- Need to decide if using an Aluminium cable instead of copper for the majority distance from Ground floor meter room to Parking slot ( ~125 meters) can be done using 10 sq.mm or 16 sq.mm Aluminium 3 core Armoured cable?
- Do a circuit breaker based switchover from Aluminium to Copper cable for last few meters up until the MG 7.2 KW charging unit.
- Does usage of Aluminium cable for majority of the distance result in comparitively higher power loss & subsequently more unit consumption recorded in the MSEB meter?

Any inputs or experience from fellow EV owners will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

P.S: We have about 16 Tata Power EZ charge community chargers installed in the ground floor of MLCP. Below are the issues:
1. About 8 to 9 of them are always not working.
2. Even with the working ones there is frequent disconnection that i have faced & then i need to restart the charging process from Tata power app.
3. Cost per unit is about 14.5 INR + GST as compared to your own MSEB EV meter that comes at a subsidized rate of 7 to 7.5 INR per unit.

Why do you need an armoured cable ? Since it is single phase connection you can buy 16 guage unarmoured cable and install using a pvc pipe . It would be cheaper . Irrespective of the size please use lugs for connections . Most electricians just twist the wire with pliers and install . Use a 100 A breaker .

 

[vriship]

First off, congrats on the purchase of MG Windsor Pro. Expect a seperate showoff along with pricing soon.

This MLCP Building is new to most people with EV. They have individual houses or get the EV setup separately in their appartment building.
However I worked in a factory building with a separate EV Car Park for about a week and it was a proper setup.

When their head honchos decided to get EV Setup, they had a tech team that designs EV Charging stations. They had drawn a main line from road to that spot by using heavy duty Electricity cables that one gets when you install a transformer/ Home connection. These were Aluminium Core cables that were provided by the EB itself. The distance would be 500mtr. The core of the cable ie., 3 wires will be in copper while the outer is only Aluminium. When they join this to the 10mtr cable provided, they will join the core copper cables only and not the alu ones.

I would recommend:
1) Take advise from the EB Installer of MSEB EV Meter. He should have done this a couple of times and he would have noticed.
2) Take advice of other EB Car owners in the same MLCP.
3) Ask MG itself. This is better as there might be some warranty niggles using Alu cables with their setup.

Don't bother about Tata Power EZ Chargers. There are lot of issues other than the wiring. Did you find out about what caused their issues?

I would add a few points to consider.
1) Are the cables that you are going to install exposed or concealed. If using a pipe make sure that they are heavy and no area is exposed to elements.
2) Take note of bends and turns are that you will deal with. These are the problem areas. Areas which gets exposed to elements.
3) Also plan if you have idea to get Solar power as an addon to your charging station. Maybe a hybrid for your EV. Then plan accordingly.

I had requested the MG charger setup vendor to confirm for longer distances from meter, are they ok with the customer using an Aluminium conductor Armoured cable instead of copper.

They just confirmed that Aluminium should be ok but the cross section should be 25 sq.mm Armoured cable. In our Apartment complex MLCP (Multi level car park), they have very structured conduits & Cable trays attached to cieling to route the cable from Meter room to the parking slot - so i am not that much worried. The Aluminium conductor cable will go into another MCB on the parking floor & from there last 10 meters of cable will be copper.​

I have an alternative option to run a simple 4 sqmm copper wiring & charge using the portable 15Amp charger(slow charging) but this will be a downer in the long run.

A guy on the 8th floor of the 13 floor MLCP i think has done the cabling work for his charger, builder wont give his details not parkign slot number. I couldnt find it upon a quick ride on that floor so thats a dead end.

Reg the Tata Power EZ chargers, they need to be connected to a network. the ones that are not functioning but seem to have power LED indicators ON, keep disconnecting from the network. There are others which are completely dead dont know why..

Why do you need an armoured cable ? Since it is single phase connection you can buy 16 guage unarmoured cable and install using a pvc pipe . It would be cheaper . Irrespective of the size please use lugs for connections . Most electricians just twist the wire with pliers and install . Use a 100 A breaker .

Everyone suggests an armoured cable, the cost isnt much higher either than the flexible PVC ones. Its safe from any rodents chewing or the wire getting any cuts in future. Installation will be in a single piece (hopefully i get it) so 40Amp MCB on meter side & another 40Amp MCB on the switchover from Aluminium to Copper for the last leg of the wiring.

As the customer my scope is to get the supply near the car about 10 meters in distance. 10mtr in copper 10sqmm cable is included in the installation cost which is free along with the car's on road price.

Do i need to worry about Lugs in this case as the installation guys said they will take care of it.​

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[yugaaa]

Everyone suggests an armoured cable, the cost isnt much higher either than the flexible PVC ones. Its safe from any rodents chewing or the wire getting any cuts in future. Installation will be in a single piece (hopefully i get it) so 40Amp MCB on meter side & another 40Amp MCB on the switchover from Aluminium to Copper for the last leg of the wiring.

As the customer my scope is to get the supply near the car about 10 meters in distance. 10mtr in copper 10sqmm cable is included in the installation cost which is free along with the car's on road price.

Do i need to worry about Lugs in this case as the installation guys said they will take care of it.​

​

​

40 Amps will not be sufficient . minimum is 60 amps but you need to get at least 100 amps breaker . Since you want to install using the existing duct system an armoured cable is better . You can choose a 25 sq.MM 2 cored cable . You do not need a 3 core 1 as it is single phase . What ever you use , please use lugs for fixing . At the meter end use a 200 Amp porcelain fuse .

 

[Desktop]

Load approved is 7.5KW - SIngle phase

Option 1: Copper Armoured 3 core 10 Sqmm cable: Polycab ~ 380/- per meter (48k/- INR)

3 core 10 sq mm copper cable currenct carrying capacity = 73 amp

Option 2: Aluminium Armoured 3 core 10 Sqmm cable: Polycab ~ 105/- per meter (13k/- INR)

3 core 10 sq mm aluminium cable current carrying capacity = 57 amp
Use appropriate Amp breakers, ask electrician to install RCCB or its advanced version too - for accidental shock protection.

 

[vriship]

going with 25 sq mm Aluminium conductor 3 core cable as recommended by the EV charger installation guy

 

[Desktop]

going with 25 sq mm Aluminium conductor 3 core cable as recommended by the EV charger installation guy

16 sq mm aluminium cable = 73 amps
25 sq mm aluminium cable = 97 amps.
If EV charger cable is of 10sq mm copper, then it is preferable go 1 gauge higher for main line installation i.e 16 sq mm copper or 25 sq mm aluminium to take care of occasional inrush current, current drop on length.