After a few charging sessions using a standard socket: “I can smell burning”
Merete and Roar Bokn had an unpleasant experience when they were charging their new electric car at home. As soon as they started to smell burning, they realised that something had to be done.
The family had bought a Tesla Y and had connected it to a socket at home using the emergency charger supplied with the vehicle.
“We did this a few times, but then I noticed the smell of burning,” says Merete Bokn.
The sockets in the carport are black, so at first glance it was not easy to see whether anything was wrong. But when they took a closer look, they noticed that there were some changes around the plug holes in the socket.
“We had thought about buying a home charger, but this experience made us act more quickly. We realised that this hadn’t been the wisest move,” Bokn says.
It did not take long before a safe home charger was in place. “It is clearly unsafe to charge using a standard socket,” Merete Bokn says.
Help from the professionals
The Bokn family ordered a home charger from Zaptec and asked the installer to replace the old socket at the same time. The damage became clear when the socket was removed.
“The interior is white, so we were able to clearly see the black scorch marks. Overheating had occurred and there was no doubt that the socket had been overloaded.”
Thankfully, this was the only damage on this occasion, but the experience left an impression.
“We probably downplayed the charging situation before, so we were surprised to have this result after just a few charging sessions. Charging using a standard socket is clearly unsafe and, in the worst case, could lead to fire,” adds Bokn.
It did not take long before a safe home charger was in place. “It is clearly unsafe to charge using a standard socket,” Merete Bokn says.
Smart charging at home
Since a permanent charging solution has been installed in the carport, it has become both easier and safer to charge the electric car at the Bokn family home. The charging speed has also improved.
“First and foremost, we can now sleep soundly at night. The home charger and the new power cable have excellent capacity and we avoid overloading the circuit. We are not afraid of something like that happening again,” says Bokn.
By enabling Eco Mode on the charger, their electric car charges at the smartest times. Charging does not necessarily start immediately, instead the charger identifies the most favourable times based on electricity prices.
“We have smart charging enabled at all times. We can simply override this and press “Charge now” in the app if we are pushed for time. But we always keep it on, since the range of the car is excellent and we rarely have to charge quickly.”
The damage became clear when the socket was removed. There was no doubt about where the smell of burning had come from.
Stopped using the emergency charger
Charging the electric car directly from the socket is a thing of the past for the family. The charging box is the way forward now.
“There is a reason it is called an emergency charger. It is only supposed to be used if you have an emergency and have no access to a home charger or fast charger.”
Merete feels safe with the new charging box. “We sleep soundly at night. The home charger and the new power cable have excellent capacity and we avoid overloading the circuit.
Safe charging with Zaptec
The Zaptec Go charging box complies with the guidelines from the Norwegian Electrotechnical Committee (NEK) and has been subjected to safety testing by the German company Tüv Süd. The charging box is equipped with several safety mechanisms that, among other things, monitor charging and cut the power supply if something is wrong.
Zaptec Go also came out on top in NAF’s comparison of popular charging boxes in 2022, as a result of fully meeting all safety requirements. According to the test, Zaptec Go is the safest choice.