Safely Charging Your Electric Vehicle

Electric cars require electricity to be charged and just like other electronics, require precautions to ensure that you are using the equipment safely.

Here are a few quick safety tips as recommended by worksave.govt.nz

• Only buy equipment that is designed specifically for use with your electric vehicle and for use in New Zealand – that has been manufactured for use in New Zealand, with a New Zealand plug.
• Check that supply equipment is safe by asking to see its declaration – you can request a copy of the supplier declaration of conformity for that equipment.
• Only use electric vehicle charging adaptors supplied by the vehicle manufacturer or by an electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) manufacturer – never use any other household adaptors such as a multi-box, double plug, extension lead, or travel plug between your supply equipment and wall socket, as these adaptors can be a fire or safety risk.

Buying electric Vehicle Supply Equipment

Worksafe suggests requesting a copy of the SDoC (supplier declaration of compliance) before purchasing any electric vehicle supply equipment and giving a copy of this to your electrician to review. This document ensures that your electric vehicle supply equipment is suitable for use in New Zealand. Worksafe does not recommend installing or using the electric vehicle supply equipment until its safety is verified.

Modified Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment

You should never use any modified electric vehicle supply equipment, such as supply cables or in-cord current protection devices (IC-CPD). It is potentially illegal and dangerous to use equipment designed or manufactured for use in other countries in New Zealand, as power supply systems vary internationally.

Home Charging Units:

Currently, most electric vehicle users have a charging unit installed for use at home, which plugs into a normal socket.

According to Worksafe, these units will supply your vehicle with up to 10A, which is plenty to charge EVs with a range of 200 km or less overnight. However, vehicles with bigger batteries, such as a Tesla, would not charge overnight if the battery was nearly empty without using higher-powered electric vehicle supply equipment. If you do decide to install a wall-mounted unit at home, or are having one installed in the workplace, it must be done by a registered electrician, who should follow the EV charging guidelines as provided by the New Zealand government.

Worksafe recommends that you also ask your electrician to install a Residual Current Device (RCD) additionally, for your safety. These devices will turn off the power if they detect a fault. There are several types of RCD, but the most appropriate one for electric vehicle charging is a Type B RCD.