Are you aware that installing a home EV charger to meet Safe Electric’s standard involves careful planning, specialised knowledge, and skilled electrical work? Certified electricians must evaluate the home’s electrical system capacity, ensure safe wiring connections, and confirm compliance with Ireland’s safety regulations. This process protects homeowners and supports efficient, reliable charging by upholding the highest safety standards.

At the recent Nevo Electric Vehicle Show in Dublin’s RDS we took some time out to sit down with the CEO of WattCharger, Sean Kinane, to learn more about his company and what services they provide. The complexity of installing home chargers per Safe Electrics standards should not be overlooked and these conditions must be satisfied in order for the end user to be able to avail of the €300 SEAI home charging grant.

Sean thanks for taking the time to out to meet with us. Can you tell us a little bit about how long you have been in business and the services you provide?

WattCharger was founded in April 2021 during the pandemic. I have been involved in the business since Day 1 and a passion for software + emerging technologies was what prompted me to set up WattCharger. A new mode of transport (The electrification of cars) doesn't come around very often, so I decided to bring together a team of individuals with unique skill sets I felt would allow us to build a business underpinned by technology capable of simplifying a pretty complex system of works - Installing electric car chargers, solar panels and battery storage solutions for Irish homeowners and businesses. My business partner Rowan Egan was one of the engineers who designed Jaguar Land Rover's first electric car the iPace, so bringing him into the business was a brilliant way to properly hit the ground running, especially with my background working in car charger, solar panel and battery storage manufacturing with myenergi and Hanwha Q-cells.

Can you explain more about the strict standards imposed by Safe Electric?

Safe Electric is responsible for the regulation of the activities of electrical contractors in the Republic of Ireland with respect to safety. The work our team carries out is delivered in line with the standards Safe Electric impose when it comes to the installation of electric car chargers, solar panels, and battery storage. There are thousands of registered electrical contractors in Ireland who offer a wide range of electrical services, so we set out to work with the ones specialising in the installation of EV chargers, Solar panels and Batteries. In theory, any registered electrical contractor can install these systems provided they have the appropriate qualifications, but we found over time the work is more complicated than one might believe. The registered electrical contractor needs to be sound from a wiring perspective, understand how to commission different EV Charging and Solar Systems; whilst, being proficient when it comes to completing Safe Electric's and the SEAI's paperwork, ensuring our customers have a record of the works completed and documentation allowing them to successfully collect any grants on offer form the SEAI. The back office administrative side of things is something most small electrical businesses struggle with, so we set out to build processes and systems leveraging data, software and technology to simplify this experience for our team and customers. It's working very well at present, but we are always pushing to improve the WattCharger offering.

What are the common pitfalls people overlook when seeking home charger installation?

The main pitfall home and business owners overlook while in the market for an electric car charger or solar panels is solely focusing on price. There are hundreds of companies fitting the systems WattCharger install across Ireland and the job is not necessarily complete once the system is operational. These electrical systems can fail or break at any time for a number of reasons and having a robust post installation team ready to troubleshoot any issues that might arise is paramount and comes at a cost which, installation businesses should be building into their pricing models. If post installation support infrastructure does not exist or is not robust enough to efficiently solve any issues that might arise, customers can end up very frustrated without a working EV charger, solar panels or battery storage. To date, a number of large installation businesses have closed their doors and I believe this is due to not factoring common issues for the works that occasionally arise into their pricing. This oversight does not afford them the ability to offer robust & efficient levels of support the customer might require post installing the system they signed up for.

How long typically should a home charger last and is there any maintenance that needs to be done by the owner?

We decided to only fit myenergi's Zappi EV Charger for domestic customers because it was the worlds first solar powered EV charger, it's a very reliable unit and myenergi built out a technical support team in Ireland capable of supporting our team fitting the chargers and customers should they have any questions about the software / app that sits behind the charger itself. The Zappi comes with a 3 year warranty and we have observed units working away in Irish homes for 5+ years. There are some exiting EV Charger manufacturers in the market like OHME who have built deep relationships with electric car manufacturers like VW Group and BYD, so the charging space is developing at breakneck speed with so many manufacturers entering the Irish market equipped with their own USP's. Too many options can over complicate the customers decision making process, so the onus is on WattCharger's team of experts to advise on the equipment needed to support the customers requirements. As for maintenance that needs to be completed by the homeowner, we offer a wide range of services that are designed in such a way; whereby, we provide the homeowner with a turn key solution allowing them to successfully charge their EV the minute our team leaves the property. WattCharger was built to simplify the installation of a home charger, solar panels and battery storage.

Is there anywhere our readers can visit to learn more about home installation to gain further knowledge?

Absolutely! We have been curating technical content on EV's, electric car charging, solar panels and battery storage since we started the business. The idea was to develop informative and education content designed to simplify new technology like home electric car charging, the benefits of solar panels in Ireland and why you should seriously consider adding battery storage to any solar system you might decide to install. Our blog and all of the posts we have published can be accessed by clicking here! There's some really good stuff in there I believe your audience can benefit from especially if renewable technologies like the ones we install are top of mind and the same applies to existing renewable technology owners who might be looking to upgrade existing equipment or add to their existing systems.

Finally, I'd encourage Nevo's audience to visit our website or social media pages to learn more about the services WattCharger offer all across Ireland and reach out to our team if you are interested in some of the services we offer.