The IET have issued Amendment 1 to the Electrical Regulations BS7671: 2018 (also known as the 18th Edition). New installations after 31st July 2020 must comply with this amendment.
The main focus to this amendment is the updating of Section 722 – Electric Vehicle Charging Installations. Due to the growing demand for EVC’s and the development of new technologies this has lead to the IET updating the 18th Edition regulations.
Since the introduction of the 18th Edition, the default method of installing a residential EV charge point has been to drive an earth rod into the ground providing a separate earth for the EV Charger from the mains supply to monitor any fault and disconnect the EV supply to the car.
This method of Installing earth rods is time-consuming and a potential risk, with residential chargers installed close to the incoming electrical supply cable, gas, water mains and sewerage pipes. The potential to hit one or more of these buried services with an earth rod is always a risk
New intelligent electronics (within Amendment1 – BS 7671) can now monitor the incoming supply looking for a fault and disconnecting the EV charger without the need to drive an Earth Rod into the ground.
