This seems like the kind of regulation that causes more harm than it saves in anyone's house actually burning down. I did a cursory search and didn't find any EU reports of a house fire caused by a L1 charger.

Sure you might burn a house down if you find one that has a plug which isn't correctly installed with loose connectors but the fire risk here wasn't the EV. Its the incorrectly installed wiring.

You don't tell people to get rid of their fridges because some people might have forgetten to plug theirs in and therefore they could get food poisoning from spoiled food inside.

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spicybbq 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

It could also lead to people buying cheap, potentially defective chargers online instead of getting a more reliable manufacturer-included one.

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magicalhippo 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I haven't been able to find concrete stories either, though these[1] statistics might be an indication. It shows there's a few EVs per year that lead to a building fire, though sadly nothing further about source. So could be something else like battery.

That said there's been a campaign for several years trying to get rid of sockets for high current or permanent installations. I recently replaced both an electric water heater and mini split AC, and in both cases the previous appliance had used a socket and that was not allowed anymore.

Could well be they're just being proactive.

[1]: https://brannstatistikk.no/search?searchId=6EB5433C-AC28-4F6...

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danielheath 4 days ago | parent [-]

I really like the AU tri-prong system for this - high-current plugs/sockets have a physically larger ground connector.

This means you can put a low-current plug (small ground pin) into a high-current socket (large ground slot), but not the other way around.

Only downside I've found so far is that you can't use a high-current-rated extension cord to plug a low-current appliance into a low-current socket.

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masklinn 4 days ago | parent [-]

We’re not talking about high current anything, we’re talking about standard mains electricity.

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danielheath 4 days ago | parent [-]

By “high” I mean plugs rated for 240v16A, which is higher than normal Australian sockets (usually 8A).

	▲	masklinn 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		In most of Europe high current would be 32A, 16A is generally the standard (though I know Switzerland uses 10A and I believe UK plugs are rated for 13).

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apelapan 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

There has been plenty of local news about minor fires caused by EV charging in recent years. Usually neither the house nor the car burn to the ground, so won't make national news.

Typical cause seems to be old, worn-out installations or improperly done installations.

Perhaps 999/1000 outlets being able to function safely at rated longterm maximum draw (when there is no obviously visible damage) used to be an acceptable ratio. Doing anything close to maximum draw for long periods and unsupervised was less common.

With EV-charging becoming more common the old standard is no longer good enough. There is too little margin for error and too high likelihood of a situation where error leads to damage.