Installing a charging station for my electric car: a good idea or not?

Installing a charging station for electric vehicles at home has ecological, technical and economic advantages. However, it should take technical constraints into account: is there sufficient power connected to your home?
To help you ask the right questions, a leading European company has developed a practical checklist that lists all the practical considerations.

But before deciding whether to take the plunge, let’s look at the pros and cons of the options available to you.

Option 1: do without a charging station

Electric vehicle manufacturers offer a cable with an adapter that allows you to recharge from a regular outlet, overnight. If you have solar panels, you can also use this electricity to recharge during the day. It is therefore not necessary to invest in a home charging station.

You can also charge your electric vehicle at a service station or, perhaps, using your company’s charging stations. In both cases, charging is faster.

Option 2: install a charging station

If your power supply allows, investing in a charging station has several advantages:

• Ecologically: charging time with a domestic terminal is reduced to less than six hours (compared with up to 10 hours with a standard plug). If you have solar panels, this gives you the opportunity to make full use of this renewable energy to recharge your car.
• For safety and efficiency: domestic chargers are designed to deliver more power than a single plug without risk of overheating. The charging station is in fact installed on a dedicated cable protected at the start of the circuit by its own circuit breaker and its own 30 mA differential switch. In order to avoid overheating, there is not therefore any artificial limit to the amperage as is the case with the charger adapter supplied with your electric car.
• Economically: electricity at home costs less than public or shared terminals. If you have more solar panels, it is absolutely free!
• Technically: the charging station can be equipped with interesting “smart” features. For example, it can automatically reduce its power if other large appliances are in service or delay charging to the most suitable hours. It can also manage the automatic transmission of charging data via the Internet or the energy flow between the grid and the electrical installation.

However, the vast majority of the EU networks are 230 V single-phase connections without neutral conductor. This can be solved by first switching your connection from single-phase 230 V to three-phase 230 V power and then installing an autotransformer, which will enable you to go from a 230 V to a 400 V circuit in your home.

Some suppliers offer to install a terminal at home. The cost varies between € 300 to about € 1,000 according to the characteristics of the connection. Furthermore, your electrician is able to provide the terminal and perform this type of installation.

Considering installing a home charging point ? Before making your choice, make sure you have all the information beforehand. The checklist below will help you.

QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK REGARDING EV CHARGING

1. TO THE CAR DEALERSHIP OR CHARGING POINT SUPPLIER

• Which charging mode is compatible with your electric vehicle ?
• Which electrical set-up does this charging mode require (normal, semi-quick or quick) ?

2. TO THE CHARGING POINT SUPPLIER

a) What are the features of your home installation ?

• 230 or 400V ?
• single-phase or three-phase ?
• the power of your connection (in general, 40 A or 10 kVA for private homes)
• whether or not a neutral conductor is needed ?

b) Which alterations or technical set-up are required ?

Now that you know which electric configuration you need for your charging point type and vehicle, you can specify together with your installation company which type of works or alterations need to be done.

c) Do you have enough capacity to fulfill all your energy needs ?

For household use as well as for charging your car ? Together at the same time ?

Bare your comfort in mind !
The charging point needs a lot of capacity. It is therefore safer to provide your installation with some extra capacity. You can then decide whether reinforcing the capacity of your connection really is necessary.

Tesla says Model 3 orders top $10 billion in first 36 hours