Nearly 8 out of 10 owners of an electric car have a home charging system, while the others opt for charging at a public terminal.
This is a key point to plan for when you want to buy or lease this type of vehicle for the long term (more info on Leazeco or Zero Emission). Let’s see together what solutions allow you to charge your electric car at home, depending on whether you live in individual or collective housing, if there are rules to follow, and how much it costs.
Recharging your electric car at home: have your electrical panel checked first!
It takes several hours to charge an electric vehicle. This is why many motorists stick to it at night, especially since they can benefit from the ” off-peak hours », the energy expenditure can thus be reduced by several hundred euros per year ! Which is damn appreciable.
Still need to have a borne de recharge sufficiently powerful and a suitable electrical network. This requires a check by a technician because at the slightest anomaly, it may be impossible to charge a car, the amount of energy required being extremely high. For example, a power of 2.3 kW requires an average of 25 hours for a full charge. But if you have to use a dedicated terminal, the power being much higher, you can recharge an electric vehicle in 3 hours minimum and in about ten hours at most.
Recharging a vehicle in collective or individual housing: what are the differences?
It is a little more complicated to load your car in collective housing than in individual housing.
In collective housing or condominium
In this type of housing, install a borne de charge involves ask permission either to the lessor or to the syndicate of co-ownership. You might as well anticipate because you have to wait between 5 and 6 months to get an answer. Indeed, the district court must be seized in case some would like to oppose it.
Of course, there is no question of the energy bill being borne by the co-owners. Must therefore install a terminal which integrates a counter so that only the user bears the costs. Because recharging your electric car or plug-in hybrid on a socket located in the common areas such as the car park for example is totally prohibited (some do not bother, but they must know that they are exposed to penalties). There is no point in running this kind of risk, especially since financial aid can be granted up to 50%, the ceiling being set between €1,300 and €1,660 depending on the type of terminal.
In individual accommodation
In a detached house, the person concerned is free to install the terminal wherever he wishes, and to choose the model that he likes the most when his budget allows it. If after verification by a technician, it appears that its electrical network is perfectly suited to support the recharging of a clean car, he can completely connect his vehicle to a classic grip. But as we saw earlier, it takes time because the power, usually 2.3 kW, is limited. Fortunately, there are other solutions, namely:
- Opt for a reinforced grip allowing to obtain a power of 3.2 kW and which costs about 60 €,
- Buy one kit with differential circuit breaker for a price of around 130 € to which must be added the intervention of an electrician because this equipment must imperatively be installed by a professional.
- Ask a home charging station which costs, depending on its power, between 550 and 1,600 € (installation costs not included). This requires a suitable electrical installation, that is to say correctly sized. But this terminal system that charges between 7 and 22 kW is a must. There are different models allowing for example:
- To benefit from an integrated consultation screen,
- To adjust the power,
- To lock the device and control access to it,
- To control the loading remotely,
- To record the various consumption data.
Finally, it is necessary to plan a significant expense of 300 to 500 € to obtain charging cables, namely: a for terminals and one for classic sockets. These cables are more and more frequently supplied with new clean vehicles, but it is not systematic when you set your sights on a used electric car.