The vast majority of individuals who have chosen to drive electric opt for the solution of being able to recharge their vehicle at home, primarily for greater convenience and comfort. Several solutions are available to them. Equip yourself with a wallbox-type charging station, secure and efficient, use a simple household electrical outlet, or better, in terms of protecting your electrical installation in particular, a so-called “reinforced” outlet.
What is a reinforced electric car socket? What are the advantages ?
The owner of an electric vehicle who wishes, for more convenience, to recharge his car at home has the possibility of using a simple electrical socket in his house of type E or F. Thanks to the charging cable supplied with his electric car , he can thus easily connect the battery of his electric car to a socket in his house. Nevertheless, this solution is not without risks of overheating of its electrical installation in particular, and above all the charging time is long.
Equipping yourself with a charging station, a small box that is easily installed on a wall for example, at home or in a private parking space for those who live in an apartment building, is the safest and faster to charge their electric vehicle.
However, the cost of purchasing and installing a charging station is a significant financial investment, especially for these more powerful charging systems.
There is then a compromise between the simple household socket and the charging station: the reinforced socket for electric cars.
This equipment is very similar to a normal household electrical outlet, but it is designed not only to be stronger than a standard outlet, but above all to deploy greater power than the latter. As a result, a reinforced socket makes it possible to charge an electric vehicle faster, about twice as fast as with a simple socket. On the other hand, in the same way, it is easily positioned on a wall of the house.
When the power delivered by a domestic socket is 2.3 kW, that of a reinforced socket for an electric car fluctuates between 3.2 and 3.7 kW. In terms of recharging time, this type of more efficient and more secure electrical outlet makes it possible to recharge the battery of an electric vehicle to obtain a range of 20 to 40 km in approximately one hour. It is therefore necessary to count on a recharging period of one night to achieve a range of 200 km.
You should also know that a reinforced socket requires the intervention of a professional for its installation. The latter, an electrician, must have an “Electric vehicle charging infrastructure (IRVE)” qualification.
The different types of reinforced sockets for electric cars
There are different types of reinforced sockets for electric cars available on the market which differ in particular according to their size, their possibility of installation, the accessories with which they are equipped or their power.
For example, some reinforced sockets are sold with a specific cable that allows them to be connected to the vehicle when charging, and for others, it is necessary to purchase this cable in addition. In the same way, some distributors sell their sockets reinforced with a differential circuit breaker, which it is advisable to equip their electricity meter with, and others do not, causing an additional cost.
On the other hand, you should not choose the same type of reinforced socket depending on whether you want to install it indoors or outdoors. In the latter case, your choice must be on a more efficient model in terms of sealing.
Depending on the configuration and for aesthetic considerations of where you want to install your reinforced socket, you can opt for a socket that fits into your wall, which therefore requires digging it, or a surface-mounted installation.
Reinforced sockets for charging an electric car are also offered by different brands. The best known, and the one that currently wins the market hands down, is the Green’Up reinforced socket distributed by the inventor of this type of electrical socket in 2014, the company Legrand.
The Green’Up socket owes its performance in particular to the conductivity of the materials it is made of and to its system for recognizing the charging cable used, which avoids the risk of overloading.
Innovative in this field, this brand now distributes very efficient types of Green’Up, some of which are even “intelligent”, i.e. they can be controlled remotely. or programmed via a smartphone most often in order to be able to take advantage, for example, of off-peak hours that his subscription with an electricity supplier allows in order to recharge his electric car at a lower cost.
Many other brands also distribute reinforced sockets such as, for example, the company Carplug (sale of different brands), Hager (Witty reinforced socket), the MENNEKES brand, etc.
How much does a reinforced socket for an electric car cost?
There are therefore many models of reinforced sockets for electric cars which differ according to their power, their possibility of installation, their accessories, their brands, etc.
This is why the prices of reinforced sockets are very varied, but always less expensive than those of charging stations, which are admittedly more powerful and which allow you to benefit from much shorter charging times.
You can thus find reinforced sockets on the market from around thirty euros, for the most basic of them, up to prices of 150 to 300 euros for this type of more sophisticated, more secure equipment. and more powerful.