The vast majority of users of an electric or plug-in hybrid car choose to equip their home with a charging station, also called a wallbox.
It is a charging system that adapts to all types of electric cars because charging stations exist on the market in the form of different powers. From the point of view of their installation, the user also has the choice between two types of charging stations: free-standing or wall-mounted.
What is a wall charging station?
A charging station is the equipment that allows an electric or plug-in hybrid car to “fill up” with energy, here with electricity, to regain its autonomy and be able to travel for miles in complete freedom.
The user of this type of vehicle who wishes to recharge his car at home, and not via terminals made available in the public domain, in public car parks, shopping centers, service stations, etc. ., benefits from several solutions.
He can recharge his electric car on a simple household socket, but this solution requires a fairly long time for the vehicle to be autonomous and it does not guarantee total safety in terms of the risk of overheating of the electrical circuit of the house. He can also use what is called a reinforced socket at home, a little more powerful than a simple electrical socket and more secure.
Finally, the most efficient solution, an electric vehicle can be recharged at home very easily thanks to a charging station. This equipment takes the form of a small box which generally finds its place in a garage or an outbuilding of the house, but which can also be installed outside its home.
Connected to the home electricity meter on one side, and to the electric vehicle using a specific cable on the other side, the charging stations available on the market offer several powers to be able to adapt to all types of electric vehicles and to the needs of their users.
Thus, it is possible to choose a charging station, most often called a wallbox, with a low power (3.7 kW), intended more for those who do not travel a lot of kilometers or for owners of a plug-in hybrid car. . A charging station with a power of 7 kW, for its part, makes it possible to benefit from a shorter charging time and is aimed more at small electric city cars, but also at electric vehicles which have a sufficiently large battery. powerful. There are also charging stations with a higher power (22 kW, even 50 kW) which offer high-performance charging systems for individuals wishing to be able to recharge their electric vehicle at home very easily, for maximum comfort. .
On the other hand, there are so-called “intelligent” wallboxes on the market today. The latter, connected, indeed offer interesting features to their owners such as, for example, the possibility of remotely controlling their starting or stopping, of knowing in real time their electricity consumption, etc.
Wall charging station: for what use?
Whatever their power, the charging stations come in two different forms: the charging stations fixed on a foot which are installed on the ground, and the wall charging stations which, as their name indicates it, are hang on a wall in a garage, laundry room, outbuilding, etc.
The wall charging station, better known as a wallbox, is the easiest to install in a private home. Like the free-standing charging station, it does not require the sometimes significant and costly work of fixing their support in the ground or work to repair the floor covering, whether outside the home or for example in the garage of the house.
A wall-mounted charging station, which therefore requires a wall to be attached to it, is more suitable for electric cars that are recharged indoors (garages, outbuildings, covered parking spaces in condominiums, etc.) by their owners.
Whatever its type, free-standing or wall-mounted, the user of a rechargeable electric or hybrid vehicle must first choose the charging station that he wishes to install in his home according to its power as we have described. above, that is to say the one that primarily suits the power of the car’s battery, its needs in terms of range and recharging time.