If you are considering buying an electric car, you should also need to think about a private charging station. We will show you what you need to consider for charging of your electric car at home quickly and conveniently.
Charging an electric car should be as easy as refuelling one with an internal combustion engine. With a charging station for your home, you come pretty close to achieving this goal. You can charge your car when you know you won't need it, whether it's in the parking lot or in your garage.
Charging via socket?
Why not just plug the car into a normal socket? Daniel Laager, Head of Electromobility at Primeo Energie, explains: "Although it is possible to charge the car from a normal household outlet, this is not necessarily advisable for a number of reasons." Normal sockets are not designed for continuous operation at high currents for hours. The charging process not only takes considerably longer but might also cause you to blow a fuse.
The power at your charging station is crucial for the charging time – the more power, the faster your car will be charged. For private use, 11 kW per charging point is usually sufficient because the car is not moving while being charged over a longer period such as overnight. You can fully charge virtually any model with 11 kW overnight.
Charging stations: More questions and answers
We tell you what else is important when choosing your own charging station.
Technology plays an important role here. Daniel Laager explains: "Modern charging stations are controlled by a load management system. A dynamic one distributes the available power to all active components optimally, thus preventing load peaks and blown fuses."
If the building's energy consumption is low, correspondingly more power is provided for charging the electric vehicles. This dynamic control is particularly useful in residential buildings, where energy consumption is very low at night and thus more power is available for the charging stations.
In addition, the grid connection does not have to be specially fitted, and safety is guaranteed at all times.
While home-owners have free choice in this regard, things are a bit different for condominium owners or tenants. In this case, consent must be granted at the owners' meeting, or the landlord's consent must be obtained. "A technical file on the charging infrastructure should be compiled as a basis, preferably with detailed information about the installation, planned capacity, and interfaces to the existing infrastructure." says Daniel Laager – and then adds: "It's also important to prove that the energy consumption of the charging station is not billed to all parties generally but to the user individually. If other tenants or property owners buy an electric car later, the system can be expanded in stages."
1. Clarify the technical requirements where you live. Where a new building is concerned, contact the planner/architect; in the case of existing buildings, contact an electrician.
2. Your electrician registers the project with Primeo Energie and coordinates the technical aspects.
3. Once the electrical installations have been completed, Primeo Energie will install a meter. Your charging station is now ready for use.
4. Energy consumption at the selected tariff will appear separately on your next electricity bill.
Private energy sources, such as photovoltaic systems or geothermal energy, can also be used for charging electric vehicles via a load management system. The system functions as a distribution system and always directs the power to where it is needed. Excess energy is either stored or fed into the grid. Daniel Laager says: "Your electric car is even more environmentally friendly if it uses renewable energies."
We advise you to protect your access in communal garages or company car parks in some cases. The following options apply in general:
• Key switch: You unlock the charging station with a conventional key.
• Chip: You activate the charging process with an RFID card (contactless radio frequency identification via chip)
• App: You use an app to select the charging station and activate the charging process with your phone.
Daniel Laager says: "This of course depends a lot on the situation. The approximate price range for smart charging points is around CHF 2,500 to CHF 5,000." This includes the cost of the charging station, the load management system you may need, as well as the work and installations required in each case. In the medium term, however, you will save a lot of money with electromobility, not just in terms of fuel consumption and electricity costs but also in terms of maintenance and service. In addition, you won't be paying any mineral oil tax, and many cantons offer discounts on motor vehicle tax.
