How to choose your electric charging station?

That's it, you've decided to buy your first electric car. In your enthusiasm, you are still wondering about the charging station to install in your home. There are many criteria to consider. How do you make the right choice?

The power of the charging station you need

One of the main criteria to consider when choosing your charging station is its power. Indeed, a powerful charging station allows you to charge your vehicle's battery faster, but it will cost more.

Globally, the power of a terminal varies from 3.7 to 22 kW. One hour of recharging on a 3.7 kW station allows you to recover 20 km of autonomy, while on a 22 kW station, for the same duration, you recover up to 150 km of autonomy.

In most cases, a 3.7kW or 7.4kW charging station is still more than enough for a daily city trip. Only those who make long journeys and use vehicles with larger batteries need a more powerful terminal.

The power of your electrical installation

Beyond the choice of the power of the electric terminal, you must, above all, check the power of your electrical installation in order to adapt the power of the terminal to it. Indeed, to recharge an electric vehicle, you will need a power between 6 and 12 kVA.

If your electrical installation is not very powerful, and you do not wish to change it, opting for a 3.7 kW terminal seems to be the most appropriate solution. On the other hand, if you have an efficient installation, or if you wish to update it, you can choose a 7kW bollard or even opt for a three-phase circuit to accommodate an even more powerful bollard.

Depending on the features offered by the charging station

A charging station can have a variety of features to make it easier to use. Depending on the model you buy, you will have the choice between different options. For example, some so-called "smart" charging stations have a function that allows them to program the right time to start charging the vehicle, taking into account the electricity needs in the house.

In other words, when you use many electrical appliances at the same time, the charging of the vehicle will stop automatically and will resume only when the consumption decreases. This ensures that the maximum power necessary to recharge the car is available.

There are other convenient features that vary depending on the model, including the connected function that allows you to manipulate the bollard remotely from your smartphone. You can also opt for a kiosk with a security feature like access control. This allows you to limit the number of people who can use the kiosk. Finally, some models have many other ports to allow charging of different electrical devices. 

‍