How Can I Charge My EV at Home?

An EV is as convenient as a mobile phone. Come home, park, connect the charging cable and forget all about it until next morning, when it is all set and ready to go.

Or not.

If you live in an apartment building, you run the risk of having too many chargers, leaving your EV without juice. But if you live in a private residence and either use a regular electrical socket to charge or your EV has very low charging capacity, one night may not be enough to give your EV a full charge. To keep early morning disappointments at bay, it would do you good to know about the various levels of home charging.

Level 1: charging using an electrical socket

• You will need a regular electrical socket, 230 V AC and a regular three-pronged household plug.
• The slowest home charging option.
• Speed: around 65 km of driving in 5 hours or 200 km in 14 hours.
• No investments needed; the cable usually comes with the car.
  
  
  

Almost all car makes have a level 1 charger in their standard equipment. That charger is meant for slow overnight charging. One end of the cable has a Type2 plug, which you plug into the car. The other end has a regular three-pronged 220 V plug, which can go into every household socket.

That type of charging does not need any additional electrical devices, but we only recommend using it temporarily or in an emergency. Make sure the socket and wiring are in good working order. Know that using an extension cord may cause a voltage drop, which may hinder or stop the EV from charging. Whenever necessary, talk to your power grid operator before charging.

Level 2: charging without an internet connection

• You will need a 240 V AC plug, which is in most cases an accessory meant specially for EV charging.
• Charging is three or four times faster than without a charging station.
• A full charge takes 4–10 hours, around 30–70 km of driving per hour.
• Requires installing a special charging station by a qualified electrician.
  
  

Level 2 charging is much safer and more effective compared to a regular electrical socket.

These chargers are not connected to the internet. They work well for people who want to charge their EV without all the bells and whistles.

If you use a meter, you can monitor your power consumption, but you cannot use automatic optimisation based on electricity prices.

This type of charging can be suited to private residences that to not need shared power supply management.

Sunday in an apartment block. What happens when everyone wants to charge their EV, do their laundry and cook a roast at the same time?

Level 2+: charging with an internet connection and intelligent features

• You will need 240 V AC.
• Requires installing a special charging station by a qualified electrician and setting up an app (done by the user; the manufacturer or service provider can help, if needed).
• This means more EVs can enjoy efficient charging in an apartment building where many EVs charge at once.
• Full charge 4–10 hours, around 30–50 km of driving per hour.
  
  

In an apartment building, these chargers use mobile telephony to connect with other chargers in the building and make up a single manageable charging network.

There are two main types of stations with an internet connection:

In a non-controllable station with internet connection, the load can be managed by calculating the maximum capacity in the power supply and distributing the available electricity between all the connected chargers. If 120 A is the maximum available capacity in the system and three EVs are connected, each of them gets 40 A.

A controllable station with an internet connection is a smart charger and can manage the load in the power supply. It can monitor other demand in the building to make sure the overall demand does not exceed peak demand. That makes the best use of the power system to charge EVs faster and optimise costs based on the electricity price.

Your home power grid is enough for a VOOL charger

The VOOL charger is the first charger to give access to all the power in the grid. No limits, no surprises. No charging failures or half-full EVs in the morning.

Hairdryer, washing machine and oven all turned on at once? Slower charging.

Everyone is asleep? Maximum power, faster charging.

The VOOL charger automatically monitors electricity exchange prices. We will know when the prices are lowest and charge your EV accordingly. If you do not care about the price, you can charge your EV whenever.

When it comes to an apartment building, you have to make sure everyone is happy. The control system, which is especially well suited for shared VOOL parking lots, distributes the available power between the connected EVs and does so fairly and evenly every time. VOOL can help you avoid or postpone reinforcing the power grid that supplies the building and the related costs. Invoices are created automatically based on the power consumption of each EV owner.

Read more:

From Garage to Grid: Apartment Associations Confront the EV Charging Challenge