Charging an electric car: where, how and for how much

• Demands. One million poles in 2024 and three million in 2029

• Controversy: The Government creates a double tax for charging points

In a recent meeting with Volkswagen officials to talk about their family of ID electric cars, of which the ID.4 has just been put on sale, those in charge hit the mark: "When buying a vehicle of this type, autonomy is placed before the price "they told us.

And, since the first battery-powered models appeared,

the fear of being stranded because the car would drain the battery earlier than expected has been the sword of Damocles that hovered over the purchase decision.

The issue is on the way to being resolved, although more on the side of the autonomy of the vehicles than the development of the charging infrastructure, which is much slower.

And in any case, it will depend on the use that that car is going to give.

If it is going to be the only vehicle in the home, things get much more cumbersome and tricky when traveling.

On the other hand,

for daily use of short distances, the solution to the problem is mainly through good planning since small refills will be enough, or a large one once a week,

to always have 'gasoline in the tank'.

Next, we tell you how to charge an electric car, where and for how much.

START POINT

Approximately 70% of vehicles sleep on the street.

That is, it depends on a public charging post or at work.

And although the number of these grows continuously, it does not do as sales.

In the last three years in Europe, registrations of vehicles with plugs have doubled, but the network of poles did so by less than 60%.

Currently, in Europe there are about 213,000 public points, of which according to Eurelectric, only 14% are fast.

In Spain, the Anfac 'Electromobility Barometer' for 2020 indicates that there are 8,545 facilities of this type, of which 65% are located in an urban and peri-urban environment.

Catalonia welcomes a third of them, for the 1,000 in Madrid, consistent with the fact that this type of car is eminently for the city and the periphery.

In addition,

almost one in four poles have a power equal to or greater than 22 kW, which is known as a semi-fast charge: they allow the battery of an average car to be filled in about three hours.

According to calculations made by European manufacturers, ecologists and consumers, the region will need to have one million charging stations in 2024, and three million in 2029, to meet the expected demand (or to be reached).

Of these amounts, Spain should provide 37,966 posts in 2024 and 214,341 in 2029. The decarbonization strategy of the Pedro Sánchez Government plans to install 100,000 of them in 2023.

DIFFERENT CHARGING SPEEDS

The speed at which an electric car can be recharged depends on two major factors: how much energy can the network supply to which we plug it in;

and what amount of electricity the car is capable of supporting

.

It can be exemplified in two extreme cases.

In a domestic outlet at home that works at 1.8 kW, we will not recharge more than that amount per hour regardless of the car we have.

Similarly, it is useless that in Spain there are already poles that can supply 400 kW,

when the most capable vehicles in this sense (a Porsche Taycan or an Audi e-tron GT) are prepared to support no more than 270 kW.

In this sense, a third variable operates:

the connector with which we connect the car to the network (and not the other way around) because that will also condition the operation.

In the models of generalist brands, the most common is that it comes as standard only with one of the Shuko type, which is the one of the lifelong plugs in our house or that we can find in a garage without a specific installation for electrical.

Obviously, it is the slowest and rarely supports more than 2.3 kW.

Above there are up to four types that add more loading speed.

The most widespread in Europe is the so-called Menekkes.

As an option, it costs between 300 and 500 euros and it is the one that will serve us in most public poles, except in those with continuous fast charging, which require, for example, the so-called CCS.

Image of a Menekkes connector for electric cars

Taking into account the use that we are going to make of the vehicle and where we plan to load it, it is essential to find out about these aspects.

That is,

what is the maximum capacity that the car can support

(some brand offers fast charging above 50 kw as an extra)

and what are the cables that they supply

, either free of charge or paying separately.

All these aspects are covered by the autonomy simulators and recharging times that manufacturers offer on their web pages.

But it is possible to approach it in a simple way: we take the net capacity of the battery (always lower than the gross, which is the data that is advertised) and we divide it by the power supplied by the network.

We will know where things will go.

Although at the same time it is necessary to increase it if we want to fill it up to 100%, since

normally from 80% it slows down.

For example, a car with a 50 kW battery, in a 1.8 kW domestic outlet, will take more than 31 hours to go from being empty to full.

And on a 50 pole, something like an hour and a half.

RECHARGE AT WORK OR AT DESTINATION

Let's think about the usual daily commutes:

going to and from work, taking the children to school, running errands.

We would be talking about an average of between 60 and 70 kilometers,

which we can easily recover with a small load every day.

The duration of this, in addition to the elements considered above, will also depend on the consumption of the vehicle.

A very efficient one is around 14 kWh of expenditure per 100 km, the most gluttonous exceed 20. In the first case, to recover the energy consumed each day, we would need to recharge about 10 kW;

in the second, up to 14.

It is something that would take us a few hours and we can satisfy by connecting the car in the office garage, (which will charge us or not).

Also more and more commercial establishments (supermarkets or department stores) that have recharging points, which can be paid or free, although some with time limitations.

Finally, there are the urban and peri-urban public networks, with poles of between 3.4 and 22 kW.

One of them is Endolla, which operates in Barcelona and has rates for a car that range between 0.22 euros and 0.40 euros per kWh depending on whether it is day or night, on the street or in a garage. .

That is, 70 kilometers per day would cost us between 2.2 and 4 euros in a very efficient electric vehicle;

and between 3.1 and 5.6 in one of high consumption.

AT HOME: INSTALLATION AND COST

If we have our own or community garage, we can install from a simple plug to a walbox (module that fits into the wall) that will charge up to 7.4 kW.

The so-called 'smart' vary their performance in such a way that they give the car the excess energy (up to the maximum contracted power) that we do not use at home.

The cost of installation by an operator depends on several elements.

The meters of cable that must be 'pulled' from our meter to the plug, the work that must be carried out to carry it and the connector that we finally put on.

If it is in a shared garage, the community cannot prevent it, but

the work must be

notified

, which must be legalized and carried out by an authorized installer.

Putting a basic Schuko-type plug can be (with work and wiring)

about 400 euros on average.

For another 100 or 150 euros,

we can add an adapter called Green Up that allows to accelerate the recharge up to 3.2 kW (for the 2.3 of the basic installation).

The third step is to use a walbox.

They have an average price of between 500 and 600 euros, which amounts

to 1,500 euros including all the work and permits.

But it is convenient to ask for budgets,

because the differences can be very large for the same elements, up to double, as the person who writes this could see.

Coincidentally, the highest price corresponded to a company recommended by a manufacturer that offered help ...

Many, in fact, give away the placement of a walbox to increase the attractiveness of their cars.

These amounts can be reduced thanks

to aid such as the Moves plan,

with a subsidy (to be included later in the personal income tax return) of up to 40%.

But you

also have to increase the cost by adding the electricity consumed.

Here it is key to know several things: if we have a regulated market rate or if it is from the free market.

And within the first type, if we pay for electricity at the same price regardless of the time, if that rate distinguishes between day and night (peak hours and off-peak hours) or if we also have supervalle periods (when electricity is cheaper because there is less demand, between 01.00 and 07.00 hours).

According to these data, recharging 100 kilometers for a car that consumes 14 kWh would range between 1.12 and 2.1 euros.

And in one with an expense of 20 kWh, between 1.6 and three euros.

One last point on this point.

Many of the electricity marketers offer special plans for recharging,

with very competitive rates and even giving away part of the energy consumed per year.

And others have flat rates based on the annual consumption of the whole household, so it may be an option to add the expected expense of the vehicle and include it.

LOAD ON PUBLIC PAYMENT NETWORKS

Now, let's think about how we are going to go on a trip with the car.

Then, we will need a fast recharge pole, of at least 50 kw if we do not want the recharge to take forever.

We have two options: resorting to the points provided by the navigation system integrated in the car, which will also inform us of which ones are within our reach according to the autonomy.

Or

benefit from the different apps that offer this service.

They may have been developed by an independent entity such as Electromaps, the brand of our car, or by one of the companies that offer their own infrastructure:

Iberdrola, Endesa-X, Repsol, EDP, Easy Charger, Cargacoches, Ionity

(a European consortium made up of several vehicle manufacturers) and, of course,

Tesla,

which has its own network of superchargers in each country.

Depending on the app we use, we will

find information about the charging stations only of that network (on the road and city) or also of the rest.

In addition to the location and data, we will be able to know the operating hours, if it can be reserved, if it is paid or free, the types of connectors and the number of them.

The rates, when they have them, are more difficult to find, especially in applications that work as aggregators.

Being subscribed to several of these networks is interesting, especially when they are paid, since that will mean cheaper prices.

For example, Ionity charges 0.79 euros per Kw to any user, but those of the brands that are part of the project will pay less than half.

The biggest hassle at present is the lack of

interoperability between the different networks, especially when it comes to identifying and paying, since some require a card, others use digital key rings;

some are paid according to consumption, others require a kind of bag with funds.

The rates of the existing networks in Spain range between 0.29 euros per Kw that Tesla charges its customers and 0.79 for Ionity.

Although most are between 38 and 50 cents, although that figure can be substantially reduced by virtue of agreements such as Repsol, which will only charge Nissan car users half.

With these price ranges and taking up the two cars that we have been talking about from the beginning,

for one a consumption of about 14 kwh we would be talking, between 5.2 and 11 euros per 100 kilometers.

And between six and almost 16 euros for the one of 20.

They are not cheap figures, but it must also be recognized that the installations of these quick intakes have a very high cost and that it costs to amortize.

In addition, high-speed charges will be sporadic for most users, now not reaching 10% of the times they plug in their car.

It is also not advisable to abuse them, as they can shorten the life of the battery.

In the same way, it is recommended to act a bit in the style of smartphones.

Do not let it download completely, or abuse of always having it at 100%,

but it is normally between 20% or 30% and 80%.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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