Benefits of a Home Electric Car Charging Station
When considering an electric vehicle, one important question most buyers have is, how and where I charge my car at my home?
Some electric vehicle owners use a wall socket to charge their electric vehicle. However, installing a dependable electrical charging station for your car has various benefits. These are:
Convenience
Installing an electric vehicle charging base at your home means you can charge at your convenience. You don’t need to drive out at odd times looking to charge because you suddenly discovered that your car batteries were low. You can charge the car while you sleep or it’s parked in the garage if you don’t need to run errands or go to work that day.
You also don’t need to bother about queues, or taking unnecessary trips or stops to keep your battery primed and ready to go. Plug your car into your home port, and get other things done.
Dependability
Home charging points mean you are in control and don’t experience any nasty surprises, such as cases where you get to the charging station and the attendant says it isn’t working. If your port ever has a fault, you can quickly get it fixed.
In recent times, the number of public charging points has increased. However, it still isn’t enough. With your charge point, you don’t need to worry that there’s not enough ports across the city, or whether those ports work appropriately. You have your own!
Cheaper
After the one-off installation cost, you only need to bother about electric bills and maintenance prices. Using a public charging station means you are likely to pay a fee anytime you charge, and this racks up pretty fast.
Faster Charging
If you have ever used a wall outlet to charge your EV, you can attest to how painfully slow it costs the vehicle. Installing a Level 2 home charging point ensures your car charges quicker.
Questions to Ask Before Installing an Electric Vehicle Charging Station
If you are considering installing an EV charge point in your garage or outside the home, here are five questions you should ask to avoid any future issues:
1. Do You Have the Power?
It would help if you found out what charge station power levels and charging speed work for your home. There are two types of ports:
- Level 1 is affordable but the slower option. It’s the most popular in most homes as it works with household power outlets.
- Level 2 is what you find in public and commercial charging installations. It charges at 240V and gets your car juiced up fast, but you would need to upgrade your home’s electrical infrastructure to 200 amps to accommodate this option. It is also pricey.
You also have the option of choosing between smart and dumb charging stations. Intelligent stations use software control outputs and costs, measure and optimize device usage and come with other value-added features.
Dumb charging stations don’t come with any software or additional features. They are plug and play, and you need to turn it off once you’re done charging the vehicle.
2. Do You Have the Volts?
Installing an electric charging station requires that your home be wired for 240v. While this is a standard for most homes, it might be good to double check so you don’t get any surprises.
3. What’s the Cost of Installation?
A significant cost element of EV charging points is the cost of installation, especially if you decide to install a Level 2 charge point. Upgrades to your electrical infrastructure, repaving, trenching and trunking all impact your final costs. We are always open to a frank discussion on what works best for you budget wise.
4. Do You Have the Space?
You need to check if you have enough physical space in your home for a charging point. It would help if you also considered your current and future charging needs. Also, ensure your provider has reporting tools that can notify you when the charging station is at maximum capacity and if you genuinely need to install any additional station.
5. Does the Provider Offer Customer Support?
You must ensure that your provider has a spelled out customer service plan in case you have a service failure or you need maintenance.
Speak to us today about your EV charging needs!
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