Charge electric cars at home: Wallbox, CEE or Schuko | c’t uplink

You don’t necessarily need an expensive wallbox to charge electric cars; a Schuko socket is sufficient – theoretically. In practice there are a few problems that we describe in detail, but this may be enough for initial charging attempts. A Schuko socket connected by a professional and optimized for continuous load or a CEE socket for single-phase charging is more recommended. We discuss in detail in the podcast c’t uplink with the c’t editors Sven Hansen and Urs Mansmann what purposes its limited charging capacity is sufficient for.

We also look at suitable electricity tariffs, especially dynamic electricity tariffs. They promise big savings if you are flexible when it comes to charging and can, especially, charge during midday. In fact, the price of electricity recently fell so low over a few hours that people had to pay to charge it. We explain why a negative electricity price on the exchange rarely leads to such a repayment.

However, in order to better benefit from fluctuations in electricity prices, single-phase charging is only sufficient to a limited extent. And under other circumstances it may also make sense to charge the car not just overnight, but more quickly. Three-phase connected wallboxes with 11 or 22 kW charging power are suitable for this – we are discussing what role even more powerful or direct current chargers play in this country.

Wallboxes are available with different connection options: those with a CEE plug and sophisticated adapter systems that look good both at home and on the go, and those for permanent installation. The latter also differ in how they handle the electricity from solar systems: simply pump it into the car, buffer it in a battery in a more sophisticated time-controlled manner or distribute it throughout the house because the car only needs to be charged a few hours later. We will also briefly discuss integration with measuring systems and other energy management systems. We also make a few considerations about wallboxes in underground car parks in apartment buildings, for example about billing systems.

Guests in the studio: Sven Hansen, Urs Mansmann
Host: Jörg Wirtgen
Production: Tobias Reimer

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