In short? Charging your EV with a charger is safer, faster, and cheaper. Safer, because the charger is smart and will control the flow of energy through the cable. Fast, because charging with a charger is up to eight times faster than with just a cable (depending on the vehicle and the charging power). And last but not least cheap, because you can charge your car at off-peak times when electricity is much cheaper than normal.
Play it safe
You might think you can simply take a connection cable, plug it into your car and the other end to the grid, right? Well, here’s why it’s not that easy. A car battery that is directly connected to the grid will charge full power all the electricity from your home. Have you ever used a hairdryer for 10 hours? Because that’s about the time a battery of most EV cars needs to be fully charged. The leads will eventually become very hot the longer the current flows. That’s why connecting your car directly to the grid with a so-called mode 1 charging cable, is prohibited for safety reasons.
Most cars today are delivered with a mode 2 charging cable, a simple cable but with a device installed that will stop the charging in case of emergency. You can connect it directly to the grid and it’s valid for any plug. Still, this isn’t the safest way to charge because it’s a direct link to the grid and if you charge for a long time you might have the same effects as with a mode 1 cable. Remember that picture of a hairdryer running for ten hours? And there’s another important factor: You can only charge your car at a very slow rate.
Speed it up
Charging your car with a smart charger is up to eight times faster than charging it with a simple cable! Most chargers and public charging stations offer rates up to 22 kW while your domestic socket can only deliver rates up to 3.7 kW, while 2.3 kW is the maximum recommended. How fast you can charge your car at the end depends on the battery capacity of your car and the actual charging power available.
Manage your charging
If you charge your car with a Wallbox charger you have the possibility to manage your charging via an easy-to-use app on your phone. It’ll tell you when your car is fully charged, it lets you adjust the power rate at which you want to charge and has an integrated timer so you can decide to start charging at night when electricity is cheaper.
Save money
Using intelligent charging, you save actual money because you can charge your car when electricity rates are low. Companies try to even out the peaks when many people consume electricity like when they come home from work in the evening. Therefore electricity is often cheaper late at night or early in the morning, so those will be the times when you can save money. This is because these are typical off-peak hours when not so many people are using electricity. With a simple click on your phone, you can tell your charger when to start charging your car.
