Charging station installation
Since you will be working with relatively high power when installing charging stations and solar products, and modifications need to be made to the electrical installation of your home, it is highly recommended to have the necessary electrical engineering knowledge or to get help from someone who has that knowledge. Installing a charging station can be dangerous if you do not have the right knowledge and experience. You will also need to have the modified part of your electrical installation inspected; for this, we can recommend OCB.
Some explanation about connection values
We will keep the explanation quite brief. As mentioned earlier, we assume that our customers already have a basic knowledge of electricity or have someone available with that knowledge, and in addition, you can easily find more specific information online about power grids and such if you deem it necessary. Of course, we are open to questions about our products or the installation.
When choosing your charging station, you first need to check what your house can deliver in terms of power (or more precisely max current and number of phases) and what your car can receive.
The connection of your house will be single-phase (230v or sometimes also 3x230v) or 3-phase 400V+N.
You can usually recognize a single-phase distribution board when two wires come out of it, the phase and the neutral. If four wires come out of the meter box, you know you have a 3-phase meter box. This is normally also indicated on the meter or you can check with your network operator.
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1 phase 16A: 3.7kW maximum charging power
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1 phase 32A: 7.4kW maximum charging power
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3 phases, 16A: 11kW maximum charging power
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3 phases, 32A: 22kW maximum charging power
The AC alternating current from your home must still be converted to DC direct current for the battery in the car. This is done with an inverter which also has a max connection value.
An example: A car that can charge on single-phase, 32A, has a charging power of 7.4kW (230 Volt * 32 Ampere = 7360 W, or +/- 7.4 kW). A charging station connected with three phases and delivering 16A can provide 11kW (230 Volt * 16 Ampere * 3 phases = 11040 W). Since 11 is more than 7.4, you might think this charging station can charge your car at full speed. However, this is not correct: your car will not use the 3 phases but only one of them, at 16A. You are charging your car at that moment at only 3.7kW (230 V * 16A = 3680 W).
The connection value of your car as well as the type of plug can be found in the manufacturer's specifications or via this site:
Don't focus too much on the highest possible connection value. Usually, you can connect an EV to your charging station for 10 hours or more per day, and the average driver drives less than 100 kilometers per day. So it is not necessary to fully charge the car daily, which is also stressful for the battery. With higher charging powers, you may also need to watch out for other high consumers in your home, although smarter (but also more expensive) charging station systems can handle this (load balancing).
In the brochure below from network operator Fluvius you will find interesting information about connection values for charging stations (Belgium):
All our charging stations have a standard 6mA DC residual current protection.
Cabling
Do not choose the lightest cabling. Consider using a thicker cable even if you install a lighter device. With a 5 x 6mm² cable you can go a long way. Distances are usually not too long, so the extra cost is limited and you still have room if you want to upgrade or switch to 3-phase. Always install a conduit with sufficient diameter for underground cables. Don't forget to add at least 1 UTP/FTP cable for, for example, load balancing.
For your information: charging times of electric vehicles
|
Car type |
Small |
Average |
Large |
Van |
|
Average battery size > charging station power |
25 kWh |
50 kWh |
75 kWh |
100 kWh |
|
2.3 kW |
10u30m |
24u30m |
32u45m |
43u30m |
|
7.4 kW |
3u45m |
7u45m |
10u00m |
13u30m |
|
11 kW |
2u00m |
5u15m |
6u45m |
9u00m |
|
22 kW |
1u00m |
3u00m |
4h30m |
6h00m |
|
50 kW |
36 min |
53 min |
1h20m |
1h48m |
|
120 kW |
11 min |
22 min |
33 min |
44 min |
|
150 kW |
10 min |
18 min |
27 min |
36 min |
|
240 kW |
6 min |
12 min |
17 min |
22 min |
