Individual terminals
Individual charging stations currently account for the vast majority of French charging points. If you understand this, you'll be well on your way to joining the 90% of French people who recharge either at home or at work.
What is a home charging station?
An individual charging station is installed in a private context. Whether at home, or in your parking lot if you live in a condominium, you alone have control over the installation. Charging power varies between 3.7 and 22 kw, depending on your electrical installation (single-phase or three-phase).
Further information → Co-ownership charging station guide
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How do individual charging stations work?
An individual charging station consists of a unit that receives energy and distributes it to the vehicle via a charging cable.
The current standard uses T2 connectors on both the terminal and vehicle sides. This connector covers all electrified vehicles built after 2016, and the cable is often included with the purchase of a new electric vehicle. What's more, each individual bollard has its own power line, protecting your installation.
In addition, there are two aspects to securing a charging station. The first is in front of the charging station. A differential switch and a circuit breaker must be installed. These two elements, installed on the electrical panel, ensure that your installation will not suffer any breakdowns or accidents.
The second is in the bollard itself: some bollards can be fitted with a "load-shedding" module.
The bollard then calculates how much energy it can draw without blowing fuses. This secures the installation, preventing power consumption in excess of what your installation can deliver.
Finally, how to start or stop charging varies from one model to another. In the first case, the terminal has no remote management interface. In this case, simply connecting the cable to the vehicle activates charging. Removing the cable stops charging. In the second case, your charging station is connected. The mobile interface allows you to connect your vehicle, but start charging in the middle of the night, for example. This allows you to optimize the cost of charging if you're on a peak/off-peak contract.
As technical progress in individual charging stations is proceeding apace, most of them now offer a remote management interface, even without an option.
Further information → Green'up or WallBox
Why install an individual recharging point?
Individual bollards are, as their name suggests, reserved for personal use. They are located close to homes, so they can be used on a daily basis.
Once installed, on average 95% of vehicle recharges are carried out using this method. With an average fill-up cost of around 7 euros, it's the most reliable and economical solution for anyone wanting to ensure their vehicle is recharged every morning..
Recharging time may vary according to the power of the charging station. However, with a 7.4 kW installation, the vast majority of today's electric vehicles can be fully recharged in less than 10 hours.
To find out more → Charging station prices
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Public charging stations
What is a public charging station?
Public pay stations are pay stations for shared use. They can be installed by companies with free access to their parking lots (restaurants, golf courses, etc.), by major retailers (supermarkets, shopping malls, etc.), or by public service infrastructures (town halls, training centers, etc.). Finally, some public charging stations can be installed by a "mobility operator". The latter installs charging stations open to the public in built-up areas and charges a subscription fee. In all cases, access is subject to fairly variable conditions, which I'll explain shortly.
Further information → Aids for the installation of recharging points in companies
How does a public recharging point work?
Although we call them public, these charging stations are not open-access. They are either part of a charging network, or are subject to conditions. A leisure establishment, for example, which has an interest in building charging stations, may require that users be part of its clientele only. The operation of a charging station in this case can vary considerably from one establishment to another, so I advise you to get in touch directly with these players.
As far as charging networks are concerned, it's pretty straightforward. You can check that the charging stations are charged and free, usually via an application. Your condition of access is a charging card. This will enable you to unlock the terminal and start charging.
Further information → Restaurant charging station
For what purpose?
Most use of public charging stations is sporadic. Either you don't consume much with your electric vehicle, and one charge a week is enough to cover your weekly mileage needs. Or you're on the move and need to recharge urgently. The reason for this frequency lies in its price. This can vary, but we're generally talking in the region of twenty euros a fill-up. That's a far cry from the 7 euros for a home terminal.
To give you a few tips for charging with a public charging station, take your T2 to T2 charger with you, find out the maximum power your vehicle can accept, and finally, don't exceed 80% battery charge. The transition from 80% to 100% takes much longer, as the battery reduces the charge rate to avoid overcharging.
In conclusion:
To sum up, there are 2 types of charging station.
- Individual terminals. These are installed in private locations, often in users' homes. They have low power ratings (from 3.7 to 22 kW). They are used on a daily basis, and are very affordable (around 7 euros for a 7.4 kW charge).
- Public terminals. These are installed in places open to the public (towns, businesses, supermarkets, etc.). They require a charging card to operate. They have variable power ratings, and can sometimes be used for rapid charging (less than 60 minutes). Their use is sporadic, often for emergency purposes, as they are expensive (20 euros per charge on average).
I hope you now have a better understanding of the world of charging stations. Familiarizing yourself with it will give you peace of mind when you switch to electric. I hope you've enjoyed this article, and I'll see you soon in an electric car (if you haven't already).
