Are you an owner of an electric car? Great, where you have the blog that you were looking for.
It should be enough for you to have a wallbox or wall charging point in your garage. However, as you try to charge away from home you will discover that you could have a problem if your car has a Type 1 plug, or you go to a shopping centre and there are no charging points with a built-in hose, or the only plug in the parking lot of your hotel is blue or red… Fortunately, for every problem, there is an accessory.
- Portable charger
- Mode 3 and Type 2 Cable
- One Mode 3 and Type 2 to 1 cable
- A wallbox ‘to walk around the house’
- Mode 3 portable charging point
- Adapters for blue and red plugs
- Thieves for charging points
- One Type 2 to Type 1 adapter
- An ‘advanced’ wallbox
- An adapter from CHAdeMO to Mennekes
Portable charger
Price: Between 600 euros -official of the brand- and 250 euros form other manufactures
What is it for? This cable is used to charge the car in any conventional plug, called Schuko. As it is rarely used, it is also called ‘occasionally charged’. It can be used to charge your vehicle at a friend’s house, or at many of the older public chargers. All cars now come with one, and it’s pretty sturdy; but that doesn’t mean it’s ‘indestructible’. If you use your vehicle little, it can be an alternative to charging it daily… although almost everyone opts for a wallbox. The official ones are expensive; however, the clone versions are affordable.
You need it if: It’s a good idea to always carry one of these cables in the car because, in a pinch, you can charge it from any domestic outlet… and even daily without using a wallbox. There are still many public charging points that are, in reality, a mere domestic or Schuko plug next to a parking space.
Do I need it? 4/5
Mode 3 and Type 2 Cable
Price: Between 250 and 300 euros, depending on the intensity. Add an extra 100 euros if you want it very long -up to 10 meters-.
What is it for? To charge your car with a European plug -Type 2 or Mennekes- at public charging points that do not include a cable; This is usually the case in all those on the street and in many car parks and shopping centers. The reasons why these points do without the cable is to save costs and prevent vandalism. With this cable you can charge faster than with Mode 2 because it allows more intensity to pass through; and it can do it in monophasic and triphasic.
The price of the cable varies slightly based on this last ability; They are also significantly more expensive if they exceed the ‘standard’ length of 5 meters – they can be purchased up to 10 m.
You need it if: You have a car with a Type 2 or Mennekes connector and you want to be able to charge relatively quickly at public charging points that do not have a hose. It is usually not included in the car.
Do I need it? ***
One Mode 3 and Type 2 to 1 cable
Price: Between 250 and 300 euros.
What is it for? It allows you to charge your car with a Japanese connection -Yazaki or JSAE- at a charging point without a hose and with a European connection. Basically, it is a cable and an adapter at the same time. With the Japanese connection you can only charge in single phase, so when buying these cables, you only have to look at the intensity; They are usually 32 amps, which is equivalent to a power of 7.2 kW, although there are some that are limited to 16 A.
You need it if: You have a car with a Type 1 or Yazaki connector and you want to be able to charge relatively quickly at public charging points that do not have a charging hose.
Do I need it? **
A wallbox ‘to walk around the house’
Price: 500 euros.
What is it for? To charge your electric car at a power of 3.6 kW or 7.2 kW, depending on the maximum allowed by the vehicle and the one you have contracted at home. Although all modern cars are capable of charging at 7.2 kW -some, like the BMW i3 and Tesla models, up to 11 kW-, at home almost everyone charges their vehicle at 3.6 kW -a Leaf of 40 kWh is fully charged in 12 hours – so as not to increase the electricity bill by increasing the contracted power. Inside, the wallbox or wall box has two components: a switch and a communication module with the car. The switch connects the current when ordered by the communication module and cuts it when the charging cable of the car is disconnected or if, for any reason, the maximum power for which it has been configured is exceeded. To start charging, simply plug in the vehicle; it cannot charge more than one car at a time, and it usually includes a 4- or 5-meter cable.
You need it if: All owners of an electric car use a wallbox to charge it at home. In addition, public aid for the purchase of an electric includes a subsidy of 1,000 euros for its installation -it should be enough, except if the distance between the meter and the parking space is very large-.
Do I need it? *****
Mode 3 portable charging point
Price: 460 euros.
What is it for? It’s the Swiss army knife of the electric car adventurer. It is a portable wallbox that allows charging up to 32 amps or 7.2 kW, using practically all existing domestic and industrial plugs, using the corresponding adapters. You can charge at plugs in campsites, hotels, restaurants and industrial buildings. It allows to regulate the load intensity to adapt to the maximum offered by the installation and prevent the leads from ‘jumping’.
You need it if: You are determined to reach ´the end of the world´ in your electric car, or if you have an industrial building with a blue or red plug and you don´t want to spend what a wall box or wallbox costs.
Do I need it? **
Adapters for blue and red plugs
Price: 30-150 euros.
What is it for? To be able to use your portable charging point -above- or your Mode 2 cable in any socket. Suppose you buy a charging point with a three-phase red Commando plug, to connect it to a camping plug or Commando 2 you will need an adapter… and the same to do it in a Schuko domestic plug. The reverse process is also possible. That is, you can plug your Mode 2 cable with a Schuko home terminal into a blue or red Commando socket using the corresponding adapter.
You need it if: You are a true electrical adventurer, or you have a warehouse or business with industrial plugs and you prefer to charge your car using an adapter and your Mode 2 cable instead of spending the cost of a conventional or portable wallbox.
Puntuación: **
Thieves for charging points
Price: 150 euros.
What is it for? Convert a charging point into a conventional plug to connect any appliance. What this adapter does is ‘trick’ the charging point into believing that it is connected to an electric car, so that the switch that incorporates the charging point closes and you have power.
You need it if: You want to be able to plug in a vacuum cleaner or a pressure washer or any other device and the only plug at hand is the one for the charging point.
Do I need it? *
One Type 2 to Type 1 adapter
Price: 250 euros.
What is it for? To charge a car with a Type 1 plug at a public or private charging point with a hose with a Type 2 connector.
You need it if: You have a car with a Type 1 connector and you want to charge at the charging points with built-in hose that are becoming more and more common in shopping malls.
Do I need it? *
An ‘advanced’ wallbox
Price: 600 euros.
What is it for? It is a wallbox with additional functions such as RFID card authentication, an electric meter -to know how much energy is being consumed in charging the electric car- or even an Internet connection.
You need it if: You want to make sure that no one uses your charging point or you need to control consumption and charging times. Also if you want to offer the charging service to your customers, or several cars share the charging point and you want to know how much energy each one ‘refuels’.
Do I need it? ***
An adapter from CHAdeMO to Mennekes
Price: 350 euros.
What is it for? This adapter allows you to charge a Tesla at 50 kW of power using a fast charger with CHAdeMO connection -Japanese connection for fast charging-. Unfortunately, there are no European CCS to Tesla fast charge adapters yet.
You need it if: You plan to take a long trip in a Tesla along a route where there are no Superchargers -specific Tesla chargers that allow you to charge your cars up to 120 kW of power-, but there are fast chargers with CHAdeMO connection .
Do I need it? **
Where to buy these products
First step: Solve your doubts by contacting a national store, to make sure that what you plan to buy is exactly what you need.
Second step: Surely you are going to resort to a national or European website; In the US, practically everything is different when it comes to voltages, plugs…
All the information you need is at: evplugchargers.com – they are a great starting point; his telephone number is +34 . Other online stores are efimarket.com, wallbox.eu, eauto.si/metron-shop, and shop.quickchargepower.com.
