Wallbox at home and under the block - what determines if you can charge your car

Single-family home: a simpler path

There are essentially three things to consider:

• Charger power vs. house power - an 11 kW (three-phase) wallbox is often as much as the rest of the house combined. There are two solutions: increasing the contracted power or dynamic load management (DLM) - the charger constantly “communicates” with the house and slows down when the induction hob or heat pump is working. DLM usually wins: the car charges mainly at night anyway, when the house is asleep;
• Dedicated circuit and protection - the wallbox gets its own circuit with the appropriate RCD (chargers require protection against DC currents - some have it built-in, which changes the selection of devices in the distribution board);
• Installation location - cable route, protection against mechanical damage, cable reach to the car's charging socket.

And charging “from the socket”? For emergencies - yes, regularly - only after checking the circuit. A standard socket was not designed for a draw of 10-16 A for 8 hours non-stop; an old or loose connection will heat up night after night.

Block of flats and community: procedure instead of guerrilla tactics

The Electromobility Act provides a path for residents of multi-family buildings: an application to the property manager and an expert opinion on the admissibility of installing a charging point. The expert opinion answers questions that a community meeting will not resolve:

• whether the building's connection power has a reserve for charging points;
• what is the condition of the main supply line (WLZ) and main distribution board (this is a common “bottleneck” - more in the guide on WLZ and risers);
• how to meter charging so that the person who charges pays;
• how to route power to the garage hall or parking spaces.

For the community, it is cheapest to plan the infrastructure once, for many places - instead of five separate approaches, each re-excavating the same walls. We prepare such a plan for property managers as part of electrical services for buildings.

Companies and fleets

Chargers for employees and fleets are a separate topic - involving analysis of the facility's power, load management for multiple points, and energy billing. Details on the charging stations for businesses page.