Today you can put two types of charging facilities in parking spaces for electric cars: a plug or a charger . The former are cheaper and are often used for plug-in hybrids. The seconds cost more, but allow faster charges and are indicated for 100% electric vehicles, which require larger recharges. But how are they? How do these stations work?
When making our purchase to acquire a new electrified vehicle, this also poses other challenges such as the use of parking spaces to charge our electric cars. A challenge that would imply, for its part, the participation at home of a car park specifically molded to recharge them.
Car parks make loading easier
However, and thanks to the fact that electric mobility is making good progress, it is also possible to do so when you do not have your own garage with a plug . Or what is the same: it is not strictly necessary to have a square in our building, but we can also do it hand in hand with the different points that are in the urban environment.
Thus, with the car parks located in the center of cities, users are already allowed to charge their electric cars without a parking space, and have them always ready to move. From there, there are different proposals (each more attractive) that make the task not only safer, but even more accessible .
Nowadays it is quite common to see initiatives in supermarkets, hotels or commercial areas in which it is offered the possibility of recharging our modern car for free during the time of stay / purchase . A formula that allows attracting new customers by focusing on the new needs of electric mobility. Presenting itself as a sustainable idea, we have more than one infrastructure solution.
Charging infrastructures
The truth is that electric cars are no longer an expensive option only suitable for wealthy users. Now it is an affordable option for practically all budgets and there are more and more neighbors who want to have a charging point for their electric car in their garage space in the community of owners.
But it is not the only one. Well through the points in single-family houses, in fleets of company vehicles where we go to work, on public roads … we have a series of bases as a support for our loads that are distributed by several points . This makes it possible, despite the fact that they are still given with few network numbers, it is quite frequent that we find them in an easy and close way.
- Charging points in single-family houses . It is the best solution to recharge the car battery at a very low cost.
- Points in neighborhood communities and community garages. They can also be installed in community parking lots in residential buildings. It is just as simple as in a single family home.
- Points in vehicle fleets . Installing a recharging point in the company’s own car park where the fleet is parked is a great option for professional drivers to save on their electricity bill.
- Points on public roads . They are geographically located recharging network structures to supply the growing demand for electric cars, which is established in the strategic lines and specific municipal or supra-municipal sustainable mobility plans.
- Points in shopping centers . Halfway between installation on public roads and in community parking, this is a strategy that continues to gain supporters. Customers leave their car charging in the parking lot while enjoying an afternoon of shopping or movies.
Where to find the stations
The best way to find charging points, find out their characteristics and get some information on whether they are working for our electrified use – provided by users who have used them recently and share this information – is the Electromaps application , available for Android and iOS ; although its map of charging points is also on its website.
In addition, Electromaps offers the possibility of registering, to maintain your search preferences . It also has its own application, with which you can use your smartphone’s GPS to select the ones closest to your position and automatically activate Google Maps to guide you.
Another option that Google has offered for some time is to use Google Maps to locate charging points. As it is not a service as sought after as gas stations, it is not offered directly in their menus. To find them you have to slide up the ‘Explore’ menu or click on the ‘More’ button, go down in the list of Categories and in Services select Electric Vehicle Charger. You can also type in the search engine ‘Electric vehicle charging station’. Chargemap or Nextcharge also offer complete information on charging points for electric cars. Chargemap even has its own payment and charge management system.
Modes and costs
At the same time, we can have one or another type of charge for our electric cars in all car parks, regardless of whether their use is public or personal. This need has led to the standardization of four charging modes, which are differentiated in characteristics and use (in addition to a varied cost).
We usually speak of a conventional and type 2 recharge mode , which would be the so-called slow recharge carried out at less than 16 Amps, up to 3.6 kW. Also of the type 3 recharge mode, recommended for almost all types, as well as hybrids. This so-called semi-fast load usually uses between 16 and 32 Amps (up to 22kW). Finally, the fastest recharging, also known as mode 4, is the one used in many pole recharging points ( common outdoors , companies and public roads, from 44kW).
Regarding its cost, that of public recharging is possibly the most determining factor. Because yes, recharging a car at home is cheap today. For an average user it is easy to obtain a price of € 0.12 / kWh, which would give us a cost of € 2.16 per 100 kilometers with a consumption of 18 kWh / 100 km. While, on public roads, we find a range of rates that range between € 0.3 and € 0.5 / kWh depending on the network, the charging protocol and the payment method. This would make us have to pay between € 5.4 and € 9 / 100km.
Conventional recharge
These types of recharges are the most common in the domestic environment since the vehicle must be connected between 4 and 8 hours to obtain a full charge. When conventional charging is carried out at home, the electrical intensity and voltage that the home itself has contracted is used, for example, 16 amps and 230 volts.
This would imply that the electrical power that the point can deliver for these types of charges is generally around 3.7 kW, offering a full charge in approximately 8 hours.
The optimal recharging from the point of view of energy efficiency is to carry out this type of recharging during the night period, which is when there is less energy demand . This type of recharging points can be installed in the garage of the house, either single-family or communal.
Semi-fast recharge
This charging solution for electrified vehicles is optimal for recharges that are carried out in car parks such as work centers or in areas where the user will be parked between an hour and an hour and a half (shopping centers, supermarkets, etc …). The vehicle connects in approximately 1 to 3 hours .
This to obtain a full charge, depending on factors such as the vehicle’s battery or available power. Calculating that the average parking time in a car park is one hour, in that period of time 80% of the vehicle’s battery may have been charged.
Fast charge
The next one, the quick recharge, is a solution that, from the customer’s point of view, more closely resembles their current refueling habits with a combustion vehicle. For this reason, it seems ideal for service stations or road restaurants located on the main interurban roads.
This is where the user will stay for a short period of time. In this case, the vehicle must remain connected between 20 and 30 minutes to obtain an 80% charge, taking into account an average battery that allows up to 30kWh.
Ultra fast recharge
Designed for road electric stations, whose objective is to charge vehicles on long trips, and it is necessary to further reduce charging times, even higher power chargers are installed. These are recharging equipment with an output power from 150kW and that are capable of charging the battery in just five minutes .
The type of connectors used by these equipments are practically the same as for fast chargers, since they are suitable for direct current charges.
