Why you no longer need a wallbox

Contents

Whenever someone throws "Oh times, oh customs, oh charging infrastructure" into mobility discussions, I save myself the trouble of reading the rest of the smoke bomb that has just been set off. Among the numerous problems of battery-electric automotive mobility, "the infrastructure" never makes it into my top ten. On the contrary, it has long been much better than most non-users suspect. The criticism therefore reliably comes from non-users. Regular users know that the problem of "charging a car" is comparatively well solved in everyday life, and even better than refueling when commuting.

At the beginning of the boom of lithium-ion electric cars, the rates of charging at home, determined by manufacturers and estimated by industry associations, were always around 85 percent. At that time, there was a major infrastructure problem for the operators: so few customers drove to public charging stations that investments barely yielded a return.

During the dismantling of the old public AC charging bones of the first generation with their software as if from a computer science course for children, and their successive replacement with solid industrial technology, we already investigated in 2019 how an electric car for a streetlamp parker in the city could work. The answer: well. It was easy even then. It was not necessary to have a wallbox to operate an electric car comfortably even then. It was cheaper than gasoline even then, because short trips in the city produce high cold start consumption. And it has only gotten better since then. Today, I can charge my entire week's driving electricity at a DC charger while shopping, and I would have five more opportunities, and I no longer live in Stuttgart, but in the flattest countryside in Badisch Siberia.

People live in cities

From the 85 percent of early adoption (mainly in private homes with electricity in the garage), we have now reached a 53 percent home charging share according to a survey by the load management provider gridX, with a further downward trend. In addition to home charging, there is 19 percent charging at work and the rest are public chargers. This figure naturally mixes city and country into a statistical number. The declining share of home chargers is mainly due to the fact that in many urban living situations, you simply cannot charge at home at all.

The ADAC (and we at Heise too) have written a lot about how little urban underground garages are electrified. Of course: anyone who builds an underground garage for a residential building today thinks about electricity. However, when the old underground garages were built, it was different, and retrofitting them to meet German requirements for electrical wiring costs astronomical sums.

DC charger beats wallbox

However, it turns out: ultimately, it doesn't matter. Ultimately, only a few households simply need a charging option at home. Of course, such a thing is super practical. But whether I plug in at home every day or once or twice a week at a DC charger while shopping, it's practically equivalent in terms of comfort, or rather: DC charger beats plugging in every day. However, it is cheaper in the long run to charge at home.

If we assume a charging tariff M from EnBW, the marginal energy costs are 39 ct/kWh. Let's round up to a 10 ct difference to household electricity and assume the wallbox, including installation, costs 3000 euros. Then, under these conditions, it would take 150,000 km between the purchase of the wallbox and the break-even point. Although this figure decreases with cheaper home electricity (e.g., own solar power), a concrete calculation for the use case often means: the wallbox is too risky an investment if life is likely to take a turn in the meantime. This is more common in the city than in the countryside. Although you can take the wallbox with you, you have to pay for the electrician's dance anew in the new home, and that accounts for the main costs.

City habits spread to the countryside

When KfW introduced its wallbox subsidy, I had my garage electrical system checked for suitability. It turned out to be horribly self-made. The wallbox was scrapped. Later, I laid a new cable for the solar system on the double garage. But I didn't buy a wallbox afterwards, even though it could have been easily attached to the new cable. It wasn't because of the expired subsidy. It was more of a "Why?". I can recharge my electrical test kilometers much more easily at the much-maligned charging infrastructure.

Another example is my colleague Sebastian Bauer, with whom I run the podcast "Die Hupe". He works as a Scrum Coach and drives his Tesla Model 3 across the country to his clients. His landlord therefore offered to install a charging station, but even for this intensive use, he thought: "Why?" It is easier for him to plug into a fast charger for 10 minutes at the end of a tour. This covers his local errands until the next long-distance trip. And this story takes place in the lonely Eifel region, where charging stations are as scarce as car haters.

Try it out

In many conversations with non-users (including in the Heise forum), the fundamental problem of any technology that is making great leaps becomes apparent: people argue from a knowledge base that is no longer relevant for current purchasing decisions. In friendly conversations at the charging station with interested parties, I often have to say: "You've understood the principle correctly, but that was the situation ten years ago. Try it out now." Similarly, colleague Martin Franz recommends trying out current electric models instead of getting stuck on "my Smart ED 3 was unsuitable for the Rimini tour."

Whether a wallbox is worthwhile can be decided relatively easily based on the specific economic figures and one's own comfort needs. For many city dwellers, however, this calculation problem doesn't even arise because there is no electricity at the parking space or even no fixed parking space at all. However, if the electric car otherwise fits into everyday life, there is really nothing against buying one for use under the streetlamp, apart from the purchase price. The operating costs in the city are lower than a gasoline engine due to cold starts, and the energy replenishment comfort is at least equal. It was easy in 2019, it has never been easier than today, and it will become even easier in the future.

(cgl)