Wallbox vs. Household Plug Sockets

The wallbox is much faster.   

Comparing the charging power of a wallbox to a conventional plug socket is like making a Formula 1 race car go head to head with a tractor. To give you an idea, a BMW i3 with an empty tank can be charged using a household socket in around 18 hours. But it takes just four hours with an 11 kW wallbox. To fully charge the battery in a car with a battery capacity of 60 kWh (e.g. an Opel Ampera-e), the vehicle will need to be hooked up to your household power outlet for a whopping 26 hours. This is slashed to around 5.5 hours with an 11 kW wallbox.

The wallbox is cheaper.   

Although a wallbox requires an initial investment, it is worth it in the long term. With the lower energy loss in the battery management system and the higher efficiency of the high-power charging system, a wallbox saves 5-6% energy compared to a conventional wall socket when charging a vehicle with an empty battery. This soon mounts up when you calculate the energy saved in a year.

It’s also worth noting that the wallbox is much cheaper than using public charging stations. Not just because the electricity price is lower, but because there are no registration or admin fees when you charge at home.

The wallbox is safer. 

Household plug sockets are designed to supply your home sound system, coffee machine and toaster with electricity. They’re not built to spend many hours charging your electric car with high currents. So it’s no wonder that vehicle manufacturers are warning consumers that the electrical outlet could overheat or it could cause cable fires.

A wallbox, on the other hand, is specifically designed to rapidly charge a car battery with high currents. It cannot overheat, even when operated for longer periods of time. A wallbox also has its own fuse, rather than having one fuse protect several plug sockets, as is the case in most properties.

The wallbox is more efficient. 

A wallbox goes full blast; a plug socket charges at a leisurely pace. This means the wallbox finishes much sooner than a plug socket and consumes much less energy for the battery management system, i.e. systems that can monitor the battery and provide data on its current state. Energy loss is also at its lowest with high-power charging systems such as wallboxes. In short, a wallbox is much more efficient at charging than a conventional plug socket.

The wallbox is smarter. 

Have you ever received data from a plug socket via a smartphone app? That’s precisely the difference between sockets and wallboxes. A conventional electrical outlet is not part of a network, but a wallbox is. It can provide real-time data on the charging status and costs, for example. And the really smart thing about it is that you can reduce costs through dynamic load management and cost-optimised charging.

The wallbox is more sustainable. 

A wallbox uses less energy when charging, so it is eco-friendlier. Just like your household’s electricity consumption, you can opt for green energy or fuel your car using electricity generated by your own photovoltaic system.

So a 6-0 victory for the wallbox, then.

We’ve got nothing against the good old plug socket. But a wallbox is six times better when it comes to charging your electric car.


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