At the moment, there are just over 55,000 (fully) electric vehicles on the Dutch roads. That number is continuing to increase. In April of this year, 2,117 electric vehicles were sold, accounting for a market share of 6.4 percent of total car sales.
With the increase in sales, the number of charging points is also growing considerably. In Limburg, you'll currently find 1,233 (semi-)public charging points and another 89 fast-charging points. In total, there are approximately 40,000 charging points in the Netherlands.
Let's start by saying that buying a new electric car is still a considerable investment at the moment. Electric cars are, after all, relatively expensive to purchase compared to their fuel-powered counterparts. You will, of course, begin to earn back that extra investment when you start driving, through savings on your fuel and maintenance costs. Those savings quickly add up when you charge your electric car at home.
So I was wondering: is buying my own charging station profitable? How much does it cost And what is the payback period?
One thousand euros savings per year
The average driver saves around a thousand euros per year on fuel costs by driving an electric car. Exactly how much you save depends, among other things, on where you charge your car. This is because there are considerable price differences between the various charging points. At some service stations, you will find fast chargers, which charge your electric car in about half an hour. As I already wrote, there are currently fewer than a hundred of these in the Netherlands. Moreover, this is the most expensive way to charge. (Semi-)public, or public charging posts, are encountered much more often. But that does not mean that these are always available to you.
Your own charging station can be profitable
If you want to charge whenever you please, you'll have to buy your own charging station. Moreover, this is the cheapest way to ‘refuel’ with electricity, especially if you have solar panels on your roof. But isn't your own charging station a huge investment? Well, not really. You can already get a mobile charging cable for around 500 euros. Wall-mounted models are a bit more expensive, and for a proper charging station, you'll pay around 1,500 euros. That's not including installation costs, by the way. Exactly how much you'll spend depends, among other things, on the charging capacity and extra features of the station. For example, ‘smart’ chargers give you insight into your energy consumption and you can program them to take advantage of the cheaper night-rate for electricity.
Payback period for electric car charging station 7 to 8 years
It's difficult to say how long it will take to recoup the purchase costs of your own charging station. The electricity tariff, your battery's consumption, and the mileage you cover annually all influence this. Generally speaking, you can say that you'll start making money compared to charging at a public charging point after roughly 7 to 8 years. If you compare it to driving on petrol, you'll have made back the investment much sooner. Additionally, you of course benefit from the convenience of your own charging station.
Please be careful when purchasing a charging station
Not every type of charging station is suitable for every car. Furthermore, not every fuse box is designed to handle the highest power levels (22 kW) that charging stations can supply. These are things to consider when purchasing a charging station. After all, you don't want your fuses to blow or to be left without power indoors when your car is charging. A home charging station is a boon for anyone who doesn't want to be dependent on public charging points. However, the condition is that you have your own parking space or driveway at home and a suitable fuse box.
Do you already drive an electric car? And do you have your own charging station outside your front door? Share your experiences with our followers!
