Your own charging station for your electric car: is it profitable?

At the moment, there are over 55 thousand (fully) electric vehicles driving around on Dutch roads. That number is constantly increasing. In April this year, 2.117 electric vehicles were sold, representing a market share of 6,4 percent of total car sales.

With the increase in sales, the number of charging points is also increasing significantly. In Limburg, you can currently find 1.233 (semi-)public charging points and another 89 fast charging points. In total, there are approximately 40 thousand charging points in the Netherlands.

Let us first state that purchasing a new electric car is still a considerable investment at the moment. Electric cars are relatively expensive to purchase compared to their fuel-powered counterparts. Of course, you will start to earn back that extra investment when you start driving, through savings on your fuel and maintenance costs. Those savings quickly add up if you charge your electric car at home.

So I asked myself: is purchasing your own charging station profitable? What does it cost and what is the payback period?

Savings of a thousand euros per year

The average driver saves about a thousand euros per year on fuel costs by driving electric. How much you save exactly depends on where you charge your car. There are considerable price differences between the different charging points. At some petrol stations you see fast charging stations, which charge your electric car in about half an hour. As I already wrote, there are currently fewer than a hundred of them in the Netherlands. Moreover, this is the most expensive way of charging. The (semi-)public, or public charging stations, are much more common. But that does not mean that they are always available to you.

Own charging station can be profitable

If you want to charge when you want, you will have to buy a charging station yourself. Moreover, this is the cheapest way to 'refuel' electricity. Especially if you have solar panels on your roof. But isn't your own charging station a huge investment? Well, it isn't that bad. For around 500 euros you can already have a mobile charging cable. Wall models are a bit more expensive and for a real charging station you pay around 1.500 euros. Incidentally, that is excluding the installation costs. What you pay exactly depends on the charging capacity and the extra functionalities of the station. For example, 'smart' chargers give you insight into your energy consumption and you can program them to benefit from the favorable night rate for electricity.

Payback period for charging station 7 to 8 years

It is difficult to say how long it will take before you have earned back the purchase costs of your own charging station. The electricity rate, consumption of your battery and the kilometers you drive annually are all factors that influence this. In general, you can say that after roughly 7 to 8 years you start earning money compared to charging at a public charging point. If you compare it to driving on petrol, you will have earned back the investment much sooner. In addition, you will of course benefit from the convenience of your own charging station.

Pay attention when purchasing a charging station

Not every type of charging station is suitable for every car. In addition, not every meter box is designed for the highest power (22 kW) that charging stations can deliver. These are things to take into account 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 charging station at home is a solution for anyone who does not want to be dependent on public charging points. The condition is of course that you have your own parking space or driveway at home and a suitable meter box.

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Do you already drive electric? And do you have your own charging station in front of your door? Share your experiences with our followers!