Five tips for affordable electricity for electric cars

Prices for Diesel and Gasoline vary depending on the time of day and whether one tanks on highways or in the city. The same goes for electricity. There are times when it is free, but often also at excessively high prices. Here are some tips for electro-car drivers to ease the financial burden.

Loading electricity can indeed be quite costly. At some fast-charging stations, they may charge 80 cents or more per kilowatt-hour. If the electricity consumption is 20 or more kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers, it will make a significant impact on your wallet. Here are a few tips to help reduce the cost.

Roaming Charging

For most electric vehicle drivers, using a charging app that allows charging at public charging stations across providers is recommended. For instance, the Mobility+ App by EnBW grants its user access to a large number of charging stations. Alternatively, one can also charge at charging stations on-the-go and pay directly to the provider, which can be quite expensive.

With roaming charging via an app, there are usually unit prices displayed on the app. However, it is essential to pay attention to price differences among charging station providers.

Stay Flexible

The market for electricity providers has been quite dynamic for years. Therefore, it is advisable to compare offers from independent charging providers regularly. A certain degree of flexibility is beneficial. In addition to cross-network apps, there are also special offers from car manufacturers like Mercedes Me or MyAudi, which often offer favorable charging rates.

If you are an electricity customer with your local electricity provider, it is worth checking their mobile electricity tariffs. City utilities often operate charging stations in their cities, allowing private electricity customers to charge relatively cheaply in public. Additionally, there are grid-bound offers like those from discounters, which attract customers with relatively low electricity prices to their supermarkets.

Home Wallbox

The most comfortable and often cheapest way to charge electricity is at home with a wallbox. If a private car owner has the opportunity to install a wallbox at their parking space, this investment will pay off quickly.

Wallboxes are available for a few hundred euros, and installation costs from an electrician can add a few hundred euros. Through the wallbox, then, the household electricity is used, which costs significantly less than at public charging stations.

Those who charge at home should also keep an eye out for favorable electricity tariffs. Many home electricity providers offer corresponding tariffs. Alternatively, it might be worth looking for electricity providers that attract customers with particularly favorable conditions for electric vehicle owners.

Solar Panel

Those who charge at home have significant savings potential if a photovoltaic system is connected to the power grid. Using free solar power instead of buying electricity not only benefits the environment, but it also saves a considerable amount of money. Every self-produced kilowatt-hour that is consumed instead of fed back into the grid has a particularly noticeable impact. However, installing a larger solar panel system is necessary for this.

A rooftop solar panel would be too small to provide additional cost-free charging power. Those who install a 10 kWp system will usually generate enough electricity to power their home and a car.

The Wallbox must be able to communicate with the PV system. If the E-Car can charge bidirectionally, the traction battery is even used as a storage for excess Solar Power, which increases the self-consumption rate, and allows for a smaller and therefore cheaper stationary storage.

Employer Charging

Meanwhile, there are employers who offer their employees the opportunity to charge their cars on the company parking lot. In some cases, this is offered for free and in addition to the salary and not as part of it. The catch: The employer-supplied electricity does not have to be declared as a taxable benefit.

When the employer calculates the electricity consumed by employees, this often offers cost savings as well. Companies profit from lower electricity prices, which they can then pass on to their employees. In many cases, a kilowatt-hour can be charged 30 to 50 percent cheaper than at a private household.

Employing solar energy for charging electromobility can be a cost-effective solution. Installing solar systems at charging stations for electric cars can significantly reduce dependency on expensive electricity sources.
To further reduce charging costs, considering photovoltaics as an energy source is beneficial. By integrating solar panels with electric car charging stations, electricity can be generated at no cost during the day, reducing reliance on expensive nighttime electricity prices.
Charging stations for electric cars at the workplace can also contribute to substantial financial savings. By offering charging facilities to employees, employers can enjoy lower electricity prices and, in turn, pass these savings on to their employees, making charging more affordable.