 High-voltage socket
We had the great advantage of buying our second-hand house because the previous owners had installed a five-wire cable all the way to the garage. Presumably, the plan was to use it to
power a larger electrical machine.
At the end of such a line directly from the meter box is a so-called high-voltage socket. This allows us to charge our electric car right from the start without having to install a wallbox.
All you need is a cable that plugs into a high-voltage socket on one side and into your car on the other. It has a simple display for the charging current level and costs only a fraction of the
price of a wallbox.
When purchasing, however, you must ensure that you have the correct plug. There are some for a maximum of 11 kW and others for 22 kW, which you can use to connect your electric car at
workplaces or public charging stations.
You should also be careful about the possible overheating of the supply line for the high-voltage socket. Ours is only 5 x 1.5 mm2, but it still only gets slightly warm even after a long charging
session at 11 kWh. We've actually tested this.
This could be a consideration, for example, if someone is charging their electric car with an emergency charging cable. In this case, the socket used may prove unsuitable for continuous
operation at 16 A. Replace it before a smoldering fire starts.
| If you cannot ensure that such a socket is suitable for a continuous
current of 16 A, it is better to reduce it to 10 A (2.3 kW). |
Now, however, we await the era of charging back and forth into the grid and back. This will likely require a new type of wallbox. If an electrician is absolutely necessary for this, the question
arises as to whether they will be satisfied with a 5 x 1.5 mm2 cable.
If, as expected, this is very likely not the case, the advantage of the existing high-voltage line will be lost. Charging would then have to be done back and forth quite frequently before the additional costs are recouped.
However, a larger cross-section would really be sensible then.
Solution: Pre-install the wallbox, remove the old cable, and purchase a new one with at least 5 x 4 mm2. Then, with both ends exposed, the electrician would simply connect it. Whether they'll even come for this is another
question.
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