Volkswagen to offer wall-mounted home chargers for electric cars
Volkswagen's home charging device will be priced from around £400 when sales begin later this year...
Volkswagen will offer its own range of domestic wallbox chargers to electric car drivers by the end of November. The new units, dubbed ID Charger, are said to charge batteries almost five times faster than a conventional three-pin plug.
Wall-mounted chargers can be installed at your home to allow for easy charging. And while many people still don't have access to public charging points, they're vital in helping more buyers switch to an electric or plug-in hybrid car. Indeed, Volkswagen says it expects half of all electric vehicle charging to be done at home.
The ID Charger can fully charge a 58kWh electric car battery – such as that available in Volkswagen’s upcoming ID 3 family hatchback – in about six hours.
Three versions of the device will be offered. The regular ID Charger comes with no add-ons; the ID Charger Connect can link up to home networks and smartphones, enabling monitoring, remote maintenance and wireless software updates; and the range-topping ID Charger Pro has an integrated electric meter so you can see in real time how much electricity your vehicle is using.
All three ID Chargers provide a peak charging rate of 11kW. In comparison, a typical public fast charging point dispenses up to 7kW, while most rapid chargers – the type you'll find at motorway service stations – operate at 50kW. Three-pin plugs, meanwhile, have an output of just 2.3kW.
Prices for the ID Charger are yet to be finalised, but they should start from around £400 and rise to around £850.
Only a few electric car makers, such as BMW and Tesla, currently offer their own wallboxes. However, there are numerous aftermarket options, with prices starting below £300 and approaching £1000. Those prices also factor in the Government's Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) grant, which covers up to 75% of the cost of a home charger, providing it has connectivity. Volkswagen's cheapest unit, then, wouldn't qualify for this grant.
Potential ID Charger customers can scope out the wallbox’s installation process before purchasing or call upon Volkswagen to arrange a professional fitting.
Dylan Paddison
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