Category: Advice

Practical and economical, home recharging is the preferred solution for electric car owners, nearly 90% of whom have one. Whether conventional or wall-mounted, in the garage or the car park of a condominium, it’s always advantageous and sometimes lucrative. Here’s everything you need to know about home charging.

When it comes to recharging your electric car at home, the most obvious solution is the domestic socket. With a power of 2.3 kW, it’s the perfect bad idea! Not only do you only get about ten kilometres per hour out of the socket, but you also lose energy – up to 30% according to Engie. The owner then has the option of a reinforced socket. After a specific installation, generally in the form of a box, the power is increased to 3.7 kW and it is possible to recover up to 20 kilometres per hour of charging while limiting energy losses. This may be enough for everyday use, since a night’s charge recovers just over 100 kilometres of range, and slow charging is less aggressive on the battery. But the most recommended solution is the wall-mounted charging point. Even though they sometimes require some work, wall-mounted charging points have the advantage of offering ‘à la carte’ power, up to 22 kW three-phase, so you can recover up to 40 km of range per hour while optimising charging and preserving the battery by adjusting and programming your charging point according to your needs. There are stand-mounted alternatives if it is not possible to install a wall-mounted charging point. The main disadvantage of home charging points is the cost, but there are solutions for that too…

Financial aid to facilitate the installation of charging points

As part of France’s policies to speed up the transition to electromobility, there are two ways of reducing the bill for those who install a home charging point. On the one hand, the famous tax credit for energy transition (CITE) allows you to benefit from aid of up to €300 for the purchase and installation of a charging point. The only condition? Use an RGE (Reconnu Garant de l’Environnement) certified company. There is also a grant called ADVENIR, which “reimburses” up to 50% of the cost of the operation. Capped at €600, it is reserved for private individuals living in collective housing and companies wishing to recharge their fleets. It also has the added advantage of being paid directly to the installer, saving electric car owners a lot of paperwork. At local level, some local authorities offer additional incentives, so it’s worth finding out what the policy is in your département or region before installing your charging point.

The impact on bills

Installing a home charging point for your electric car inevitably leads to an increase in electricity consumption. ChargeGuru carried out a study and found that the average increase was 21%. Depending on the supplier, this translates into an increase of €30 to €40 on the monthly bill, or €500 a year. That may sound scary when you put it like that, but the savings compared with combustion engines are substantial. In fact, the average fuel budget in Europe is around €100 per month, i.e. 2 to 3 times more than for electric cars.

Playing the eco-responsibility game

It’s not just the economic aspect that comes into play when consumers decide to swap their petrol-powered car for an electric one. The environmental aspect also comes into play, and home charging points, powered mainly by decarbonised energy (in France at any rate), tick this box. But you can go even greener by opting for a guaranteed 100% renewable energy supplier, like Ilek, Enercoop or Ekwateur, among others. And to really drive the point home, you can choose a programmable charging point that will allow you to plug in only during off-peak hours, thus relieving congestion on the grid and saving money at the same time… a win-win situation!

The right to take

One of the biggest problems with the electrification of the French car fleet is the lack of charging points in communal housing. And yet, in France, every resident in a condominium has what is known as the right to a plug. In other words, they can have a charging point installed in their parking space. To do so, all you have to do is inform the syndic, who can only object if the necessary work jeopardises the integrity of the building. There are even organisations like Zeplug that can take care of the administrative and billing procedures. When it comes to installing shared charging points, a vote at a general meeting and the pooling of costs can simplify the installation even further, as well as making it easier for more residents to switch to electric vehicles.

Bidirectional charging, a solution for the future?

Finally, we look a little further into the (near) future and conclude with a technology that is certain to become increasingly widespread, and which has already made its appearance on the latest Renault 5 electric car: Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) or ‘two-way charging’ technology. The principle is relatively simple: at any given time of day, more than 9 out of every 10 cars on the road are parked. In order to take advantage of this immobility, bidirectional charging enables the vehicles being charged to “return” energy to the grid during peak hours, after having recovered some during off-peak hours. This saves even more energy and money, while helping to stabilise the grid.

The market for used electric cars is growing every year. And while buying a used EV isn’t radically different from buying a combustion-powered car, there are a number of features specific to electric cars that require special attention before you buy.

Electric cars were marginal for a long time, but they are now an integral part of the French automotive landscape, and this trend is set to increase in the years ahead, until the sale of new combustion-powered vehicles is completely banned in 2035. This boom is having a direct impact on the second-hand market, which, although still a niche market, continues to grow year on year. In France, for example, the volume of transactions involving used electric cars rose by 54% between 2024 and 2025. So it’s important to be aware of best practice and to adopt the right reflexes before taking the plunge and benefiting from a good deal that’s as environmentally friendly as it is economical.

Checking the condition of the battery in a used electric car

The battery is the heart of an electric car, far more important than the motor. A (very) expensive component, it is necessary to know exactly how healthy it is, or State of Health (SoH), generally expressed as a percentage. If the SoH is above 85%, the range is still optimal. Below 75%, you should move on. To obtain this information, you can use a dedicated manufacturer’s application, or even a tool that connects to the OBD port via Bluetooth.

Check the ownership of the battery

Some models, generally the older ones, have been sold with a leased battery. This implies a monthly subscription fee, and can somewhat distort the price offered by the seller. If the seller doesn’t provide this information, it’s a question that absolutely must be asked, because if the battery isn’t included in the sale, it’s a good lever for negotiating the price downwards.

Request a service history for your used electric car

It’s a classic when buying a second-hand car, regardless of the energy it consumes. Just because an electric car requires less maintenance than a combustion-powered vehicle doesn’t mean it doesn’t need it. It’s essential to ask for invoices, check for software updates, and pay particular attention to the parts that suffer most on an electric car: tyres and brakes.

Inspect accessories

When it comes time to inspect the vehicle, it’s important to check that the charging socket is in good condition, that the cables supplied are compatible and in good condition, and that the on-board electronic equipment – GPS, touch screen, cameras, driver assistance – and lighting are working properly.

Running away from the first generation of electric cars

As is the case with many electrical and electronic products, the first generations to leave the factory are generally quickly overtaken by the following models, before the situation evens out after a few years and the gap narrows. So a model that came out 10 years ago, with its short-lived batteries, basic equipment and sometimes even incompatibility with modern recharging points, will be much less attractive than the same model from 5 or 6 years ago, fitted with lithium-ion batteries, for example.

Try before you buy

It’s obvious: a test drive is essential before you take out the chequebook. It allows us to assess comfort, silence (and therefore any potentially suspicious noises), power under acceleration, and above all the effectiveness of regenerative braking, which is characteristic of electric cars. Another special feature is the electronics, in particular the control screen, which is checked for fluidity.

While the ecological virtues of the electric car are often extolled, its economic benefits are just as attractive. But at a time when energy prices are fluctuating and recharging points are springing up all over the place, there’s one question that keeps coming back
: on a day-to-day basis, is recharging your car really cheaper than filling up with petrol?

At home: the most wallet-friendly recharging option

It all depends on where, when and how you connect your vehicle. The majority of motorists who opt for home recharging via an individual charging point choose the most economical solution. An electric car consumes between 15 and 20 kWh per 100 kilometres, or around €3.75 to €5 (based on an average rate of €0.25/kWh).

A word of warning, however: installation requires the services of an IRVE-approved electrician, and represents an initial investment of between €1,400 and €4,000, depending on the type of charging point chosen.

On the road: faster charging stations… but more expensive

As soon as you leave home, the cost of recharging increases. Conventional public charging points, often located in urban areas, charge between €0.25 and €0.50/kWh, which works out at between €5 and €10 per 100 kilometres – still less than the cost of a full tank for a combustion-powered city car.

On the other hand, ultra-fast chargers such as Tesla Superchargers or those from TotalEnergies (150 to 350 kW) are considerably more expensive. They can cost up to €0.80/kWh, or around €15 per 100 km, which is close to the cost of a petrol or diesel car.

A full charge (80% battery) for an average electric car at these stations costs around €50, but offers unbeatable charging times: between 8 and 10 minutes to go from 20% to 80%, depending on the vehicle and the station.

Smart recharging: saving money if you think ahead

On the whole, an electric vehicle is cheaper to run than a combustion model. But this requires a certain amount of organisation: recharging at home, choosing the right time slots (especially off-peak hours) and avoiding public charging points without a subscription are essential reflexes.

Because while driving electric saves money and reduces your carbon footprint, it also requires a bit of forethought… and a plug socket close at hand.

Here’s our selection of five must-have applications to improve your journeys and manage your charging as well as your expenses when you own an electric car.

A Better Routeplanner (ABRP) – Pay options

ABRP, for A Better Route Planner, is one of the most highly rated of all the electric mobility apps. By entering the model name of your electric car and your destination, you can plan your journey. Is that all there is to it? No, because it takes into account a number of factors that are often overlooked by other map apps, including the car’s actual range, the weather, available recharging points and… the type of road! For those who live in the mountains, for example, that’s a detail that really doesn’t matter! The paid premium version also allows you to connect your vehicle directly to the app to get real-time information and the most accurate remaining range estimate possible, adjusted in real time according to your driving style, right down to wind speed.

Chargemap – Chargeable options

Chargemap, a French application, makes it easy to locate charging points all over Europe, but what sets it apart above all is the interactive aspect of its map. You can find out immediately whether a charging point is available or not, or whether it has broken down (but that never happens…), as well as its power or compatibility with your car. Using this information, drivers can plan a journey directly from the app. A chargeable option, Chargemap Pass, lets you use your account to pay for your top-up.

ChargePrice – Free

While switching to electric power generally saves money, the price from one charging point to another often varies much more than from one petrol pump to another. This is mainly due to the multiplication of subscriptions, energy suppliers, the energy source itself and the location of the charging point – in short, so many factors that can lose the consumer. This is where the ChargePrice application comes in, acting as a price comparator. It locates the cheapest charging points around the driver and even goes so far as to provide an estimate of the total cost of recharging, taking into account the type of car and the user’s subscription.

Dreev – Free

Dreev is the result of a collaboration between EDF and the Californian company Nuvve, which specialises in Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) recharging. In other words, cars that can send electricity back to the grid. So it’s only natural that Dreev should specialise in the ‘intelligent management’ of electric vehicle recharging. This means you can control and programme your charging point to optimise it as much as possible, both in terms of energy used and expenditure, as well as deciding whether or not to send energy back to the grid to discharge it (and save money in the process).

PlugShare – Pay-per-click ad-free option

PlugShare is one of the best-rated applications for quickly locating charging points around the world. It’s all powered by users themselves, who share their opinions and photos of almost 500,000 charging points. It also lets you plan your journey according to your subscription and the type of socket you are looking for.