Electric car: ADAC warns of high charging losses at the household socket

Created: 09/16/2022, 09:30 am

By: Sebastian Oppenheimer

When an electric car is charged, electricity is always lost - but according to the ADAC, the losses can be significantly limited.

Not only are the fuel prices currently in dwindling heights - the electricity prices have recently climbed significantly.

Not only combustion engine drivers, but also e-mobile owners are currently paying more attention to maximum efficiency.

However, energy is always lost when charging an electric car.

Although the electricity is paid for, it does not end up in the battery.

However, these charging losses can be kept within limits.

In order to keep charging losses low, the ADAC recommends using a wall box.

(Iconic image) © Rupert Oberhäuser/Imago

Electric car: ADAC warns of high charging losses at the household socket

The ADAC conducted an experiment with four electric cars: A Renault Zoe, a Fiat 500e, a Tesla Model 3 and a VW ID.3 were compared when charging at a household socket and at a wall box.

The result was clear: when charging at the household socket, there were the greatest losses: for example, the Renault Zoe lost a good 24 percent, and the Tesla Model 3 still lost 15.2 percent.

And even with the VW ID.3 (13.6 percent) and the Fiat 500e (12.7 percent) one fell by the wayside.

Charging losses in e-cars: ADAC recommends the use of wall boxes

Things looked much better when charging at a wall box with 11 kWh: The losses clearly decreased.

With the Renault Zoe it was “only” 9.7 percent, with the Tesla 7.7 percent, with the VW 9 percent and with the Fiat 6.3 percent.

According to the Automobile Club, one of the key reasons for the loss of charge is the conversion of the alternating current (as it comes out of the socket) into direct current (as the car batteries can store it) by the on-board charger.

Relevant losses also occur in the 12-volt vehicle electrical system due to a number of control units that are active during the charging process.

Not inconsiderable losses also occur, for example, if the cable to the socket is too long.

The losses through charging cables or the house distributor, on the other hand, are “low to negligible”.

Charging an electric car: These ten go the furthest after 20 minutes

View photo gallery

also read

Set the parking disc correctly: You have to pay attention to three points 

Magnetic levitation train at 600 km/h just as fast as an airplane

Electric car: Faster charging minimizes charging losses

The recommendation of the ADAC is therefore to always charge the Stromer on a wall box (which you can also build yourself with a little specialist knowledge) with 11 or 22 kW.

Because with a higher charging power, the duration of the charging process is reduced - and thus the time in which charging losses can occur.

According to the test, the charging hub had hardly any effect on the losses: Whether the battery was charged by 20 or 50 percent only led to minor deviations.

And what are the charging losses at a public fast charging station?

According to the automobile club, in this case the power conversion does not take place via the vehicle's on-board charger, but in the DC charging station.

The loading losses are therefore not the responsibility of the person who fills up the tank, but of the operator.

This is also one of the reasons why fast charging is usually more expensive than drawing electricity from AC columns.