Where to charge your electric vehicle?

"I have an electric vehicle, where can I charge it?", "Which facilities offer charging services?" If you are an electric vehicle driver, these are some questions you often have in mind. Indeed, for combustion vehicles, no question arises: to refuel you must go to a service station. Switching to electric means changing your habits, but you still need to know where to go to make sure your vehicle doesn't run out of energy!   

With an electric vehicle charging, it is the charging station that goes to the driver and not the other way around. A vehicle, whatever it is, remains parked, on average, 95%* of its time. Since charging an EV takes more time than filling up, the idea is to take advantage of this parking time to ensure a smooth charging experience.   

By the way, if you want to better understand charging times, we invite you to look at our article  "Understanding charging times".

 

Charging at home

Home charging is becoming more and more accessible. Indeed, if installing a gas pump at home is unlikely, installing a charging station within one's residence is much more expected! 

The charging stations that we find at home are AC charging stations that offer from slow to normal power, between 2.4 and 11 kVA depending on the characteristics of your home and your electricity subscription. Charging during the night is then particularly adapted if you have an electricity contract with an off-peak option. This will allow you to top-up your electric car while limiting the impact on your bill.    

Charging at work

Companies and professionals are all concerned by the energy transition and the change in transport modes. Companies are electrifying their vehicle fleets and in parallel providing charging services for employees who own an electric car.   

Some companies even subsidize part of the cost for charging your electric car.   

 

Charging while roaming

Roaming refers to people who are on the move. Roaming charging means to top-up your electric car at charging stations located in public places such as public parking lots or the streets of your city or even in service stations.  

• Local authorities are increasingly involved in the development of charging infrastructures, and more parking spaces are now dedicated to electric vehicles to ensure access to chargers to as many people as possible.    

• Shopping centers, supermarkets, stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. These players also supporting the electric vehicle development by installing charging infrastructures in their parking lots. They can decide to sell or offer the charging service to their visitors and customers.   

The EV development does not rhyme with the end of service stations! It is estimated that in-station charging will account for 7% of the overall electric charging by 2030.  Service stations have understood this and are equipping their facilities with charging infrastructures adapted to the specific needs of drivers. Indeed, unlike other charging locations, service stations do not offer people extended parking periods to charge their electric car. Drivers rather stop at a service station with the aim of charging as quickly as possible their car. The challenge is therefore to ensure a fast charging, which is why high-powered charging areas are springing up along our freeways and urban service stations.   

 

In a nutshell...

There are many choices for electric vehicle drivers when it comes to charging. The number of charging points in Europe is growing and charging infrastructures are easier to find, especially around your parking habits: at work, in town or near your shops.   

To find an available charging point that suits the power you are looking for, nothing could be easier! Today, many applications and websites allow you to easily find where to plug your electric vehicle.   

You can find all TotalEnergies stations equipped with charging stations by clicking on the link.

 

 

*Report Modal, ADEME 2020