Private Charging

At Opel, we make charging your electric car as convenient as possible with our efficient and easy-to-use charging systems. A wallbox, for example, is the safest, fastest and most convenient solution for charging your electric car at home.

Home charging

Being able to charge an electric car at home is simply practical - but a few things have to be in place: for example, the ability of installing a wallbox in the first place. Of course, a home with its own garage is particularly suitable for this. If a solar system is available, electricity can even be generated for the garage - making you particularly environmentally friendly. Even if there is no garage or carport, a wallbox can be installed, but it should be protected against rain and secured against unlawful use.

In apartment buildings, charging can be more difficult: If there is no garage with a power connection, you could use electricity from a household socket. However, charging processes take longer and should not be a permanent solution - and laying an extension cable to the appartment is awkward and possibly dangerous.

In this case, you should check whether a wallbox can be installed in the immediate vicinity of a parking space. Tip: In some cities or municipalities, it is possible to apply for charging equipment from a high-voltage connection in the street.

If there is no option of charging your electric car at home or in the garage - no problem either. The number of charging stations is increasing all over Europe.

Charging from a domestic socket

The easiest way to charge your electric car at home is to plug it into a normal socket - your Opel will then be charged in around 30 hours. The practical thing is that with a socket, you always have a charging option close by - even if you're at a friend's house, for example. All you need is the charging cable with shockproof plug that comes with your Opel.

The better way to charge your electric car, however, is with a 3-phase wallbox. This will charge your Opel's battery in around 5 hours. At the moment, there is no faster and safer way to charge your car at home, because the conventional socket is not designed for this continuous power.

Wallbox vs. smart wallbox

To charge your electric car faster and more safely than at a household socket, the best solution is an AC home charging station, a so-called wallbox. You can choose between a wallbox and a smart wallbox. Wallboxes work according to the Plug & Play principle, because thanks to the Autostart mode they can be put into operation immediately and are also easy to operate. A Smart Wallbox offers you additional functions, e.g. you can share it with others, manage the corresponding access rights and plan your charging times in advance.

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Charging process

At fast charging stations, you can charge the battery of your Opel electric car to up to 80% in half an hour. Perfect for longer journeys, because after a short stop you can quickly continue your journey. If you charge your car overnight - or during the day at work - fast charging is not necessary. Then the battery is also charged more gently.

It still sounds like the future, but developments for inductive charging are already underway. What is already widespread with smartphones will soon also be possible with electric vehicles. All you have to do is drive the car onto an inductive charging surface and the charging process begins. Until then, however, Opel will continue to offer cable and wallbox solutions that enable simple and intuitive charging at home and on the road.

Charging systems

When charging an electric car, a distinction is made between direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC). Direct current is used for fast charging. This is particularly practical if you want to avoid longer stops, because the battery of your electric car can be charged up to 80% in around 30 minutes.

Alternating current is used for regular charging. It is used throughout Europe for household power connections and is ideal for charging electric cars.

Basically, the battery of an electric car can only accept direct current (DC), so the alternating current (AC) from the mains must be converted beforehand.

A distinction is also made between single-phase and three-phase charging. Single-phase is the domestic mains with its protective contact socket. It can provide an average charging power of 2.3 kW at a voltage of 230 V and a current strength of 16 A. However, to charge your electric car quickly, a power of at least 3.7 kW is needed. For this purpose, there are three-phase sockets. These have a voltage of up to 400 V and a current of 16 A or 32 A. The charging capacity here is between 11 kW and 32 kW. The charging power is between 11 kW and 22 kW.

According to the CEE standard, single-phase sockets are blue and three-phase sockets are red. The so-called type 2 sockets are now the EU-wide standard. The corresponding so-called "Mennekes plug" allows 1-phase and 3-phase charging of electric cars.

A future topic is so-called bidirectional charging, for which special wallboxes are required. Here, the exchange of energy runs in two directions. If a car is charged and not being driven, the energy from the battery can be used to supply the household - or fed back into the grid.

Financial advantages

In addition to the so-called innovation bonus of the Federal Republic of Germany, pure electric cars are subsidised with up to 9,000 €, plug-in hybrids receive a subsidy of up to 6,750 €. For plug-in hybrids, however, the same regulations apply to the innovation premium as to the environmental bonus: they are only subsidised if they emit no more than 50 grams of CO₂ per kilometre or have a minimum purely electric range of 40 kilometres by the end of 2021, a minimum range of 60 kilometres from 2022, and at least 80 kilometres from 2025.

In addition, there is a further subsidy for the purchase and connection of wallboxes from KfW Bank, which for the first time also supports the installation of private charging stations on residential buildings with €900 per charging point - for owners and homeowners' associations, for tenants and landlords.

By the way, if you drive an electric car as a company car, you save on company car tax: since the beginning of 2020, drivers will only have to pay a flat monthly tax on private use of one quarter of the assessment basis - that is 25 percent of the gross list price.

More and more public charging points

In Germany, there are more and more public charging points from a wide range of providers. Especially in the city, charging is becoming increasingly uncomplicated. While shopping, in multi-storey car parks and in more and more public streets, there are enough stations available. This now makes the purchase of an electric car interesting even for people who do not have their own charging facilities at home.

What sort of costs can you expect with charging?

You can charge your electric car at home at a particularly favourable rate, because then you pay the currently valid electricity price of 31.89 cents/kWh per kilowatt hour. The charging speed depends on your wallbox and the charging cable used. Example: If you fully charge your Opel Corsa-e with a 50 kWh battery, it will cost you €15.95 - and is therefore much more affordable than filling up a combustion car.

At a public charging point, the costs depend on the tariff of the energy supplier or provider.

The following prices currently apply at ADAC charging stations: AC charging stations: 0.29 €/kWh, DC charging stations: 0.39 €/kWh. With other providers, the cost of a standard charge (AC) is 5 to 10 cents per minute. For a fast charging station (DC), costs of around 49 cents/kWH must be expected.

What loading time depends on

For an Opel electric car, the charging process at a three-phase fast charging station takes about 30-45 minutes. Three-phase charging is also possible at a wallbox at home - with up to 11 kW. Duration: about 5 hours. 1-phase with 7.4 kW, the battery is fully charged in about 8 hours. At the household socket, the entire charging process takes up to 30 hours, but this should only be an emergency solution.

The charging time depends not only on the charging station you choose - but also on how you drive your electric car. High speeds, strong acceleration and heavy braking put a strain on the system. When the car arrives at the charging station "hot", the charging power is initially lower as a result. Incidentally, the same phenomenon can also be observed in sub-zero temperatures. In both cases, good temperature management can optimise the charging performance, but this requires energy - which in this case comes from the charging station. This increases the charging time slightly.

Consumption is measured in kwh

The consumption of an electric car depends on various factors - your driving style is one of them, but also the charge, the number of people and the power consumption on board due to heating, air conditioning, etc. Consumption is measured in kilowatt hours - the Opel Corsa-e, for example, consumes 17 kWh/100 km. Compared to combustion engines, the costs for "filling up" are significantly lower.

In order to compare the engine of an electric car with an internal combustion engine, whose propulsions are expressed in litres, you need to know the calorific value of the fuels: These are 8.4 kWh/l for super petrol and 9.8 kWh/l for diesel - these are average values because the exact composition of the fuels varies.

One thing is clear: in comparison, your electric car consumes much less energy than a car with a combustion engine. There are several reasons for this: On the one hand, the electric drive is much more efficient - on the other hand, the combustion engine has a much lower efficiency because much of the energy generated during combustion in the car is lost.

How does charging an electric car work?

The battery of an electric car can only accept direct current (DC), so the alternating current (AC) from the mains must be converted beforehand. If this is done via the on-board charger in the car, it is called AC charging. If this process is carried out by a rectifier in the charging station, it is called DC charging.

When charging AC, the available charging power can be calculated according to this formula: Charging power = phases x voltage x amperage. The decisive factors are therefore the available mains voltage, the amperage and whether single-phase or three-phase charging is used.

How do I charge my electric car at home?

The best way to charge your electric car at home is with an AC wallbox. It has a higher energy transfer rate (up to 11 kW) than a conventional household socket. But the household socket with a shockproof plug is also an option - if the speed of the charging process is not important. Because with this variant, it can take up to 30 hours.

Can you charge your electric car using a domestic socket?

Your Opel electric car comes with a standard Mode 2 charging cable so you can charge it at any standard household socket. This is practical because you can get electricity virtually anywhere. The alternating current is converted into direct current directly in the vehicle. In the long run, however, charging at household sockets is not recommended because they are not designed for such a high voltage.

How long does it take to charge ane electric car?

The charging time of your battery naturally depends on various factors. At a fast charging station, you can charge your electric car to 80% in around 30 minutes. At a 3-phase wallbox with 11 kW, the entire charging process takes around 5 hours. At a single-phase household socket, it takes around 30 hours.

How often do you need to charge an electric car?

It all depends on how much you drive - and your driving style. If you drive in an energy-saving way, your Opel electric car could take you around 330 km. On average, people in Germany commute just 40 km to work. If you travel a lot for work, you can always charge the car at night to be ready for the next day. By the way, it is advisable to always keep the battery level between 20 and 80% to preserve the battery.

Where can you charge an electric car?

At home, the best place is at the wallbox. At friends' houses, occasionally, using a domestic power socket. On the road at almost 40,000 charging stations. Our Free2Move route planner shows you where the next charging option is near you or on your route.