What’s the best way to recharge a car at home?

We are having an extension to our house built with solar panels on the roof. I own a BMW 2 Series 225xe Active Tourer plug-in hybrid and am wondering what will be the most ef cient way to charge it up at home.what are the advantages of a charger on a post outside compared with a standard electricity socket?

Patrick Miller WHAT CAR? SAYS…

The three main advantages of having a charging point installed at home are increased charging speed, ease of use and flexibility over when recharging takes place.

Home chargers are generally rated at 3.7kw or 7kw. A 3.7kw charger will replenish your 225xe’s batteries twice as quickly as a domestic plug; online guides say it takes around four hours to charge your car’s batteries from 2080% using a three-pin plug, and two to three hours using a charging point.

A 7kw wallbox can charge the battery twice as fast as the 3.7kw one. Your 225xe might not be able to take advantage of this unless it’s the very latest model (which can accept a 7kw charging rate), but we’d still recommend fitting the more powerful wallbox if you can, because you’ll want the best rate possible if you buy a newer, faster-charging plug-in car in the future.

A dedicated unit can make the charging process easier and safer, especially if you’re charging up outside. And many plug-in cars can be programmed to pick the cheapest period to replenish their batteries.

Some units can also send electricity from your car’s battery back to the National Grid at peak times, adding credit to your account and making charging cheaper.

You might want to consider a ‘solar and grid’ smart charger so you can use your solar panels to replenish the car’s battery. This could be a way to help offset the cost of having a home charger installed. Since the government grant for home charger installations was cut from £500 to £350 from 1 April, the cost of getting a charger has gone up to around £350.