When you purchase a charging station you are given the choice of whether you want one or two sockets. Sockets are charging connections. In this article, we take a closer look at this. We can already reveal that the single socket version is the best option for people who charge at home and the double socket is the most convenient option for commercial use.
For home use, a charging station with a double socket is an option that not many people will choose. After all, often only one EV needs to be charged, and that's not even on a daily basis. However, if you have two EVs that you want to charge every day, and that is a situation that will become increasingly common given the rapid rise of the EV, then a charging station with two sockets is handy. Or rather a must, because it is of course a lot more convenient if you can charge two EVs at the same time, especially if these cars are used to commute to work in your household on a daily basis. There are several companies that provide home chargers with two sockets, such as Alfen and CTEK, but be aware that these take up more space, especially if you have a cable permanently connected to them.
It is also advisable to go for a charger with standard or optional load balancing. This distributes energy between the charging points so that EVs can be charged simultaneously in the most efficient way for the home or business. Load balancing instructs the chargers to deliver the right amount of energy and manages the flow of energy between the charge points and the storage systems. The CTEK charger has this as standard, while the Alfen charging station has it as an option. So check whether the charger you want has this feature.
Two cables
With a charging station with two sockets, two cables go to the charging station, making it possible to charge two cars with a capacity of 11 kW. If you have opted for an annual standing charge, this is even 22 kW. Of course, your electric car must also be able to handle 22 kW. Whether you also need to connect two charging cables is up to you. Read more about this here.
For employees, visitors or customers
A charger with dual sockets can be very useful, for example, if you are a company owner and you want to give your employees, visitors or customers the opportunity to charge their EVs as well. You can make this charging connection available free of charge as a service to your employees or visitors, but it is also possible to charge a fee for it. It goes without saying that a charger with double sockets is more expensive than one with a single socket, but in terms of installation it is cheaper than installing two charging stations.
