Fire and fines: what charging electric cars from a home outlet can lead to
Kyiv • UNN
Charging an electric car from a regular outlet in an apartment can lead to network overheating and fire. An expert warns of technical risks and possible fines for exceeding the permitted power.
Charging an electric car from a regular household outlet seems like a simple and cost-effective solution. However, this practice can carry serious technical and financial risks for both the car owner and the entire building's electrical grid. Sviatoslav Pavliuk, director of the "Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine" association, told a UNN journalist more about whether it is possible to charge an electric car from a household outlet in an apartment and what the consequences might be.
Details
At first glance, connecting an electric car to a household outlet in an apartment seems quite feasible: technically, the car charges, there is electricity, the circuit breaker doesn't trip. However, the problem is that the residential electrical grid was not designed for such loads.
A car has a large battery: 20, 40, 60 kWh and more. Special chargers exist for such capacities. But people charge from an outlet because electricity for the population is cheaper than at charging stations, and there's no need to go anywhere or wait in line. However, this significantly exceeds the current for which an apartment is designed, explains the director of the "Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine" association.
Each apartment has a defined connected capacity, which is laid down during the design phase of the building. Cables, sockets, and protective circuit breakers are selected based on this, explains the expert. Any systematic exceeding of this limit leads to overheating of the network.
If an apartment has a connected capacity of 1.5-2 kW, then, as a rule, 10-amp circuit breakers are installed there. In apartments with electric stoves, up to 7.5 kW. If the load is higher, the circuit breaker should trip. But if it was arbitrarily replaced with a more powerful one, the network starts operating outside of its design parameters.
A separate danger is the condition of the internal wiring, especially in old buildings. Regular prolonged load can accelerate its wear and create a risk of fire.
If the wiring is done with twists, and not welded or properly connected, the contacts oxidize, heat up, and lose conductivity. This is a one-way process, because sooner or later it starts to burn. With regular charging of an electric car, this process accelerates significantly.
Another critical point is the restoration of electricity supply after outages. It is then that the load on the grid sharply increases, as people massively turn on electrical appliances, and any additional large consumption, such as charging an electric car, can be fatal.
When everyone turns on their appliances simultaneously after a power outage, the risks increase many times over. If, for example, the neutral wire burns out in a three-phase network, 380 volts can enter the apartment instead of 220. In such a case, everything will burn out: from refrigerators to televisions.
In addition to technical risks, there is also a financial and ethical aspect, says Sviatoslav Pavliuk. Electricity for the population in Ukraine is subsidized, so its use for charging electric cars effectively shifts the costs to other consumers.
The cost of electricity for the population is currently about 10 hryvnias, but people pay only a part, because the rest is compensated by the state and state-owned companies. When electric cars are charged from an outlet, they use subsidized electricity for purposes other than intended. In essence, this is not only a technical but also an ethical issue.
Furthermore, control over such violations formally lies with the distribution system operator. It has the right to check the compliance of loads with the connected capacity and apply sanctions.
If a person arbitrarily replaced the circuit breaker and exceeds the permitted capacity, the distribution system operator can issue a fine or seal the switchboard. If you plan to charge an electric car at home, you must officially increase the connected capacity and install a certified charging station. Otherwise, the "savings" can result in burnt wiring, damaged equipment, and serious fines.