Home charging is a key factor for the successful transition to electromobility. While simple devices have been predominantly installed, the trend in private households has increased towards intelligent and networked models. In Germany, more than 270 providers have been added to the list of eligible charging stations by the promotional bank KfW, and new players continue to enter the market in hopes of profiting from the industry’s promising growth potential. Software-driven companies, with a user-oriented product design, are recording increased market shares compared to the established manufacturers in the electrical industry, who are under high pressure to expand.

P3 has been accompanying and analyzing the dynamic charging market at various levels of the value chain for years. To increase supply chain transparency for the electrical profession, as well as private and commercial end-users when purchasing AC-wallboxes, P3 developed the P3 Wallbox Benchmark. In Q1/2023, a total of ten intelligent AC-wallboxes were tested for 185 customer requirements from the installer and end-user perspective. For “Edition 01 | Home Charging Issue”, the focus is on wallboxes in the private application area.

The test results offered many exciting insights. A key finding, we would like to share in advance is that all wallboxes were convincing based on basic charging requirements. However, it became clear that many manufacturers still have room for improvement, particularly in the core technology of communication and the ability to intelligently control and optimize charging behavior. In the end, two models differentiated themselves from the competitive field. The P3 Wallbox Benchmark uncovers and shows these differences.