Which Home EV Charger Do I Need : 7kW or 22kW?

You have just gotten yourself your first Electric Vehicle (EV) and now you are wondering, should I get a 7kW charger, or the 22kW charger for my home? In this article, we will be sharing some facts for you to evaluate which type of charger suits best for you. As you all know, the industry is still new here in Malaysia and we all have a lot to learn about to understand it better.

Does a 22kW charger charge faster than a 7kW charger? How much faster? Is it worth the cost? How much more expensive? We cover it all in this article.

Let’s get right onto it!

Does a 22kW Charger Charge Faster?

22 is 3 times bigger than the number 7, but when it comes to EV charging, does it charge 3 times faster? Not 100% of the time and here’s why.

All EV cars come with an onboard charger. The function of this onboard charger is to convert the current that flows in from your charger from AC to DC in order to charge your car’s battery. And each car comes with a different capacity of onboard charger. And here’s the interesting part, most EV in Malaysia comes with an 11kW charger.

In other words, the maximum AC charge that the car is able to receive is 11kW. Some of the car models that come with 11kW onboard charger include Hyundai Kona, Ioniq 5, Tesla Model S/X/Y, BMW iX/i4, Mini Cooper SE and Kia EV6. Some cars even have a smaller capacity onboard charger such as Nissan Leaf (6kW), Kona eLite (7kW), Tesla Model 3 (7kW).

READ Electric Vehicle Charger - EV Connector Types In Malaysia

Unless you are buying a Porsche Taycan (4 CT, 4S CT, GTS, Turbo CT) or Renault Zoe (latest model), you should only buy a charger that your car’s onboard charger could support.

But to answer the question, does it charge 3 times faster? Yes, if your onboard charger does support it. For example, if you own the latest model Renault Zoe with a 52kWh battery, this is the duration it takes for you to fully charge your car :

7kW charger : 7 hours
22kW charger : 2.5 hours

Note that this is just an estimation, actual situation may varies

How Much More Expensive Is a 22kW Charger?

In case you bought a car with a 22kW onboard charger, the next question that you might be asking would be, how much if I were to install a 22kW home charger?

If you are comparing the price of the chargers, the price difference is not that much. For example, the price of our 22kW Xcharge charger (RM4499) compared to the 7kW Starcharge charger (RM3299) is only RM1,200 (excluding installation).

However, a 22kW charger needs a 3 phase wiring configuration. So if your current house wiring configuration is a single-phase (most small-medium house), you would have to upgrade it first. According to TNB’s website, the charges to upgrade to 3 phase wiring is as follows :

RM300 – overhead supply
RM1,250 – underground supply

In case you are wondering, yes a 11kW charger also requires a 3 phase wiring.