Charging a car at your holiday home costs two things: the electricity that actually flows through it, and the rate that you as a landlord attach to that electricity. You purchase the electricity from your energy supplier at the price on your own contract. The amount the guest pays is determined by you: you can pass on the cost exactly, or add a surcharge to recoup the purchase of the charging point and maintenance.
How much a full charge costs depends mainly on two things: how much power the charging point delivers and how large the car's battery is. A standard charging point at a holiday home usually delivers between 3.7 and 11 kilowatts. That number, kilowatt, indicates how much power is delivered at any given moment — compare it to the force of a water jet. How much flows through in total is measured in kilowatt-hours: the power multiplied by the time it charges. A car with a forty kilowatt-hour battery connected to a 7.4 kilowatt point will therefore take approximately five to six hours to fully charge.
Where the amount comes from
The bill for the guest actually consists of two layers. The bottom layer is the purchase price of the electricity: what you yourself pay per kilowatt-hour from your supplier. That price varies per contract and sometimes per hour of the day, for example with a dynamic tariff. The top layer is your own rate: the amount you ask per kilowatt-hour from the guest. Many landlords opt for a fixed rate per kilowatt-hour, so it is immediately clear to the guest in the app what charging will cost before they start.
Because a charging point in practice allows more electricity through than an outlet in the home, the meter cabinet counts extra here. A circuit that is not rated heavily enough can switch off with simultaneous use of the charging point and household appliances. What a circuit can exactly handle and how the charging point fits into it is something an electrician assesses at the connection; here you see how the measurement and switching technically fit together.
For the electrician: power and current
A 3.7 kilowatt charging point runs on a single phase and approximately 16 amperes, a point of 11 or 22 kilowatts on three phases. The power determines not only the charging time but also which circuit and which cable thickness are needed; that is determined per situation by the installer, not by the app.
What determines the rate per charge
You set the rate per kilowatt-hour yourself at the moment you register the charging point. Each point is given its own QR code and its own rate, even if you do not pass on other electricity provisions to guests alongside the charging point. That is useful if you, for example, only rent charging points on a car park, without a holiday home attached.
Whether the rate you charge is sufficient to cover costs depends on how often the point is used and what your own purchase price is. Some landlords charge a small amount above cost to recoup wear and tear and the subscription for the point; others deliberately keep it equal to the purchase price as an extra service to the guest. Both choices are common in practice; what makes sense for your situation depends on your own cost structure. With a few questions you can get an indication yourself of which rate suits your situation.
Who may charge and how it is billed
Because each charging point has its own QR code, it is immediately clear which guest uses which point. The guest scans, buys kilowatt-hours in the app and sees live during charging how much has been consumed and what it costs. Nothing is automatically debited from an account; as a landlord you receive a monthly overview of total consumption across all your properties, with a payment link included.
That overview also makes it possible for charging stations and the regular power supply of the property to coexist without you having to add them together manually. Anyone who wants to know more about how electricity costs are passed on to guests in general, and what choices are common in that regard, will find the detailed variants in the knowledge base with explanations for each situation.
Finally
The cost of charging a car at your vacation property is therefore not a fixed amount, but the sum of the electricity you purchase and the rate you choose yourself. Would you like to know what a charging station in your situation costs approximately in hardware and subscription, and what rate would be reasonable to go with it? Do the free quick-scan or browse through the topics in the knowledge base to see what applies to your property.