Charging Stations
Guide
Charging station for your electric car: wallbox, costs and charging with solar power
Charging at home is the cheapest way to drive, and with a solar system the power from your own roof becomes your fuel. Here you can read which charging station suits which building, what it costs and what matters for the installation.
Which charging station do I need?
For a single-family home, a wallbox with 11 kW of alternating current is almost always enough. It fully charges an electric car overnight and can be run without upgrading the house connection.
In an apartment building, the shared infrastructure comes first: supply line, load management and billing. The individual charging points are added over the years as the residents get electric cars.
What does a wallbox cost?
A wallbox in Austria typically costs €900 to €2,500 including installation. The biggest difference is the route from the fuse box to the parking space: the longer the cable and the harder the routing, the higher the price.
A bidirectional charging station with direct current costs considerably more, easily twice as much. In return, it can feed electricity from the car battery back into the house.
Charging with solar power
A wallbox with surplus charging raises the charging power when the roof produces more than the house needs. Every kilowatt hour that goes into the car instead of the grid saves the difference between electricity price and feed-in tariff, about 20 cents in Austria.
This works best when the car is at home during the day. If you commute, you charge with solar power at the weekend and at night during the week. Load management makes sure that the wallbox, heat pump and household never overload the house connection.
Bidirectional charging: the car as a battery
With bidirectional charging, electricity flows in both directions. The battery of an electric car is several times larger than a home battery and can supply the house in the evening with solar power from midday. This requires a vehicle and a charging station that support it.
The technology is available, and the choice of vehicles is growing. Whether the extra cost pays off for you today depends on how often the car is parked at home during the day.
Charging stations in apartment buildings
In an apartment building, base charging infrastructure that prepares every parking space is worthwhile. Anyone who buys an electric car later only needs to have the wallbox fitted. Load management shares the available power among all vehicles, and billing is per charging point.
With a solar system and a jointly used generation plant, power from the roof also reaches the underground car park.
Installation and notification
A charging station must be connected by a licensed electrician and reported to the grid operator. Depending on the power, an application is also needed. We check the house connection, handle the notification and commission the station.
Frequently asked questions about charging stations
The essentials on a wallbox at home.
In Austria typically €900 to €2,500. The price depends mainly on how far the parking space is from the fuse box and whether the house connection is sufficient.
For everyday use at home, 11 kW is enough. It charges an electric car overnight. For 22 kW, the grid operator usually requires a permit, and many vehicles cannot charge that fast on alternating current anyway.
Yes. A wallbox with surplus charging adjusts the charging power to the solar production. You save about 20 cents per kilowatt hour compared with feeding into the grid.
There is no federal grant for private wallboxes in 2026. Some federal states and municipalities fund charging infrastructure, and the programmes are time-limited.
You need the consent of your landlord or the owners' association. It is easiest when the building has shared base charging infrastructure that every parking space can be connected to.
The electric car feeds electricity from its battery back to the house. This lets you use solar power from midday in the evening. The vehicle and the charging station must both support the function.