11 or 22 kW? The higher rating probably won't help you

The short answer

For a house, almost always 11 kW. Not to cut corners, but because you usually can't use more — and that's decided by your car, not by the charger.

The catch: the charger inside the car

A wallbox only passes alternating current through. Converting it to the direct current that fills the battery is done by the on-board charger in the car, and that has a ceiling. A large share of EVs have an 11 kW on-board charger. Hang a 22 kW wallbox next to one of those and it still charges at 11 kW.

You'd pay twice: for a more expensive charger and for a heavier supply you never use.

What 11 kW actually delivers

Roughly 80–100 kWh overnight, which on a typical EV means empty to full. On a 50 km daily commute the car tops up in under an hour and a half.

In other words: for a house where the car sits overnight, 11 kW is more than enough. Nobody is in a hurry at home — the car is parked for eight hours anyway.

When 22 kW does make sense

• The car has a 22 kW on-board charger — a minority do; check the registration document.
• Several cars share one charger during the day, typically at a business.
• You need a fast top-up between two trips rather than overnight.

And there's a practical obstacle: 22 kW means three-phase 32 A. For many houses that requires increasing the reserved capacity with the grid operator — extra negotiation, an extra fee, and sometimes it simply isn't available.

What matters more than kilowatts

At a survey we ask about these instead:

• Dynamic load management. The wallbox watches what the rest of the house draws and throttles itself. Without it, a weaker supply trips the main breaker.
• Consumption metering. Do you need to know what you've used — for company billing, or just to keep track?
• Solar surplus. With panels on the roof, a smart wallbox charges preferentially from what you'd otherwise export at the feed-in tariff. That saves considerably more than any 11-versus-22 kW difference.

How we do it

Survey first, purchase second — not the other way round. We've seen a wallbox bought on a good deal turn out to be wrong for the property more than once. At the survey we recommend a specific type based on what your supply can carry, what you drive, and whether you have solar.