Charging Your Electric Car at the Office: Employee and Employer

For an employee driving an electric vehicle, the company car park is an obvious choice: the car sits there all day long, motionless, just a few metres from an electricity supply. What could be more logical than charging it there? For the employer, however, the question is less straightforward than it appears: installing charge points is not simply a matter of fixing sockets to a wall. Access, billing, rotation, sizing, the social treatment of the benefit granted — each topic deserves a well-thought-out answer.

This article looks at office charging from both perspectives, because a successful project is precisely one that reconciles them.

The employee's side: the most natural place to charge after home

Time spent at the office far exceeds the time needed to charge for daily use. On alternating current, via the Type 2 connector (charging mode 3), a 7.4 or 11 kW charge point delivers, over working hours, far more energy than an ordinary home-to-work commute consumes. There's no need for rapid charging: the car has all the time in the world.

For some employees, charging at work is a convenience that complements their home charge point. For others, it's decisive: tenants or residents of apartment buildings who do not yet have a charging solution at home can cover most of their needs in the company car park. The routine quickly takes hold: you arrive, you badge in, you plug in — and you don't think about it again until the evening.

The benefit in kind: the principle to know

When an employer provides electricity free of charge to an employee for their personal vehicle, this provision constitutes, in principle, a benefit in kind — like any goods or service supplied by the employer for personal purposes. The subject is by no means a trap, however: regulations provide for a specific and favourable social treatment for charging electric vehicles at the workplace, subject to the rules in force.

In practice, two reflexes are enough on the company side: have the applicable treatment validated by the payroll department or the chartered accountant with regard to the rules in force at the time of deployment, and equip yourself with a supervision tool capable of tracking consumption by user — the data that allows the scheme to be properly documented, whatever policy is adopted (free of charge, contribution, rebilling). The point to watch is not the principle, which is well established, but the lack of traceability.

The employer's side: an infrastructure project to size correctly

The difference between a successful charging project and equipment that is underused or saturated almost always comes down to the initial sizing. Three parameters shape the study:

• The power available on site: the existing supply (230 V single-phase or, most often in commercial premises, 400 V three-phase) and the margin remaining once the building's needs are covered.
• The actual need: number of current and foreseeable electric vehicles, average parking time, usage profiles (sedentary employees, fleet, visitors).
• The trajectory: a phased rollout, with an infrastructure designed from the outset to be extended — cable routes, spare capacity in the panel, supervision — takes less effort than improvised add-ons.

Dynamic load management plays a central role here: it distributes the available power between charge points in real time, which makes it possible to supply more charging points without upgrading the site's subscription. Finally, a reminder of the framework: any charge point above 3.7 kW must be installed by a qualified IRVE professional. Volticom's QUALIFELEC IRVE P1·P2·P3 certifications cover the full range of business configurations, including connected and supervised installations.

Badges, supervision and billing: organising access

A company charge point without access control quickly becomes a source of friction. The standard answer is identification by RFID badge or app: each charging session is linked to a user, and the supervision platform centralises everything.

This software layer makes every management decision possible:

• reserve charge points for employees, or open certain points to visitors;
• distinguish between company cars, personal vehicles and the service fleet;
• measure consumption by user — the basis for treating the benefit in kind as well as any rebilling;
• track the availability and status of charge points, and detect faults remotely.

For the company, supervision turns a set of sockets into a managed service: measurable, controllable, fair. It is also what produces the data needed for funding applications, the ADVENIR grant being able to support certain business projects under the ADVENIR scheme (subject to its rules).

Shared charge points: setting up a rotation that works

As long as electric vehicle drivers outnumber charging points, sharing is the rule — and it works very well provided it is organised. The practices that have proven themselves:

• A clear rule: a charging space is not a parking space; once the desired level is reached, you free it up.
• Time slots: morning for some, afternoon for others, relying on the fact that half a day on alternating current amply covers a daily need.
• Notifications: supervision can alert the driver when charging is complete, which smooths the rotation without any action from the manager.
• An internal charter: a few lines drawn up jointly with employees are worth more than an imposed set of rules.

A useful clarification: rapid direct-current charging (Combo CCS, charging mode 4) generally has no place in an office car park, where the parking time makes AC amply sufficient. It is mainly justified for fleets with intensive rotation — a different need, studied separately.

HR and CSR benefits: beyond the socket

Charging at the office is one of the few perks whose usefulness is proven every working day. On the human resources side, it's a concrete sign of attention to employees' daily lives, a recruitment argument when facing candidates who compare packages, and a factor of fairness: it offers a solution to employees who cannot yet charge at home. On the CSR side, it gives substance to the company's mobility policy: supporting employees' transition, consistency with greening the fleet, a visible signal to visitors and customers. These benefits are qualitative, but they are lasting — and they begin with the very first charge point installed.

Move from principle to project

Whether you are a director, a facilities manager or an employee looking to champion the subject internally, the first step is the same: a sizing study of the site. Volticom carries it out free of charge for companies in Île-de-France (Greater Paris), from Paris in the Essonne: an audit of available power, deployment scenarios, supervision and access control, a quote within 48 hours after a complete brief, across France. The installation is carried out by a QUALIFELEC-qualified IRVE P1·P2·P3 and RGE-certified installer, covered by our decennial liability insurance policy with AXA, subject to the declared activities, limits and terms of the current insurance certificate on the charge points on the installation, with an after-sales service responding promptly, across France in the event of a critical breakdown in Île-de-France. Let's talk about your car park on 09 55 92 66 32.

Frequently asked questions

Is the charging offered by the employer taxable for the employee?

In principle, electricity supplied for a personal vehicle falls under the benefit in kind, but regulations provide for a specific and favourable treatment for charging electric vehicles at the workplace, subject to the rules in force. The right reflex is to have the applicable treatment validated by the payroll department or the chartered accountant, drawing on the supervision data.

How many charge points should we install for our employees?

There is no universal ratio: the right number depends on the current and foreseeable electric vehicle fleet, the parking time and the rotation possible over the day. A well-organised shared charge point serves several drivers. This is precisely the purpose of the sizing study, which also defines the scalable infrastructure for the following phases.

What power should we choose for office charge points?

Alternating current is enough in almost all cases: 7.4 kW single-phase, 11 or 22 kW three-phase depending on the site's supply and the chosen load management. Long-stay parking makes rapid direct-current charging unnecessary for employee use; it is only worth studying for specific fleet needs.

Can an employee ask their employer to install charge points?

There is nothing to stop them, and that is often how projects start: one or more employees raise the need with the facilities department or management. Presenting the subject as a company project — sizing, supervision, HR and CSR benefits — clearly increases the chances of success. A free site study then makes it possible to base the decision on objective facts.

How much does it cost to install charge points in a company car park?

The budget depends on the number of charge points, the power available on site and the length of the cable routes: there is no single price, which is why we quote each project individually. Volticom carries out the sizing study free of charge and gives you a quote within 48 hours after a complete brief, across France, with no commitment. The ADVENIR grant can also support certain business projects under the ADVENIR scheme (subject to its rules) and subject to eligibility.

Can you install a charge point at the office yourself?

No: regulations require any charge point above 3.7 kW to be installed by a qualified IRVE professional, with a connection compliant with the NF C 15-100 standard and a 30 mA Type B residual current circuit breaker. Beyond the legal obligation, this is what underpins the car park's safety, the warranty and the insurance. Volticom is QUALIFELEC-qualified for IRVE P1·P2·P3 and RGE-certified, and operates throughout France via its certified installer partners.

What are the timeframes between the quote and commissioning of the charge points?

It all starts with the site sizing study, followed by a detailed quote provided within 48 hours, across France. Once the project is approved, installing a charge point is generally completed within a timeframe confirmed after the site assessment; for a multi-point rollout, the schedule is set according to the electrical work required. We favour an infrastructure designed in phases, so that the fleet can be extended later without redoing everything.

What happens if a company charge point breaks down?

The installation works are covered by our decennial liability insurance policy with AXA, subject to the declared activities, limits and terms of the current insurance certificate and the installation by AXA insurance, which secures your investment over the long term. In the event of a breakdown, our after-sales service responds promptly as standard, and supervision often makes it possible to detect and diagnose the fault remotely even before the visit. This way you keep a fleet that is available and manageable on a day-to-day basis.

How can you rebill the electricity consumed by employees or the fleet?

Supervision measures the kWh consumption by user and by session, which makes possible both controlled free access and a contribution or exact rebilling based on actual use. Our connected charge points using the OCPP protocol, with dynamic load management and load shedding, centralise this data on a single platform. This gives you the supporting documents needed both for treating the benefit in kind and for funding applications.

Does Volticom operate throughout France for company car parks?

Yes: based in Paris, we deploy charging projects across the whole country thanks to our network of certified IRVE installer partners. Every site benefits from the same free sizing study, the same quote within 48 hours after a complete brief, across France and the same warranties. To launch your project, call 09 55 92 66 32 or write to contact@volticom.fr.