You've bought an electric car, and now it's time for the box that goes on your wall — which brings up the first question everyone asks: 7 kW, 11 kW or 22 kW? The short answer: for most homes in Turkey, 11 kW is the right choice, because anything higher usually runs into the limits of your home's electrical supply and your car's onboard charger rather than any limit in the charger itself. This guide breaks down the difference between 7 kW, 11 kW and 22 kW home chargers through four practical lenses: phase configuration, real-world charging times, installation cost, and the paperwork side of apartment buildings.

What do those three numbers actually mean?

With AC (alternating current) charging, power comes from a very simple multiplication: voltage × current × number of phases. In Turkey, grid voltage is 230 V per phase, and 400 V between phases on three-phase systems.

3.7 kW — Single-phase, 16 amps. The entry level.
7.4 kW (commonly called "7 kW") — Single-phase, 32 amps. The practical ceiling for a single phase.
11 kW — Three-phase, 16 amps per phase.
22 kW — Three-phase, 32 amps per phase.

Here's the critical distinction: the gap between 7.4 kW and 11 kW isn't just "a bit faster" — it's a change in infrastructure class. Anything at 11 kW or above requires a three-phase electricity connection at your property. The majority of homes in Turkey, especially apartment flats, are on single-phase supply. Detached houses, villas and some newer gated developments are three-phase.

Comparison table: power, time, range

The figures below assume a car with a 60 kWh usable battery charging from 10% to 80% (roughly 42 kWh of energy). Because of cable and conversion losses in AC charging, add about 5–10% to the real-world times in the table. Range gained is calculated at an average consumption of 18 kWh/100 km.

Feature	3.7 kW	7.4 kW	11 kW	22 kW
Phase configuration	Single-phase	Single-phase	Three-phase	Three-phase
Current (per phase)	16 A	32 A	16 A	32 A
10%→80% charge (60 kWh)	~11.5 hours	~5.7 hours	~3.8 hours	~1.9 hours
Range added per hour	~20 km	~41 km	~61 km	~122 km
Added over an 8-hour night	~30 kWh	~59 kWh	~88 kWh	(car is the limit)
Three-phase supply required?	No	No	Yes	Yes
Vehicle support	All	All	Most models	Few models

The last row is the most important one in the table. If you buy a 22 kW wallbox but your car caps out at 11 kW, the unit will deliver 11 kW — the extra capacity stays on the wall, and the money you paid for it does nothing.

How much can your car actually accept?

With AC charging, the component that sets the speed is the OBC (onboard charger) inside the vehicle. No matter how powerful the box on your wall is, that unit is the ceiling.

Here's the general picture across the market:

Most current electric cars accept 11 kW on AC.
Some entry-level and city-focused models are capped at 7.4 kW.
Relatively few models accept 22 kW on AC; it's usually offered as an option on higher trim levels.
Some plug-in hybrids sit much lower still, around 3.7 kW.

There's exactly one thing to do before you place an order: look up the "AC charging power" or "onboard charger" line in your car's spec sheet. That single line makes half of the 7 kW / 11 kW / 22 kW decision for you.

One note: DC fast charging (the 60–180 kW+ units at public stations) is an entirely separate system and bypasses the onboard charger. The AC power level at your home has no effect on how fast you charge at a station.

Your home's supply: single-phase or three-phase?

This is the key point in the 7 kW vs 11 kW vs 22 kW debate — and the one that's most specific to Turkey.

How do you find out? Check your electricity meter and distribution board. If the main breaker is single-pole and the meter has a single phase coming in, you're on single-phase. Three-phase systems typically have four conductors at the board (three phases plus neutral) and a wider main breaker. If you're unsure, check the subscriber details on your electricity bill, or have an electrician confirm it in five minutes.

Can you switch to three-phase? Yes — you apply to your regional distribution company to change your connection type. But that means project approval, a meter change, verification that the building's riser can handle it, and an additional connection fee. If the riser is undersized, the job can turn into serious construction work. That's why, for most people living in apartment flats, the practical answer is to stay with a 7.4 kW single-phase unit.

Is your existing main fuse big enough? A frequently overlooked point: a 7.4 kW charger draws 32 amps continuously, for hours. If the air conditioning, oven and an electric heater are all running at the same time, your main breaker may trip. The fix is to choose a unit with dynamic load balancing: it measures the home's total consumption and automatically throttles charging power to keep the breaker from tripping. That feature is often worth more than stepping up a power class.

The cost side: hardware, installation, electricity

Total cost has three components, and most people only look at the first one.

1. The hardware. Wall-mounted AC charging units in the Turkish market are priced across a wide band depending on features. The general pattern: the price gap between 7.4 kW and 11 kW is relatively small, while the jump to 22 kW widens it. What really drives price isn't power but smart features: OCPP protocol support, load balancing, user authentication (RFID or app), energy metering (MID-certified meter) and an integrated cable.

2. Installation. Cable run distance from the board to the unit, conductor cross-section, a dedicated breaker and residual current device, earthing checks, and trunking or chasing labour. The cost difference between a garage five metres from the board and a parking spot at the far end of the garden can exceed the price of the charger itself. Always state the cable distance when asking for a quote.

3. Electricity. Residential tariffs in Turkey are tiered: kWh consumed above a certain monthly threshold is billed at a higher unit rate. Since an electric car can easily double a typical household's monthly consumption, it will almost certainly push you into the upper tier. In other words, the real unit cost of charging at home isn't the low tier rate on your bill — it's the upper tier rate. When you run the numbers, use the upper-tier kWh rate from your current bill; quoting a fixed figure would be misleading, since EPDK tariffs are revised periodically.

Installing a charger in an apartment building or gated community

In a detached house the challenge is technical. In an apartment building, it's legal.

Any installation in common areas (parking, garden, riser) falls under Turkey's condominium law and requires a decision by the building management or the owners' assembly. The majority threshold required depends on the nature of the installation and your building's management plan; clarify it with your building manager — and a lawyer if needed — before you apply.

Three approaches that make this easier in practice:

A separate meter: Having consumption measured on your own line rather than the common supply eliminates most objections.
A unit with user authentication: A charger locked with an RFID card or app removes the "someone else will use it" worry.
A shared infrastructure plan: If there are several EVs in the complex, designing one load-managed multi-point system is cheaper long-term and safer for the building's riser than running individual cables.

Safety items that aren't negotiable

Charging is the longest sustained high-current operation in your home. These three items are not optional:

A dedicated circuit and breaker. The charger must not share a line with other outlets.
The right residual current protection. If the unit doesn't include DC leakage detection (6 mA), you need a Type B RCD at the board. Ask your installer about this explicitly.
Measured earthing. In older buildings in particular, the earth resistance must be measured, not assumed.

Also, don't charge regularly from a standard household socket (with a "granny cable"). Sockets and wiring that were never designed to carry 10–16 amps for hours are the leading cause of overheating problems in home charging. It's an emergency solution, not a daily routine.

Which power level for which driver?

Driving 40–60 km a day, living in an apartment: 7.4 kW is more than enough. Roughly 59 kWh over an eight-hour night takes most batteries from near-empty to nearly full.
Detached house, three-phase already in place, 100 km+ a day: 11 kW. The price difference is small, and it prepares you for a second car later.
Using the car several times a day and needing quick turnaround (commercial use, fleets): 22 kW — but only if the car's OBC supports it.
Plug-in hybrid owner: 3.7 kW is fine; the battery is small to begin with.

Frequently asked questions

If I buy a 22 kW unit, won't I be future-proofed for my next car? In theory, yes — but in practice the market has standardised around 11 kW, and that isn't expected to change any time soon. On top of that, 22 kW means a three-phase connection and thicker cable. For most people, the premium paid on a "just in case" basis never pays back. Putting that budget into features like load balancing and energy metering makes more sense.

Can I install an 11 kW unit in my single-phase home? No. By definition, 11 kW distributes the load across three phases. Some units will automatically drop to 7.4 kW when wired single-phase, but then the premium you paid for an 11 kW device buys you nothing. Confirm your connection type before choosing a charger.

How much cheaper is home charging than a public station? Home tariffs are generally lower, but the gap is smaller than most people assume — because home charging pushes you into the upper tier of the residential tariff. For a realistic comparison, use the upper-tier unit rate on your bill. On the other hand, while AC charging at home takes 4–6 hours, a public DC station delivers the same energy in 30–45 minutes; the decision is about time as much as price.

How much will a charger add to my electricity bill? Simple maths: monthly kilometres × your consumption. A car driving 1,500 km a month at 18 kWh/100 km means roughly 270 kWh a month. Multiply that by the upper-tier unit rate on your bill; the resulting figure is the number you should compare against the cost of covering the same distance on petrol.

Conclusion

The correct order for choosing a home charger is this: look at your car's AC capacity first, then your home's phase configuration, and only then the kW figure on the box. People who reverse that order either pay for power they can't use or end up returning a unit their supply can't support. For the typical usage profile in Turkey, 7.4 kW is sufficient, 11 kW is ideal, and 22 kW is unnecessary for most people — and above all three of them, load balancing and a safe installation matter more than any power rating.

Once you've sorted out charging at home, ADZE Charge covers the rest of your journey with more than 850 sockets across over 50 locations throughout Turkey, in both AC and DC options.

Choosing a Home EV Charger: What's the Difference Between 7 kW, 11 kW and 22 kW?