Is home charging worthwhile for company cars? Calculate the investment per driver

A home charging solution makes financial sense when the costs avoided over its usable life exceed the investment, ongoing operation and additional billing effort. Calculate this per driver using the energy that can actually be shifted from other charging locations to home. Total annual mileage is not a suitable substitute. Installation, housing circumstances, reimbursement model and expected period of use all materially affect the result.

Compare the same mobility service

The alternative to home charging is not automatically expensive rapid charging alone. One driver may already charge cheaply at the workplace. Another starts from home every day and would otherwise use public stations. These two profiles need different comparisons.

Describe the current charging mix using actual volumes and costs. Then determine which charging sessions a home solution could replace. Trips with overnight stays away from home or particularly long working days may still require public charging. Those volumes remain in both options and create no additional home charging benefit.

Keep distance travelled, vehicle and required operational readiness the same in the comparison. Lower energy use because of fewer kilometres driven is not an effect of the wallbox. If you expect changes in the vehicle fleet, calculate them as a separate scenario.

Check the investment for the specific home location

A device price is not a complete installation quote. Include hardware, electrical work, cable routes, protective equipment, commissioning and any required communication or metering components. Have qualified professionals assess technical suitability and the work required.

Existing infrastructure can reduce costs. But it may need additional work if access, metering or data provision do not fit the business billing process. Do not therefore assume that “wallbox already installed” means “no investment”.

Clarify which costs the business actually bears. Providing equipment for use, paying a subsidy and transferring ownership are different arrangements that finance and, where appropriate, tax advisers must assess. For the business case, a transparent cost list with open items is sufficient initially. Show an unresolved share visibly as uncertainty rather than assigning it a zero value.

Determine the charging volume that can realistically be shifted

Use existing transactions and typical parking periods at home. Ask on how many days the vehicle stays there long enough and whether the charging space is reliably available. Other household vehicles, changing shifts or frequent overnight trips can limit the usable volume.

Do not calculate only an annual figure. A monthly breakdown shows whether high mileage and time parked at home actually coincide. Holidays or longer absences reduce home charging volume even while fixed costs continue.

Use comparable measurement boundaries. Public invoices and home charging records refer to measured energy, while vehicle consumption figures may represent different quantities. If you convert battery energy into purchased energy, disclose the assumed losses. Do not add the same blanket loss allowance again to kWh already measured at the charge point.

Define reimbursement and ongoing costs

In Germany, a kWh-based evidence approach has applied since 2026 to home charging of employer-provided company cars. The German Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 11 November 2025, paragraphs 26 to 31 sets out actual electricity costs or an annual flat-rate electricity price and evidence of the energy quantity. Do not continue earlier fixed monthly allowances without checking them. Legal position for this note: 24 September 2026.

Our article Charging a company car at home: Reimburse electricity costs correctly in Germany in 2026 explains the practical reimbursement process. For the investment calculation, you need the confirmed employer cost of the chosen method. Tax evidence does not replace the separate review of suitable metering and billing.

Add ongoing costs for billing services, communications, maintenance and processing where they actually arise. Do not additionally include the full general household standing charge if it is already accounted for in the chosen reimbursement method. Likewise, public charging card fees only count as potential savings if the home charging solution genuinely eliminates them.

Calculate a transparent base case

The following example is entirely hypothetical and describes neither a StromNow tariff nor a customer's savings. It uses a simplified gross-cost view without assumed input VAT recovery, grants, financing or other tax effects. Home charging costs are treated as an employer payment. All energy quantities refer to comparable measurement boundaries relevant to billing; no additional loss allowance is applied.

Assume a one-off investment of €2,400, additional ongoing costs of €240 per year and 3,000 kWh annually shifted from public charging to home. The replaced public energy is assumed to cost €0.60 per kWh, and the employer's cost for home charging energy is €0.34 per kWh.

The annual energy cost difference is 3,000 × €0.26 = €780. After deducting ongoing costs, €540 remains per year. The simple payback period is 2,400 / 540 = around 4.4 years. Time benefits and any residual value are not included.

Simple payback assumes unchanged volumes and prices throughout the modelled period. Actual energy prices and the reimbursement approach available for a given calendar year must be reviewed annually. The table shows how strongly actual usage affects the result. It is not a return-on-investment calculation. For approval of an investment involving financing or a longer term, finance should also account for payment timing and its own valuation method.

Check duration, house moves and employee departures as investment risks

If expected use at the home location is only three years, a calculated payback of 4.4 years is not enough by itself to approve the investment. Continued use or residual value may be relevant but must be justified transparently. Building-related costs often cannot be reused like a device when someone moves; obtain specific assumptions for this.

Calculate an early exit as a separate scenario. Include possible removal, remaining costs and a new installation location where the chosen model leaves these costs with the business. The contractual arrangement with the employee is reviewed separately.

Show time benefits separately as well. If home charging avoids extra public charging stops, capacity may be freed up. That is initially an operational benefit, not automatically a reduction in salary payments. Avoid also counting the same time benefit in a central administration project.

Approve investments by driver profile

Define clear decision criteria for your fleet: a suitable charging space, a confirmed installation plan, sufficient energy that can be shifted, a viable period of use and a working reimbursement process. A standard budget can make administration easier but does not replace a site and financial assessment.

StromNow Home Charging for businesses combines home charging hardware, recording of charging sessions and preparation of monthly reimbursement amounts. Check the specific scope and its costs in the offer.

For a financial viability assessment with StromNow, bring charging volumes, current costs, existing hardware, an installation quote and the expected period of use. This reveals where home charging makes financial sense for each driver and which outstanding prerequisites need clarification before approval.