A 50 kW DC fast charger typically costs €25,000 to €45,000 including installation. A 200 kW charger costs several times more.

Both cost several times as much as a standard 22 kW AC charger. Below is an honest answer to the question of which power makes sense, and when.

What does 50 kW do, and what does 200 kW do?

An electric car with a usable battery of 60 kWh charges from 20% to 80% in:

AC 11 kW± 3.5 hoursFrom 20% to 80%
DC 50 kW± 45 minutesFrom 20% to 80%
DC 200 kW± 15 minutesIf the car can take that power

Two caveats: not every car accepts 200 kW, and peak power is rarely reached across the whole charging session.

The difference only matters when time is truly scarce.

Three situations where DC pays for itself

01

Customer car park with charging as a traffic driver

Hotels, restaurants and retail with customers who drive electric. Your customer stays half an hour to an hour anyway.

How to approach it: 50 kW is enough. 200 kW only makes sense at transit locations along an access road or motorway.
02

Operational fleet with intensive use

Courier services, taxis and transport companies whose vehicles charge several times a day. Here every minute counts.

How to approach it: 200 kW is defensible, provided the vehicles can actually take that power.
03

Back-up for unexpected situations

A large fleet that mainly runs on home chargers, but where someone occasionally needs to move on quickly.

How to approach it: one 50 kW DC charger as a back-up, not as the main infrastructure.

Three situations where DC is overkill

Employee fleetCars parked overnight12 hours of downtime: 11 kW AC is more than enough.
Visitor car parkLow frequencyA few charging sessions a day do not justify a €30,000 investment. A 22 kW AC charger does the same for less.
SMEIrregular needA 22 kW AC charger or a compact 25 to 30 kW DC charger covers most of the need, at a fraction of the price.
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The forgotten middle class: DC 25 to 30 kW

Compact DC chargers at around €15,000 to €20,000 are an underrated category. Fast enough for an effective top-up over lunch (60% in 30 minutes), affordable enough for an SME budget. For sites that want to charge quickly now and then without paying for 50 kW, it is often the ideal compromise.

The grid capacity trap

A 50 kW DC charger needs at least 75 kVA of connection capacity for that charger alone. A 200 kW charger needs several hundred kVA, and in practice often its own medium-voltage substation with the matching permit. Many existing SME connections cannot handle that without a grid upgrade.

Always include that cost and lead time in the business case. What to do when capacity is tight: charging infrastructure in an existing car park.

The right power, in four rules

  1. Default: ACFor cars that stand still long enough.
  2. In-between: DC 25 to 30 kWFor sites that want to charge quickly now and then.
  3. 50 kW: with a demonstrable reasonCommercial or operational.
  4. 200 kW: only where throughput is the productAnd where the grid connection can handle that capacity.

An installer who recommends a fast charger without that distinction is selling you margin rather than a solution. The basics are covered in AC or DC charging.

InstallAC and DC, from home charger to fast charger on the company site.
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Which power suits your site?

We calculate whether a fast charger pays for itself for you.

  • Analysis of charging needs and downtime
  • Check of the grid capacity on your site
  • Business case with investment and payback
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