Your Company Gave You an Electric Car. Now What?

Should You Charge at Home or at Public Chargers?

Home charging is the easiest and cheapest option, if your company supports it. Most company car drivers do 80% of their charging at home overnight. You plug in when you get home, and the car is full in the morning. But this only works well if your employer provides or reimburses a wallbox installation.

Before you assume anything, ask your employer these questions: Do they reimburse home electricity used for charging? Will they pay for a wallbox installation? Do they provide a charging card for public stations? The answers vary widely between companies, and getting clarity upfront saves confusion later.

If home charging is not an option (apartment building, no parking spot, landlord says no), you will rely on public chargers and possibly workplace charging. This is completely doable, but it requires knowing which apps to have and where the nearest reliable chargers are.

How Do You Do Your First Public Charge?

Do your first public charge when you do not actually need it. The worst time to learn is when your battery is at 5% and you have a meeting in 30 minutes. Pick a weekend, drive to a nearby fast charger, and practice the process with zero pressure.

Here is what the process looks like at most public chargers: Open the charging network's app. Select the charger (usually by scanning a QR code on the station or selecting it on the map). Plug in the cable. The app starts the session. Charging begins. When you are done, stop the session in the app and unplug.

The catch is that every network's app looks different, and the exact steps vary. Some chargers require you to tap an RFID card. Some accept contactless credit card payment directly. Some have screens that walk you through the process, others just have a cable and a QR code. This is normal. It gets familiar fast once you have done it two or three times.

Before your first charge, download and set up the apps at home. Create your accounts, add your payment method, and verify everything works. Standing in a parking lot trying to create an account while your phone has poor signal is not fun.

What Do You Do When the Charger Won't Cooperate?

Charger errors happen to everyone, and they are rarely your fault. The charger screen shows an error code. Your payment gets declined even though you have money on your card. The cable locks in and nothing happens. The session starts but stops after 30 seconds. These are real situations that company car drivers encounter regularly.

This is where most company car drivers call their fleet manager, who often does not know the answer either. The fleet manager calls the charging network, waits on hold, and 20 minutes later you might have a solution. Or the advice is simply "try a different charger."

Common fixes for most charger problems: unplug and replug the cable, restart the session in the app, check that you selected the correct connector on the screen, or try the charger next to it. About 70% of charger issues resolve with one of these steps. EVcourse walks you through all of them.

How Do You Handle Charging on Work Trips?

Plan your charging stops before you leave, not when the battery warning appears. Use A Better Route Planner (ABRP) to map out where to charge along your route. It knows your car's battery size, factors in weather and speed, and shows you exactly where to stop and for how long.

For expense tracking, save every charging receipt. Most network apps provide transaction history with date, location, kWh consumed, and total cost. Screenshot these after each session. Some companies issue a dedicated charging card that consolidates all charging expenses into one monthly statement, which makes expense reports much simpler.

If you charge at a hotel or client site, ask beforehand whether they have a charger available and whether there is a cost. Destination chargers at hotels are increasingly common, but availability varies. Having this information before you arrive prevents the late-evening scramble to find a public charger in an unfamiliar city.

What Should You Tell Your Employer About Charging Problems?

Your employer probably does not know which charging problems come up most. They see the electricity bill. They do not see the 15 minutes you spent trying to get a charger to start on a Tuesday morning, or the three times this month a specific station was out of order.

This is where EVcourse can help. Next time a charger shows a confusing screen or error message, point your phone at it. The app reads the display and tells you what to do. Works with any charger brand, any language. If a colleague sends you a photo of a charger screen they do not understand, upload it to the app and send back the answer.

Download the free app and start using the scanner next time you are stuck at a charger. If your company wants analytics on which charging problems come up most across the team, they can reach out to nina@evcourse.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Getting a company electric car is the easy part. Charging confidently takes a little preparation. Set up your apps at home, do a practice charge on a low-pressure day, and keep EVcourse on your phone for when the charger throws you a curveball. That is 90% of what you need.

The first week feels like a lot of new things at once. By the second month, charging is routine. And once you have the rhythm, you will wonder why anyone still drives a diesel.

EVcourse is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the companies, apps, or charging networks mentioned on this page. All trademarks and brand names belong to their respective owners. Company car policies, reimbursement rules, and charging infrastructure vary by employer and region. Always verify your company's specific EV charging policy.