Charging an electric car on Tempo

Why an EV and Tempo go well together

Tempo rewards what you use at night and penalises daytime use on red days. A car parked in the evening and driven off in the morning ticks the first box with no effort. Tempo’s eight off-peak hours, 22:00 to 06:00, have been fixed in the tariff since the regulator’s 2014 deliberation: they are the same everywhere in France and do not depend on Enedis. Programming the car once is enough for the whole year.

At night the colour matters little: a kWh costs €0.1356 on a blue day and €0.1615 on a red day, a gap of a few cents. Even a red-day night is cheaper than a peak hour on the Off-peak option, at €0.2142.

What a year of charging costs

The figures below assume 17 kWh per 100 km, 90% of charging at night and red days charged at night only. Days of each colour are counted in proportion to the calendar: 300 blue, 43 white, 22 red. Prices are those of the Tarif Bleu grid of 1 August 2026.

The saving grows with mileage. It is not the whole story, because the standing charge and the rest of the home count too: a car adding several thousand kWh a year often makes Tempo more attractive for the whole household, as long as heating stays under control on red days. The Base, Off-peak or Tempo comparison works it out for the whole home: add the car’s kWh to your annual consumption and enter a higher night share.

Charging power and the night

The practical question is whether eight hours are enough. The energy delivered is simply power multiplied by time:

A reinforced socket covers most commutes; a more powerful wallbox becomes useful for high-mileage drivers or large batteries. Before installing a wallbox, check that your meter can take the load alongside heating and the water heater: the meter power page adds up appliances running together and gives the power to subscribe.

Scheduling the charge

Most cars and wallboxes let you set a start time. Set it to 22:00, or slightly later for a margin. Some wallboxes read the Linky meter’s off-peak signal directly; others are run from an app. What matters is breaking the habit of plugging in at 18:00 and letting it charge straight away: on a red-day evening those four hours would be billed at €0.7295 per kWh.

On the Off-peak option, the reform decided by the regulator in February 2026 moves some off-peak hours to the afternoon depending on the area: a charge set to the old times may then land in peak hours. The new off-peak hours page puts a figure on that risk. With Tempo the window stays put.

Red days, the only trap

An unplanned trip on a red day may force a daytime charge. Take only what you need to get home and let the night finish the job. Before a run of red days, charge to full during the blue or white night before: the guide on what to do on a red day goes through that preparation.

A year of charging, colour by colour

For 12,000 km a year at 17 kWh per 100 km, charging comes to 2,040 kWh. Spread in proportion to the calendar and billed at each colour’s price, here is what those kilowatt-hours become, with 90% charged at night and red days charged at night only:

Red days weigh almost nothing when the car charges at night: their off-peak price stays close to the other colours. The whole difference with badly timed charging is made in red peak hours.

What changes when the car comes home late

A driver who gets home at 23:00 and leaves at 06:00 still has seven off-peak hours: most daily top-ups fit into them. Someone who works nights and charges during the day is in the opposite position: charging falls in peak hours, and red days cost a lot. For them the Off-peak option, with some off-peak hours in the afternoon after the Enedis reform, may suit better than Tempo. The comparison tool lets you test both by entering a lower night share.

Charging away from home

This site only works out charging at home, billed by your electricity supplier at your contract’s rates. A public charger, at work or on a motorway services, applies its own prices, which do not depend on your meter’s Tempo colour. If some of your kilometres are charged elsewhere, take them off the mileage entered in the mini-calculator: the result will then cover only what your meter pays for.

Plug-in hybrids and low-mileage drivers

A plug-in hybrid has a small battery, often charged in a few hours on an ordinary socket: a Tempo night is always enough. The saving in euros is smaller than with a full electric car, for want of kilowatt-hours, but the rule stays the same: plug in in the evening, set the charge to start at 22:00, never charge during the day on a red day. For a low-mileage driver most of the bill remains the house’s; the car does not tip the choice of option, it reinforces it when Tempo already pays.

Conversely, a high-mileage driver who charges tens of kilowatt-hours every night adds an almost entirely night-time load to the household. That is the profile most favourable to Tempo: the night share of consumption rises and red days weigh less in the total. Rerun the full calculation in the comparison tool, car included.

Whatever the car, keep an eye on the charging cable and socket: a dedicated, properly rated circuit is the safe way to charge every night, and an electrician can confirm what your installation supports.

Finally, keep an eye on the first few months’ bills: the readings by colour and time band show straight away whether the car really charges at night. A rise in red peak kWh gives away a schedule that is not working, a charge started by hand, or a start time knocked out by the clocks changing. Fix it before the next run of red days and the year’s figures will match the table above. Some cars and wallboxes keep a charging log: comparing it with the meter readings is a quick way to confirm that every session started after 22:00.