EV Charging 101 explained

Congratulations, You Just Purchased Your First

Electric Vehicle

Drop-Top Fiat 500e

The Fiat 500e Convertible

First of all, excellent effort, you’re wonderful!. You've made an excellent choice, so please accept our best wishes for the years to come. So charging, that’s something you need to do now… no more dinosaur fuel for you, you’re EV all the way!

How do you charge, though?

The Many Methods of Fees

You'd be surprised at how simple charging is; there are just two basic varieties:

AC – Slow and Rapid charging

Fast DC recharging

AC Indicators of a Slow Charger

AC electricity is used by a sluggish charger. The electricity that is supplied to your house through electrical outlets operates at an alternating frequency.

Indeed, one example of a slow charging method is using a Schuko/3-pin connector to power your automobile.

The slow charging end of the charging cable goes into your house outlet, while the faster end goes into your vehicle. With certain vehicles and chargers, you may adjust the current being drawn.

 Using a standard wall outlet, a Tesla may draw anywhere from 5 to 10 amps. If your home's electrical system isn't up to par, or if you're attempting to make use of the power that your solar panels are producing, you may want to experiment with different amperage settings.

A Look at Hyundai's Kona Electric's Charging System

Electric Hyundai Kona

How much power can one expect from a standard wall outlet?

Power output of 2.3 kW (10 amps * 230 volts) (kilowatt)

The battery pack in a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus is 50 kWh, and it will take 11 hours to charge half of it, or 25 kWh, using a 3-pin socket in the UK. That's more than 100 miles worth of driving while you sleep on inexpensive, renewable energy.

Motorized Rapid-Charging Systems

To charge quickly, you need to utilise AC power, too. Installing a charging station for your electric vehicle (EV) at home would most likely need a 7.4kW fast charger.

This would make it possible to "fill" a Model 3 from empty to full in around 7 hours.

The pace at which an automobile may be charged is limited by its own inbuilt charger. This device inverts the incoming alternating current (AC) into the direct current (DC) needed by the vehicle's battery.

Powering up with both conventional electrical current and direct current

The Renault Zoe is only one example of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) with a high-powered onboard charger, capable of delivering up to 22kWh. The Model 3 is equipped with a powerful 11kW charger. The Volkswagen e-Up!, for example, can only be charged with 7.2kW AC.

Fast chargers are available at many grocery stores and shopping centres, and in many cases they are free to use. Forty miles of range may be gained in only sixty minutes of grocery shopping.

Turbo and Superchargers for Direct Current

DC current is used for rapid and ultra-rapid charging. This enables electricity to be sent directly to the battery.

The charging rates of rapid chargers range from 43 kWh to more than 350 kWh.

A fast charger is used to quickly replenish the battery before continuing on a lengthy journey.

An example of a high-velocity charging infrastructure is the Tesla Supercharger network. These days, you can find 250kW charges at several Supercharger stations. With a Long Range Model 3, you can charge at speeds of up to 250kWh, which is equivalent to more than 1,050 mph!

In only 15 minutes, you can add 200 miles of range with the help of the Supercharger network. In the time it takes you to go to the bathroom and brew a cup of tea, you might have driven three hours on the highway.

Rapid chargers are more costly than both slow and fast chargers, but they can provide power at significantly higher rates.

To guarantee constant supply and the cleanest energy possible, rapid chargers are sometimes backed by battery storage. The fantastic folks at Fully Charged have produced this video of their GridServe charging station.

Power outlets

As of late, charging plugs in Europe have also become quite straightforward.

There are two types of electrical plugs used in Europe:

European DC connection types 1 and 2 (also known as mennekes) provide Rapid charging.

CCS (AKA Combo 2) (AKA Combo 2)

CCS is essentially a Type 2 connector with an additional pair of pins, hence the CHAdeMO plug design is shared across the two.

Plugs for CCS (left) and Type 2 (right) systems (right)

For some time now, these have been the de facto standards in Europe, with CHAdeMO and Type 1 being phased out.

It's important to use the correct connection for your vehicle, since some charging posts provide many options. If your vehicle has both a Type 2 and a CCS charging plug, for instance, charging using the former will take far longer.

It's a good idea to double-check, although many charging stations can accommodate many vehicles at once.

To charge your device when away from home, you'll need to bring your own charging cable and connect it into a Slow or Fast charger. Regardless of whether you buy a rapid charger that uses a CCS or CHAdeMO cable, you will get one.

Recognizing a Power Source

Finding a charging station in the UK is easy, since there are more of them than gas stations. Zap-Map, a UK-based service, has a great real-time, interactive map to assist you out. PlugShare is another global map of this kind.

The number of charging stations within a ten-mile radius of your residence.

It's probably a lot more than you expected!