EV Charging 101

What’s important to know about EV charging?

Firstly, key terminology

Charging Levels - the power and therefore speed, at which you can charge your electric vehicle, grouped into a few key bands (Levels 1 to 3)

Charging Types - the plug connector type that plugs into your electric car

Charging Basics

There are three levels of charging available for electric cars today: Level I, Level II, and DC fast charging.

Level I charging requires a standard 120-volt outlet. All electric vehicles come equipped with a cord that you can plug into a common outlet. It’s exactly like charging a smartphone or laptop.

Level II charging requires a 240-volt outlet and a charging unit. You can purchase a Level II charging unit and install it in your home with the help of a licensed electrician. If you don’t already have a 240-volt outlet in your home for a washer or dryer, an electrician can set that up, too.

DC fast charging is the fastest charging available for passenger cars. You cannot install a DC fast charging unit in your home, but they are available for public use for charging on the go.

What types of EV charging plugs are there?

While the charging stations themselves are referred to with "Levels" the physical plugs you plug into the cars are normally referred to as "Types". So for example you can use a "Type 4" plug with a "Level 3" charger.

There are four types of plugs as defined by the appropriate international standards body. In Australia you'll now almost always see Type 2 / Mennekes, followed by J1772 and CHAdeMo.‌

Australia was previously using the Type 1 / J1772 plug type up until around 2017/18, when new cars started deliveries with Type 2 / Mennekes, which is the European standard. Now almost all charging stations out there are Type 2 compatible, with older Type 1 equipped vehicles needing an adapter cable.

If you're charging at a Level 3 charger, most will have either the CCS (Type 2) and CHAdeMO plugs, allowing you to use the one that fits your car - CCS2 is the most common, and in use by the Tesla Model 3. ‌

The state of electric car charging in Australia has matured greatly in the last few years, with all new models now coming with the industry standard Type 2 / Mennekes plug as standard, and in most cases (except Nissan) offering CCS2 charging for fast Level 3 charging at fast or ultrafast DC chargers.

How Long Will It Take To Charge?

Charging is totally different from refilling gasoline. Most gas-powered cars are refueled when they are nearly empty. On the other hand, EVs are charged opportunistically; when there’s a plug available, drivers use it.

EV charging takes advantage of all the time cars spend parked, which is estimated to be 95% of the time. Even though it takes longer than pumping gas, charging is not time spent actively attending to the car – it’s time spent sleeping, eating, or working while the car is parked, so don’t be scared away by seemingly long charging times. In fact, since it takes less time to plug in at home or at work than to drive to a station and pump gas, EVs can save time that you would otherwise spend driving to and from the gas station.

What Happens When You Plug In

When most people say “charger,” they mean the cable that connects the power source to the device being charged, but that’s not quite accurate. An EV’s onboard charger is located inside the car and converts AC power from the wall outlet to DC power that can be stored in the battery. The speed at which an electric car can charge is limited either by the acceptance rate of the onboard charger or the power coming from the wall outlet – whichever is lower.

Level I charging delivers about 4 miles of electric range per hour of charging for all electric cars because the maximum power that a common outlet can deliver is 1.4 kW. All new EV models have acceptance rates that exceed 1.4 kW, but since the power that comes from the outlet is limited to 1.4 kW, the charging rate of the car is too.

There is more variability in Level II charging speeds because different EVs have different acceptance rates. The EVs with similar charging rates, such as the Chevy Bolt, Kia Niro, and Hyundai Kona, all have a 7.2 kW onboard charger and charge at a rate of about 24 miles per hour. The Tesla Model 3 has a 7.7 kW charger, so it adds an additional mile of driving range per hour of charging on Level II.

However, having an onboard charger with a higher acceptance rate adds weight and cost to the car. That’s why plug-in hybrids tend to have lower acceptance rates than battery-electric vehicles – around 3.3 kW compared to 7.2 kW.

Can I Charge Any Faster?

When it comes to overnight charging, Level I and II can deliver full driving range in the 6-8 hour window that most people are sleeping or working. Onboard chargers will likely stay as small as possible to optimize for other important factors like range and cost, but as batteries get more energy dense and lighter, faster charging could be on the way, too.