Here's everything that's worth knowing upfront before charging your electric car!
1. EVs can charge when you’re not driving anywhere
It’s a no-brainer. You can charge an electric car at your destination, overnight when you’re asleep, (staying at a hotel or at home), doing the shopping or enjoying a meal somewhere. While you might have to stand by your car when it’s charging (say, at a public station) chances are, there are better ways and many more charging options for EVs. With a gas or diesel car, you MUST ALWAYS make a special trip to a gas station. Let’s look at the practical aspects of charging.
2. Most EVs are charged at home, which is attractive, cheap and convenient
The US Dept of Energy says about 80% of EV owners charge at home. It’s a similar story almost everywhere else in the world: 84% in the UK and 80% in Australia. This figure goes down for places with apartment buildings where ability to charge at home can be difficult at this stage of the electrification movement.
You can choose to charge with off-peak rates at night, or from excess solar energy from a solar PV system. You don’t have to drive to a charging station that charges peak electricity rates.
3. Other unconventional places to charge your car with AC
Aside from at home, there are other convenient and easy places to charge. Your place of work might have or be willing to install chargers. Many employers are making charging available. And destination chargers at restaurants and cafes, shopping centers, tourist sites, hotels and so on, often provide free charging so they can attract your spending dollar. These kinds of chargers are AC chargers. You can pretty much plug your car in to top up your charge and even reinstate the charge you expended during the day, all while you shop.
4. Charging fast with DC at public charging stations
DC or high-speed chargers, on the other hand, are usually found at fuel stops on the highway for which you pay handsomely. DC high-speed chargers ideally take about 20mins to get your car’s battery from 20% to 80% (if all conditions are right!).
5. Finding chargers… Using apps
It’s easy to find chargers… because, there’s an app for that! Easy. Plugshare is probably the most well-known and widespread charger app, on the planet. If you’re charging outside of home or work (or other AC chargers that offer you free top-ups), you’re almost certainly going to charge at paid charge points. While some allow you to pay with your credit card, most charge companies have you set up an account on their app to pay directly.
Charge station companies usually have an app to just locate their own proprietary stations, too. Here is a selection of some other apps you might use: Electrify America, Evgo, Chargepoint, A Better Route Planner or abrp, EV Connect, and ChargeHub.
6. You’ll need the right connectors (plugs)
There are different charger connectors (even for slow and fast charging) and that can be confusing. Thankfully, you’re very likely to have the correct connector provided with your car which will be country specific. The types of connectors you may need are CCS Type 1 and Type 2, NACS (most recently hitting the news because it will likely roll out as the major connector in the US because it fits AC and DC charging). NACS stands for North American Charging Standard.
Related article: What to know more about the new NACS connector?
7. Your car can only charge as fast as it’s designed to
If your car can only charge at the speed of 80kW, it doesn’t matter if you hook up to a 350kW charger, your limit will be 80kW.
8. Bottom line about charging courtesy
Think of it like choosing to go unleaded gas or premium mix with gas. You do have to decide which bowser to pull up to. It doesn’t help anybody to have a Niro only capable of accepting an 80kW charge, hooked up to a 350kW charger, and an EV6, able to take 239kW, having to settle for the 55kW charger.
9. Charge to 80%: It makes better sense than always charging to 100%
If you’re going about your day-to-day business of work and home errands, don’t get caught into the trap that you need to fill up right to 100%. That’s ICE-age thinking! In gas cars, you drive until you see the gauge at a level you deem right to fill-er-up. Often you stop at your preferred gas station.
With an EV, however, you’ll get used to filling up when you’re at home. Or, driving a distance, and filling up for 20 mins while you take a bio-break and have a coffee. You probably won’t often charge to 100%, but then, you don’t need to. It’s a different mindset.
Here’s arguably my BEST CHARGING TIP that you should always remember:
Did you know that it pretty much takes as long to charge from 20 – 80% as it takes to charge from 80 – 100%. Feel confident to top up to 80%... Unless you’re driving long distances (if chargers are few and far between) you simply do not have to charge to 100%. It will save you a lot of waiting and charging time!
Basically, if your car has reasonable range, and you set out with 80% in the ‘tank’, you’ll probably only get down to 30 – 50% by the time you next need a bio-break. So, don’t get precious or crazy about filling up to 100%. Plan your trip. Know where you’re going.
Charging at a public fast charger or any public charger is still theory to me. We’ve had our car for 17+ months and except for trialing them for the experience (for only a few kWh in total) we’ve only ever charged with excess solar at home (and only a handful of charges using grid power).
10. Number of cars charging at the same time, may affect charge speed
If you roll up to a public charger and it’s full of cars at each plug, the total load will have to be shared and your charge speed may drop. If you’re there by yourself, you may enjoy a faster charge. Good to know, eh?
11. Public charger networks
Public charging can be challenging. Why? Because, when you arrive at a bowser to fill up with gas, if it’s not working, or if you don’t want to, or cannot use the amenities at one station, you just drive to the next gas station which is usually quite close. But if you pull up to a charger and it’s not working, (and that happens) it might not be so easy to find another one close by.
The worst stories are of people who drive to:
- find all the points are not working,
- or all the chargers are full and there are a couple of other cars waiting in line.
When that happens, your 20-min break could turn into a 90-min one. Again, this will change but it will take some time for the infrastructure to catch up.
The exception to this is the Tesla Supercharger charging network because they have the largest number of fast chargers, (19,000, compared with c15,000 in the other networks combined). Their network guarantees you can be within 150 miles of the next charger. Many locations have a dozen chargers compared to the often less-than-handful you can find on non-Tesla charging networks. It’s an easy system to use. Just plug in and you can even walk away.
The latest good EV news in North America is that Tesla is now opening up some of its superchargers to other vehicles. If your car has a NACS connector (or can adapt to one), you can charge on the Tesla network. Yay.
Related article: What to know more about the new NACS connector?
As a result, the NACS connector will become standard for a handful of US manufacturers (and will include Ford, GM and Rivian to start, and then Volvo, Polestar, Mercedes and more). Their cars won’t need a NACS adapter. Tesla will increase its market share (in charging) and also install what they call a Magic Dock, so people with CCS connectors on their car will be able to charge.
12. Using public charger networks isn’t a problem for 80% of people, 99% of the time
Is using a public charger a problem? Well, that does depend. Don’t believe the bad press.
If you always have to charge at public chargers, you are at the mercy of the type, speed or availability of chargers, and hopefully when you get there, they will be in good working order.
However, most people who own or drive electric cars charge at home or work. But that still leaves about 20% of drivers who always need to use public chargers.
Of course, you may charge cheaply or free most of the time thanks to…
- solar at home where you charge with excess solar (low cost or free)
- access to low off-peak electricity rates to minimize your spend (rates vary widely)
- free or cheap charging at home or office or at your local shopping center etc?
The other time where you will have to rely on public chargers is—regardless of your normal charge habits—when you’re going on long work or holiday trips.
While there are apps for other charger networks, it’s not a seamless experience as there are many charger companies and many ways to interact. You may need to install several apps, do your homework to plan your trips to make sure you are within easy reach of a charger when your range (guess-o-meter) predicts you’ll need to top up.
These links will help you (not an exhaustive list) … A Better Route Planner or abrp, ChargeHub, Chargepoint, Electrify America, EV Connect, Evgo, Plugshare, and US Dept of Energy (for all of North America).
13. Home charging does make things easier
You can plug in at home, even into a regular plug (or low-speed) outlet, and still manage to charge five miles per hour of charge with an overnight charge. Depending on how long you plug in for, you can recover the charge for a distance that’s significantly greater than the commute of the average US worker. If you upgrade to a 240 Volt circuit with plug or Level 2 charger at home, you could charge 14 – 35 miles per hour of charge.
You could be like my family… we NEVER use public chargers and only need to do so on roundtrips greater than 275 miles. We often drive 100 – 150-mile roundtrips and never experience even a glimmer of range anxiety (or rather, charge-anxiety). We just plug in and charge to 80+%. It simply takes a different kind of forward planning.
14. Apartment living and at-home chargers
It’s true, you cannot always have a charger at home. In the future, all newly built apartment blocks will have provision for car charging. At the moment, it may not always be easy to install a charger. You will need to make inquiries with your electrician and your HOA to determine what is possible.