How Long Does it Take to Charge an Electric Vehicle?

There is no simple answer, but knowing the variables will help you better estimate the time it takes for an EV fill-up.

Figuring precisely how long it takes to charge an electric vehicle is akin to asking, "how long does it take to cross the country?” It depends whether you’re in a plane or on foot. Recharge time is dependent on a host of variables, many of them nuanced—even the length of the charging cable can influence it—that make providing a precise answer impossible. But we can give you some reliable guidelines.

Ignoring some of the lesser variables, the charging time of a vehicle comes down to two primary factors: power source and the vehicle's charger capacity. Ambient conditions play a smaller part, with both cold- and hot-weather extremes adding to charge time.

In the below chart you can see the average charge time for the featured models from 20% to 80% charge.

Most homes have a single phase power supply which can support up to 7kW charge rate which will charge just about any modern ev overnight which is the time frame most owners charge their vehicle.

For a home with more than one electric vehicle a more powerful charge point may be required should more than one vehicle need to be charged for the following day. In this case the home would require a 3 phase power supply to allow charging at 11kW or up to a maximum of 22kW.

For charging on the move modern portable chargers can charge up to 7.4kW with the right power supply which makes long road trips easily possible without too many visits to a fast charging network during the trip.

With battery and charging technology developing faster than ever we can expect to see charge times drop and battery capacity increase far beyond what we have today.

36 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All