How long does it take to charge an EV? Well...
It's a simple question... with a complicated answer. In short, the speed of charging will depend on a few factors:
- State of charge when starting
- Current state of charge
- What type of charging (AC vs. DC... lvl 1, lvl 2, or DCFC)
- The size of the battery pack
- How fast the car will accept a charge
- How fast the charger is capable of delivering a charge
- Temperature of the battery pack and other components
- Ambient Temperature
- Amperage rating of the charger (especially with DC Fast chargers)
Ok, let's break it down:
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Charging on Level 1. As we've covered on previous pages, level 1 AC charging is the slowest way to charge an EV. This uses 120v alternating current to provide electricity to a battery charger built into the car. Generally, the total speed of delivered electricity is at a rate of 1kW or slightly faster (but not by much). If you maintained a 1kW charging speed for one hour, you would have delivered roughly 1kWh of energy to the battery. If you had a 20kWh battery that was (for the sake of simplicity) completely empty, it would then take 20 hours to charge back to 100%. If we assume you had a fairly efficient electric vehicle that traveled 5mi/kWh, then you'd be charging at a rate of roughly 5mi/hr. It is fairly misleading however to expect that you'd be charging from completely empty to completely full. Most of the time, the total amount of miles driven in a given day will use far less energy than your battery holds.
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Charging on Level 2. While level 2 EV charging operates using the same method as level one, it is significantly faster. There are basically two variables that determine how fast you can charge on level 2 charging. First is the power that the charger will allow you to pull, and second is the power your car will allow. Generally, level 2 chargers are range from 3.3kW to 17.2kW. That being said, you should check the capability of the vehicle and, if installing a charger at home, the capability of your electrical system. Installing a charger that is capable of 17.2kW would require a significant amperage rating, and often an upgrade to your breaker box.
Some vehicles, like the Chevy Spark EV, limit the charge rate to 3.3kW on level 2, so installing a charger with a higher rate wouldn't be useful unless you had plans for a different car in the future. However, a slower charger being used on a vehicle that has greater capabilities would limit the charging rate and thus take longer than would be possible for that vehicle. For most situations, charging at home on a level 2 charger would provide 20-30mi of range per hour of charge. |
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Charging with DCFC. Sometimes referred to as "Level 3" charging, DC Fast Charging (also known as rapid charging) bypasses the onboard charger altogether and uses an external charger ("EVSE"). This charger communicates with the vehicle to determine the appropriate speed at which to feed electricity to the battery at given times during the charge. The rate of charge (depending on the capability of the charger and the car) can reach speeds of more than 250kW. Some vehicles are not capable of such a high rate of charge, and some chargers are not capable. If you have a vehicle for example that can charge at a maximum rate of 50kW, then using a charger that is capable of 150kW would never result in more than 50kW at any given time being put into the battery. On the other hand, if we took that same vehicle and plugged into a 24kW charger, we would never charge faster than 24kW even though the vehicle would be able to manage it.
DC Fast charging can charge most vehicles up to 80% battery in less than 30min. with some cars like the Porsche Taycan charging from 5%-80% in 22.5min. while the Tesla Model 3 can add 180mi of range in 15min. One of the quickest charging EVs on the market now is the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and it will charge (in ideal conditions) from 10-80% SoC in as little as 18 min.
DC Fast charging can charge most vehicles up to 80% battery in less than 30min. with some cars like the Porsche Taycan charging from 5%-80% in 22.5min. while the Tesla Model 3 can add 180mi of range in 15min. One of the quickest charging EVs on the market now is the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and it will charge (in ideal conditions) from 10-80% SoC in as little as 18 min.
So, how long does it take to charge an electric car? Generally, the easiest answer is; overnight, a couple of hours, or less than 30min. It just depends.
