EV charging: how long it takes

EV charging: how long it takes

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To feed your electric car, you can use slow, fast, and even rapid charging solutions. As you may guess by their name, these solutions differ in the time they take to top up your EV battery in full. So, what charging session duration can be with different EVSE types? Read further to get a detailed answer to this question.

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Slow charging

Slow charging is about equipment that provides no more than 7 kWh. Typically, in the UK, you may come across such options as:

• 2.3kWh stations
• 3,7 kWh facilities
• 4-5kWh facilities

As a rule, electric cars have a couple of wires types for AC charging. The first cable (type 2) is used to plug your vehicle when you are at the station. The second option with a regular plug serves for home charging when you can use an ordinary wall socket.

It is better not to use 3-pin charging every day. If you are a busy person, this charger won’t suit you as it requires very long time to fill the battery. Moreover, using this method, you cause a heavy load on your domestic electrical networks. In this case, it won’t serve you for long. However, this particular charging method is highly helpful if you are far from any station but need to charge your electric vehicle.

Depending on your car make and model, it may take 16 – 20 hours and longer to top up its battery when using 2.3kWh facilities. Using 3kWh facilities is a bit faster, 10 – 12 hours on average. To be more specific, we calculated charging time for popular makes and models with 2.3kWh / 3,7 kWh facilities:
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• Volkswagen e-Golf – 16h30m / 10h15m
• Nissan Leaf – 18h30m / 11h30m
• BMW i3 – 19h30m / 12h15m
• Renault Zoe – 26h45m / 16h45m

However, if you plan to feed Tesla Model S with such EVSE, you will need up to two days to fill its battery in full. Note, if you have only slow charging EVSE but want to install an EV charger of greater efficiency, you may always count on us.

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Fast charging

EV fast charging stations provide about 7-22 kWh. Such a solution is common for homes. This type of charging has several advantages. First, you can use it only at night and you will still enough time to charge your electric car. Secondly, if you have a special tariff Economy 7, you can enjoy the lower EV charging cost.

No doubt, this way of charging is more efficient than a 3-pin one. In comparison to the former, their slowest modes are much faster than a 3-contact plug. The difference may only increase as you use the equipment of larger power output.

Still, for cars with low power input, this increase is a myth. Good examples here are Nissan Leaf and Volkswagen e-Golf that can accept no more than 6.6 kWh and 7.2 kWh respectively. So, there is no need to use 22 kWh equipment as the time that you spend for charging is equal. Here, we present a few examples of how long fast charging session takes for the most popular electric cars:
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• Volkswagen e-Golf – 5h15m
• Nissan Leaf – 6h30m
• BMW i3 – 6h15m (with a 7-kWh station) / 4h15m (with an 11-kWh or 22-kWh station)
• Renault Zoe – 8h30m (with a 7-kWh station) / 5h45m (with an 11-kWh station) / 3 hours (with a 22-kWh station)

With fast EVSE, you can charge even your Tesla more efficiently. The session here lasts 15 hours if you use a 7-kWh station or only 7 hours if you use a 22-kWh station By the way, as a rule, fast charging stations are more reliable and serve you longer. Still, if you have any issues with your station or want to upgrade it, we can help you. Just request an EV charger repair service.

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Rapid charging

The main feature of the rapid charging solution is that it typically deals with direct current. This makes it more powerful in comparison to previous options. In other words, it is the fastest charging facility.

Rapid EV solutions can be of different power outputs. The most common option provides the power of 50 kWh. But it also possible to find supercharges with a 120-150 kWh output, like Tesla. Some of the stations provide EV of 175 kWh output. However, there are not many of them as not that many electric cars support them. In other words, the major part of the electric vehicle, except Tesla, doesn’t require more than 50 kWh. Thus, this output is sufficient for almost all the car models with rapid charging capabilities:

• Volkswagen e-Golf – 36 min
• Nissan Leaf – 40 min
• BMW i3 – 36 min
• Renault Zoe – 56 min

​However, a 50-kWh facility takes about two hours and a half to top up the Tesla model S battery in full. Still, if you use a 150-kWh supercharger, you the session lasts just about an hour.

To sum up, the charging session duration is the longest with slow charging facilities and the shortest with rapid charging ones. It may vary from more than 26 hours to only 36 minutes. Of course, the exact duration also depends on such factors as your EV battery capacity and power input limits of your car. However, the general conclusion is the following:
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• Fast charging takes twice or thrice less time if compared to slow charging
• Rapid charging reduces the session duration by 8-9 times if compared to fast charging and by 25-30 times if compared to slow charging