EV Chargers

Due to there being a multitude of different car manufacturers and different levels of charging, not all cars are compatible with each type EV charger. However, there are 5 standard EV charger ports used across the United Kingdom and many other parts of the world:

• Standard AC Wall Output
• J1772 Connector 
• CHAdeMO
• SAE Combo (CCS)
• Tesla Supercharger

Despite not all cars being compatible with all EV chargers, you are able to purchase adaptors to circumvent any mismatches that prevent you from charging your vehicle.

EV charging can be broken down into three different types (or levels):

• Type 1 (Slow) - Standard AC Wall Outlet

This type of EV charging uses a conventional wall outlet from your home, allowing you to charge your vehicle no different than charging your mobile phone. However, unless you have an older model of electric vehicle, it is likely you will require purchasing a Type 2 to Type 1 adaptor cable to charge your electric vehicle with a standard wall outlet, this is due to the EU mandating that all plug-in cars from 2014 must have a Type 2 socket.

Type 1 has the slowest Miles of Range Per Hour of Charging (RPH) out of the 3 types, clocking in at 5 RPH. This means it would take 16 hours to charge an 80-mile battery and 40 hours for a 200-mile battery.

• Type 2 (Fast) - AC Charging Station

The Type 2 charger is the most common charger you will come across for electric vehicles, these are the type of EV chargers you will find at homes, offices and public charging points. Using either a J1772 Connector plug or a Tesla Type 2 adaptor plug, level 2 charging offers 12 RPH for cars with 3.7kW on board charging and 25 RPH for cars with 6.6kW on board charging. This results in an 80-mile battery charge taking 3.5 hours and a 200-mile battery charging taking 8 hours.

• Type 3 (Rapid) - DC Rapid Charging

The final type of electric car charging is Type 3 DC Rapid Charging, these are typically found in short stop electrical vehicle charging bays. Level 3 also has the most varied charger ports of them all, typically your car will have one of these three chargers: CHAdeMO (BMW, VW and Chevy), SAE Combo - CCS (Nissan, Mitsubishi and Kia) or Tesla Supercharger. DC Rapid chargers are the fastest of all three chargers by a wide margin, offering up to 100 RPH with a 24kW charger and up to 200 RPH with a 44-50 kW charger. As a result, this allows for 80% of the battery to be charged within a staggering 30 minutes.

The biggest difference between a single-phase and three-phase EV charger is the difference in kilowatt output between the two. An EV charger that is wired to the single-phase connection inside a home or office’s fuse box can produce an output of 7.4 kW or using a conventional three-pin plug, which can produce up to 2.3kW.

As opposed to this, an EV charger wired to a three-phase connection can produce outputs up to 22kW, making three-phase EV chargers 3 times faster than single-phase EV chargers.

It should be noted that you must check your electrical vehicle’s battery to ensure you purchase the correct charger.

Yes, you can install an EV Charger at your home, we always recommend home EV chargers are installed by a qualified electrician, especially if installing a Type 3 EV Charger. Actually 80% of all electric vehicle charging is carried out at home, often plugged in after arriving home from work and left to charge overnight when tariffs are cheaper.

In the United Kingdom, you are also able to receive a government grant to cover up to 75% of the cost to buy and install a chargepoint socket (up to £350 per grant) thanks to EV Chargepoint Grant (which replaced the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme).