Here’s All You Need To Know About EV Chargers

In today’s day and age, much of the focus in the automotive industry is on cleaner sources of energy to fuel vehicles owing to stricter emission norms. One of the main alternatives is electric power, which is being pushed by governments globally for implementation by the end of this decade. With recent unveils and launches, including the Hyundai Kona Electric, MG ZS EV and Tata Nexon EV, it becomes important that you know the different methods to charge your EV. Let’s take a look at the types of EV chargers and what differentiates them:

Slow Charger 

Starting off the different types of chargers are the slow chargers that can be plugged into a standard wall socket without requiring additional equipment. These types of chargers are rated between 3kW and 6kW. Charging times using these units range from 6 to 12 hours, depending on the EV. These chargers are used for home charging and beneficial for overnight charging. These chargers are the most common chargers used for EVs and home charging.

Fast Chargers

The second kind of EV charger gets a more powerful rating between 7kW to 22kW with charging times between 4 to 6 hours for the 7kW charger and 1-2 hours for a 22kW charging unit. These charging units are usually found at car parks, leisure centres or supermarkets. Fast chargers are compatible with either Type 1 or Type 2 connectors (via a connector cable that comes with the vehicle).

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These types of chargers are the fastest chargers for powering up your EV. They are of two types- AC (Alternate Current) or DC (Direct Current). AC chargers are rated at 43kW, whereas DC chargers are 50kW and above. Both chargers can juice up an EV from 0-80 per cent in 20-40 minutes depending on the EV’s charging capacity. These types of chargers are found in dedicated charging stations or in service stations. Tesla goes beyond this with 120kW DC Supercharger stations. 

As the deadline for EV adoption gets closer, manufacturers are preparing charging infrastructures in parallel to rolling out EVs. Eventually, more modern charging solutions will be introduced, but that will have to wait as the basic charging infrastructure has to be in place.

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