How Long Does It Take to Charge an Electric Car?

Note: The following information applies mainly to North America.

How long does it take to charge an electric car? This is the question that many people, especially people trying to switch from gasoline cars to electric cars, ask.

Because compared with the fueling time of the gasoline car, the charging time is obviously much longer, which bothers a lot of people.

In this article, we will display the factors that affect electric vehicle charging time, and the charging time for the best electric cars in 2021.

We hope this article can alleviate some concerns you might have in switching gas cars to electric cars.

You can use our electric car charging time calculator to see the charge time of your EV both at home and on the road specifically.

Electric Car Charging Types

There are essentially three types of EV Charging: Level 1, Level 2, and DC Fast Charging.

• Level 1 Charging

Every EV comes with a basic 120-volt Level 1 home charger, which can connect to the regular household outlet (110 volts in the USA). You can charge your electric car on that outlet, but it’s super slow, and it only charges at about 2 to 5 miles of range per hour.

Realistically speaking, only 40 miles of range, even less can be added every night when you use one of these chargers.

However, it’s not the fault of the EV or the charger. The home outlet is designed to deliver 12 amps of maximum continuous current. If you were to try to pull more power, the breaker would trip and protect the wires from melting or getting into fire.

Some people get away with this because they have a plug-in hybrid with a smaller battery, or they don’t drive a lot, but the vast majority of people want something faster.

• Level 2 Charging

Most EV drivers will install a Level 2 charging station in their garage. The Level 2 units accept 240 volts and deliver 16, 24 amps, up to 48 amps of power. 32 amps is probably the most common power level for home charging stations.

They’ll deliver somewhere between 15 to 20 miles of range per hour up to 45 miles of range per hour, which is a significant difference in a significant upgrade from the 2 to 5 miles of range per hour that you can get on Level 1.

For that reason many people would prefer to install a 240-volt charging equipment in their garage or at their home.

• Level 3 Charging

When you want to take a road trip and travel long distances, you need something even faster. That’s where DC fast charging comes in. These DC fast charging stations are much larger, much more powerful, and charge your car much faster.

DC is Direct Current which is a different type of electricity. So with the DC fast charging (sometimes called Level 3), the power goes straight into the battery. That’s why EVs can charge at a much higher rate on a DC fast charger.

Up to 1200 miles an hour can be added on a DC fast charger, and since no electric car can actually go 1200 miles per charge, you wouldn’t need to charge for an hour or for a long time.

Typically, most electric cars can charge to about 80% in half an hour or less on a DC fast charger. You’re probably only going to be there for somewhere between 20 minutes and 45 minutes, depending on how much you need to charge and depending on if there is a line because sometimes that happens during holidays and really busy locations.

Factors that Affect Charging Rate of an Electric Car

How long does it take to charge an electric car?

This is a valid and simple question, but the answer is not that simple.

That’s because there are a couple of factors that affect the charging speed of an electric car:

Type and Power Output of the Charging Station

Level 2 charging stations have power outputs of around 3.8, 5.7, 7.6, 9.6, and even 11.5 kW.

DC fast chargers can deliver from 50 kW, up to 270 kW, or even 350 kW.

Theoretically speaking, the more power outputs the charger produces, the faster the charge will take.

However, in practice, this may not be true.

For example, the charging station delivers up to 3 kW of power, and your car is capable of accepting 6 kW of rate. 3 kW would be the charging speed.

The car would “talk” to the charging station, and both of them “decide” that the final charging rate should be 3 kW.

What if it were the reverse situation? The charging station is capable of delivering 6 kW, but your car can only charge at 3 kW?

Even though the charger delivers more power than the first situation, the final charging rate would still be 3 kW.

That’s because the control pilot pin on the J1772 connector of a EV home charger would negotiate the highest power standard between the charging station and the electric car.

If the charging station delivers less power than the maximum charging speed at which the car can accept, the charging station is the limiting factor that influences the charging speed;

if the acceptance rate of the electric car is lower than the maximum power delivery rate, the car is the limiting factor.

Storage Capacity of the Battery

Typically, the larger the battery capacity, the longer it takes to be replenished.

A Level 1 charger can put around 5 miles of range into your EV every hour.

For Level 2 stations, an entry of 16 amps can deliver around 12 miles of range per hour; a 32-amp one can double that, about 25 miles per hour, etc.

These estimates above vary depending on the car.

Especially, the size of the battery can affect how long these standards take to charge.

For example, a Tesla Model 3 Long Range (2021) has a large battery capable of around 353 miles.

It takesm ore than 51 hours to from zero to 80% of charge level on Level 1 and 8 or 9 hours on Level 2.

In comparison, a Toyota Prius Prime that can only accept 16 amps maximum is a plug-in hybrid with a much smaller battery, good for 25 miles of range.

So it takes around 4 hours for 80% of charge state on Level 1 charging or 2 hours on a Level 2, 16-amp charger.

It can be seen that Tesla Model 3 Long Range charges slower because its battery is much larger.

However, the charging time is calculated based on “empty” to “full”, which is unlikely to happen.

From practical experience, you don’t need to charge your car to get a full level, and you don’t even need to replenish a lot of your battery every time.

Just like your mobile phone, you simply plug it, then unplug it and get back on the road when the battery is at a desirable level.

Acceptance Rate of On-Board Charger

Level 1 and Level 2 that you have in your house is Alternating Current (AC).

When you charge at home on Level one or Level two, the AC power goes into the car through your inverter (on-board charger).

Actually, it’s the inverter that charges your battery. The inverter converts AC power into DC (Direct Current) power since batteries are inherently DC by nature.

So the acceptance rate of the on-board charger is one of those limiting factors that affect the charging speed.

But a DC fast charging station charges the battery directly because the DC power bypasses the on-board charger and goes straight into the battery.

How depleted the battery is

With all lithium batteries, charging rates start to drop as the battery is beyond 80% of full. It charges more quickly to get the first 80% of capacity than the remaining 20%. 

It’s designed to keep the current at a consistent level when close to full in order to ensure battery health.

Outside Temperature

When the weather is cold, slower charging happens, particularly when on a rapid charger.

Battery heating systems try to maintain the charging at a constant rate, but they draw extra current when doing so, which leads to an increase in charging time.

So it takes longer to charge an EV under cold weather.

Top-Rated Electric Car Charging Times

Use our electric vehicle charging time calculators to estimate the EV charge time. How long to charge an EV depends on the car model year, version and which charger you use.

Affordable Electric Vehicles

1. Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus (2021)

2. Kia Niro EV (2020)

3. Hyundai Kona Electric (2021)

4. Chevrolet Bolt EV (2021)

5. Nissan Leaf (2021)

Luxury Electric Vehicles

1. Porsche Taycan 4S (2021)

2. Tesla Model 3 Long Range (2021)

3. Tesla Model S (2021)

4. Polestar 2 (2021)

Luxury Electric SUVs

1. Ford Mustang Mach-E (2021)

2. Audi e-tron (2021)

3. Tesla Model Y (2021)

4. Tesla Model X (2021)

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