Everything you need to know about charging your electric car

The move to buying an electric vehicle may seem like a daunting one. There are many things to take into consideration when doing so, especially when looking into car insurance.

To make the switch to becoming more eco-friendly a smoother one, you can browse car insurance for electric vehicles here.

Another important thing to be aware of is the charging function of electric cars. This article will detail a few things that you need to know about charging your car.

Types of Charging

One of the most important things to know about electric chargers are the types of charging involved, with the three main ones being included here.

Level one (120 Volt): This way of charging comes with a cord that is included with every electric car. The charger is made up of a conventional three-prong plug that has the ability to go into any wall socket that is properly grounded. It has a connector for the car’s charging port on the other end, and then a box of electronic circuitry that sits between them. It’s a standard charger, so is the slowest type of charging.

To show you if the charger is working properly, it will test the circuit when you plug it in – this ensures that the current is powerful enough and that it is properly grounded.

Level two (240 Volt): Many home and public charging stations operate with this type of charging, which is twice as fast as the level one way of charging (due to its higher voltage). Although, they do also connect their cables to the standard charging port on your car.

DC fast charging: This way of charging uses direct current, rather than alternating current (which the two other levels use), which is why its’s known as a fast charger. This one is rarer, and is usually found on public sites dedicated to DC charging, often seen on highways. They are more practical, however, with a higher cost when installing them on dedicated high-power lines.

These are the main types of charging, although there are variations of the DC fast charging.

Charging points

You wouldn’t possibly be able to know everything about charging your electric car, without knowing where you can charge them. Here are three main places where you can plug in your car.

Home: Charging at home is the easiest and cheapest way to charge your car, if you have access to a garage with electrical service. As already mentioned, electric cars come with the level one type of charging, but it can take eight or more hours to reach full charge when using the current from your house.

An alternative way to charge would be to have a level two charging point installed. Even though it’s not cheap, the up-front costs will pay off in the long run, as you’ll be able to cut charging times.

Public: These stations are becoming more accessible around the US, usually installed in areas with a higher level of electric vehicle ownership. Many public stations offer free charging, with others being paid services.

Many of these stations are set up using the level two way of charging, making them great for topping up on some extra energy when quickly running errands.

Workplace: More companies are accommodating to the change in people’s car choices by installing these chargers in their parking lots, yet they’re still quite uncommon. Most of them also use level two charging, with some states being able to offer incentives for having charging stations at the workplace.

With some of the basics of electric car charging being included here, hopefully it will give you a better start in choosing the best possible electric car charger for your needs.