EV Charging:
a primer
About Charging
Ideally charging an EV is done in your own garage/car bay overnight. This allows you to treat your EV as you would your mobile phone - plug in when you get home from your daily commute and charge overnight. The next morning you wake up to a fully charged EV.
Charging at home will replenish around ≈15-75 km of range for every one hour of charge (varies between vehicles and available electrical supply). So with a day's commute of say 100km it takes around 2 hours to recharge. In terms of power requirements home chargers can typically be configured to utilise anything from 2.4kW (10A single phase @ 240v) through to 7kW (32A single phase) or 11kW (16A three phase).
Charging Levels
EV chargers are categorised into three levels:
Level 1 EV Charger Type - AC Slow Charging
A standard household powerpoint, up to 10A or 2.4kW. Recovers ≈10 to ≈15km per hour of charge.
Level 2 EV Charger Type - AC Fast Charging
A dedicated power circuit and charger device providing up to 11kW (or even 22kW). Recovers ≈75km per hour of charge.
Level 3 EV Charger Type - DC Fast Charging
Public fast charger (various capacities include 25kW, 50kW, 150kW and even 350kW) up to over 1000km per hour of charge (ie charge times are typically only a few minutes).
Charging away from home
There are two broad categories of public chargers
Destination chargers - level 2
These are essentially publicly available home chargers and are provided by businesses such as shopping centres and hotels to encourage patronage. Destination chargers are often offered as a complimentary service.
A Mitsubishi, BMW, Mercedes and Tesla Charging at Rhodes Waterside Shopping Centre
Chargefox at Goulburn Service Station
Fast chargers - level 3
Designed for fast, on-the-go top ups. These are often placed strategically along highways and rural towns allowing for road trips away from home. Fast chargers require more substantial, expensive hardware and deliver very high current DC power from 25kW through to 350kW.
Fast chargers usually require payment and are provide by companies such as NRMA, Chargefox and Tesla.
Chargers Used at Home or in an Apartment Building
Various brands and models available.
Level 1 Charger
A portable charger simply plugs into any 10A or 15A power point
Level 2 Wall Charger
Connected to a power circuit that can be managed to ensure desired consumption is not exceeded
