How to Charge an Electric Vehicle at Home. It is critical to understand how to charge your electric vehicle at home. When discussing EV charging, someone always brings up the state of public charging infrastructure. While having more public chargers is a good thing, the vast majority of electric car charging occurs at home.
Tesla’s 11.5 kW home charger (opens in new tab) costs $400 and is essentially just a glorified plug socket — albeit one that can be installed safely outside. Meanwhile, ChargePoint’s 12kW HomeFlex (opens in new tab) costs $749 but includes more features. They include the ability to programme charging schedules, Alexa voice control, usage statistics, and other features.
How to Charge an Electric Vehicle at Home
Home EV chargers typically have charging speeds ranging from 7 kW to 22 kW. The one you choose will be entirely determined by your vehicle and your budget. A charger may provide faster charging speeds, but it will cost more as a result. So, if your car’s recharge capacity is only 7 kW, there’s little point in paying more for a 22 kW charger.
After all, it’s the most convenient and cost-effective method. Finding an electric car charging station near you means no more trips to the gas station. You come home, plug in, and pay only what your energy company charges. It couldn’t be simpler. However, there are a few different ways to recharge at home, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Here’s how to charge an electric vehicle at home.
How to Charge an Electric Vehicle at Home:
There are several methods for charging your electric car at home, which we will discuss now. But first, it’s critical to become acquainted with your cables. While wireless charging is supported by a wide range of devices, it has yet to reach the electric vehicle. To charge your battery, you’ll need to plug it in with a charging cable. Dedicated EV chargers come with their own tethered cables, which makes charging at home or out in public a breeze. Simply plug in the cable and you’re ready to go.
However, your car will also come with a mobile charging cable that allows you to plug into a standard power outlet. The cable has a J1772 plug on one end that fits into your car and a standard wall plug on the other. A transformer with charging status lights will be located somewhere along the cable.
Every electric vehicle will include a mobile charger that works with the standard 120V outlets found throughout your home. Other automakers, such as Tesla, provide cables or adapters that can handle 240 volts and currents up to 50 amps. These, however, are much less common. The simplest way to start charging your electric car at home is to plug it into a standard 120-volt power outlet, just like any other appliance. This, however, is a very slow process.
Simply locate your mobile charger and plug it into both the car and a nearby power outlet. It’s as simple as that. Of course, that simplicity comes with a slew of drawbacks, particularly in terms of speed. The standard US power outlet provides 120 volts and 15 amps of current, translating to approximately 1.8 kW charging speeds. Most home chargers have speeds of at least 7 kW, whereas ultra-fast DC rapid chargers have speeds ranging from 50 kW to 350 kW.
Electric Car Charging Speed:
Needless to say, this is a very slow method of recharging. In fact, your recharge time should be measured in days rather than hours. Tesla, for example, claims that its mobile charger with a 120V socket provides 2-3 miles of range per hour. A Supercharger, on the other hand, can add up to 160 miles in 15 minutes. So there is a significant difference. In short, even if you don’t drive your car very often, the 120V charging option is not ideal. As a result, its use should be limited to emergencies at best.
While not “fast” by any means, charging your electric car from a 240V socket is a much more realistic option. In the United States, most sockets provide 120 volts of electricity, but 240-volt sockets are not uncommon.
Various large appliances, such as dryers and water heaters, require a 240V socket to operate, so you may already have one in your garage. If not, it should be as simple as hiring an electrician to install one. Just make sure you have a 240V-compatible mobile charger first. Some automakers, such as Tesla, sell them directly, while others may only be available from third parties
What you need to know:
The charging speed of a 240V socket is determined by the available current. Most homes in the United States have electrical circuits with 15 or 20 amps of current, resulting in charging speeds of 3.6 kW and 4.8 kW, respectively. Both are much slower than a dedicated electric car charger but much faster than a standard 120V outlet. Recharging will take several hours at this point. You may be able to do it overnight, depending on the model of the car and how much charging it requires, but it may take longer at times.
A dedicated electric car charger is the most convenient way to charge an electric car at home. Not only can they charge the majority of electric vehicles in a few hours or overnight, but no special cables are required. In the United States, car chargers come with their own built-in cables, so you won’t need to buy anything else.
Even if your vehicle is capable of those speeds, a 7 kW charger can recharge the vast majority of electric vehicles overnight. Because, in all likelihood, it is not. Chargers vary in price and can cost several hundred dollars or more, not including any additional installation costs. Typically, the faster and more feature-rich the charger, the higher the price.
How long will it take for each method to recharge your car?
How much time does it take to charge an electric vehicle? There is no simple answer because it is dependent on a variety of factors such as car model, battery size, available power, and so on. However, power follows the rules, and the lower the voltage and current, the longer it will take to charge your battery. Consider the 40 kWh Nissan Leaf, one of the most affordable electric vehicles in the United States and also one of the smallest batteries available in a new EV.
According to an EVAdept(opens in new tab) calculator, charging from zero to 80% from a standard power outlet (120 volts and 15 amp, or 1.8 kW) will take 18 hours and 43 minutes that’s seven miles per hour faster. When you upgrade to a NEMA 6-20 outlet (240 volts and 20 amps, or 4.8 KW), that figure drops to 7 hours. In other words, you’ll need something a little more than a standard power outlet. However, you have complete control over what you purchase.
What is the cost of charging an electric car at home?
The advantage of charging your electric car at home is that you only pay what your power company charges you. If you use a public charger, you will pay a premium because the cost includes both the power and a small markup for the charging network in question.
So, if you pay 30 cents per kWh of electricity used, charging a 40 kWh battery (such as the one found in a Nissan Leaf) will cost you $12. Of course, the larger the battery, the more expensive it will be to recharge but that battery should provide more range as a result.
It’s worth noting that some energy companies may provide discounted energy rates at specific times of day, usually at unsociable hours in the middle of the night. That means you can time your charges, either from the charger or from the car, to save money. Similarly, anyone with solar panels can take advantage of what is effectively free energy by plugging in while the sun is shining.
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