Electric Vehicle Charging Times

Whether you want to use your electric car for regular journeys, or it’s simply a car you use at the weekend you want to know that it is charged when you come to use it. Much like needing to fill up your car with petrol, giving your vehicle the right amount of time to charge is essential. There are different factors that can affect how long a car takes to charge including the power behind the charger you are using and the battery capacity of the vehicle.

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Charging An Electric Vehicle

There is no exact answer to how long will it take to charge an electric vehicle as there are many different factors that may affect it. It is also worth taking into account load management and that your charging capacity may be limited in peak times. That said, there are different options for charging a vehicle whether at home or out and about. Rapid charging stations up and down the UK can get your car back on the ride for a good number of miles in a surprisingly quick time. Charging at home can take slightly longer but then you do have the option to charge overnight. It’s worth looking at your electric tariff to see if you can time charging your car to match the times electricity is cheaper on your tariff.

Different Charging Times

Before you commit to buy an electric vehicle it is worth looking at different models to ensure that they suit you. The battery capacity will affect how long the range of the vehicle is, but then the bigger the battery the longer it is likely to take to charge. It is important that you make the right purchase decision to match your needs. If we take for example a SEAT Mii which has a 36.8kWh battery– this could take anything up to 3 hours to charge. If you’re using a 7.4 kWh charger you would expect to take in the region of 3 hours to charge up to 80% charge starting from 20% Where as if you were using a rapid charger with 50 kWh then the charge time would only be 29 minutes.‍

How Long Does It Take To Charge an Electric Vehicle To 80%?

As above, the time varies depending on the power behind the charging point, the battery capacity (this determines the range of the car) and of course, how flat your batter was to start with. This table gives you an estimate of what it would take to charge your batter up to 80%,assuming that your battery was starting at 20% charged. This EV charging calculator gives you an idea of how long different sized batteries may take to charge to 80%.

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‍Fully Charging An Electric Vehicle Battery‍

The amount of time it takes to get a battery to 100%will depend on the charging capabilities of the charge and how flat your battery is to start with. A majority of the time people tend not to charge their battery to full capacity but if you did want to then this chart gives you an indication of the charging time you could expect, assuming your battery was completely flat to start with.

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Charging Your Electric Vehicle At Home‍

Let’s assume that you want to charge your electric vehicle on a home installed EV charger to give you enough power to drive a 50 mile range – what car would you pick? Well if you wanted the fastest charging choice then you would pick something like the Renault Zoe Z.E. 50 R110 which will charge enough for a 50 mile range journey in around 46 minute s- assume you were using a 22 kW,3-phase home charging system. It is worth noting that not all electric vehicles are capable of charging to this speed, it is limited by the on-board charger too. For example, no matter the type of charger you’re plugged into – theC-Zero by Citroen only has a 3.7 kW charger on-board, so it will always take longer to charge – around 4.5 hours to give you a 50 mile range. ‍

When it comes to cars that will charge quickly to give you a 50 mile range some choices are:

• Renault Zoe Z.E. 50 R110 & R135 –46 minutes
• Smart EQ ForTwo Coupe  - 46 minutes
• Smart EQ For Two – 48 minutes
• Tesla Model S Long Range – 1 hour  5 minutes
• Tesla Model S Performance – 1 hour 7 minutes

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How Does RapidCharging Help?‍

There are rapid charging points up and down the UK, which on average allow you to charge your car up to 10x faster. For example – if you were to charge the Jaguar I-Pace at home it would take you over 13 hours to go from 0% to 100% assume you were using a standard3-phase home charging point. Using a rapid charging point means you can go from10% to 80% charge in less than 45 minutes – great news if you want to stop off on a journey to get some lunch before continuing onwards.

Want to charge enough for a 50 mile journey? With rapid charging it would take you just 6minutes to charge a Porsche Taycan 4S Plus and even a Citroen C-Zero would take just 29 minutes.

EV Charging At Home‍

Having an electric vehicle charging point installed at home is easy and hassle free. You may even be eligible for a grant to help towards the cost of installation.We’ll happily talk you through the options and the charging capacity of home charging points to make sure that the charging point purchase you make is the right one for you and your needs. It is worth making yourself familiar with how long your vehicle takes to charge on average remembering that this can also be affected by charging more than one vehicle at a time. Keeping a note of where rapid charging points are locally is always a good idea too – that way you will always have back-up charging options if you need them.

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