Electric car charging can be exciting and intimidating, especially when you have little previous experience with EVs. However, we have good news for you. Charging your EV is easy, convenient, and very inexpensive.
How to Charge Electric Cars?
Charging an electric car starts with locating a suitable electric car charging station. You can either charge at public charging stations – just like filling up gas at your preferred gas stations – or charge at private locations. A private charging location could mean charging at home, office, or a local business that has decided to offer EV charging to their customers (“destination charging”). The vast majority of electric car owners choose to charge at home due to an inexpensive and convenient experience. For those who are on the road or without access to home charging, there are already over 160,000 public EV chargers in the US.
When choosing a charging location, you may wonder what EV charger types exist and what electric cars you can charge at specific locations.
How to Choose the Right EV Charging Station?
While most electric cars can be charged at any charging station, there are three important considerations to remember:
1. Choose Between Tesla vs Non-Tesla Stations
First, when charging a Tesla using non-Tesla chargers, you need to use an adapter. The same applies vice versa. When charging a non-Tesla vehicle using Tesla chargers, you also need to use an adapter. In addition, Tesla Level 3 Superchargers have been restricted to Tesla cars only. While all this may sound like a nuisance, using an adapter is easy. Tesla is also working to open their Supercharger locations to other electric vehicles – finally!
2. Choose Charging Operator and Application
Second, when choosing a charging location, you may want to consider who operates the charging station and how you can pay for charging. Generally, there’s no big difference between operators and you can expect to be able to charge at any station. The only real difference is how to pay for charging using different charging applications.
We recommend downloading PlugShare, ChargePoint, and Electrify America apps on your mobile phone. This should have you covered for most public charging stations across the US. Other popular operators and EV charging apps include EVgo, Volta, and ChargeHub. If you are charging a Tesla using a Tesla charger, or if you are charging electric cars at private locations, you do not need an application. The cost of charging is automatically charged to you via Tesla or added to your electricity bill – easy!
3. Choose Charging Level
Third, you want to choose between Level 3, Level 2, and Level 1 chargers. The main difference between different charging Levels is charging speed and how long it takes to charge an electric car.
Level 3 chargers are equipped with 50-350 kW power output and charge an electric car from 0% to 80% in 20-60 minutes. Level 2 chargers are the most prevalent option at public parking and office locations. Charging a full electric car from 0% to 80% at level 2 chargers takes around 4-10 hours. Level 1 charging typically happens at home and takes around 40-50 hours from 0% to 80%. Most electric car owners choose to rely on these Level 1 home chargers and simply plug in their cars as they arrive home from work or school.
Electric Car Charging Cost
Charging an electric car from 0% to 100% typically costs around $5 to $25. This is around $0.02 to $0.05 per mile, which is significantly cheaper than traditional combustion engine cars' gasoline expenses at around $0.10 to $0.25 per mile. Typically, switching from a traditional combustion engine car to an electric car will save you around 75% of monthly fuel costs.
You can further save on electric car charging by opting for Level 2 or Level 1 chargers and charging during a time of day when electricity is cheap. Prices of electricity at different hours vary by location. In general, charging is cheapest outside the 4 pm to 9 pm peak hours.
Charging Best Practices
While there is a lot more that could be said about electric car charging, we recommend keeping things simple and following these best practices:
- Keep battery charge between 20-80% to optimize battery health
- Ensure you have an appropriate charging adapter
- Dowload Tesla, PlugShare, ChargePoint, and Electrify America apps
- If possible, install home charging to make your life easy
If you have other questions about electric vehicle charging, read our deep dive articles - links below - or reach out to us for more information!
