How long does it take to charge an electric car? It is not easy to give one and the same answer to this question as this duration depends on many factors. The capacity of the battery of his electric vehicle, the type of charging system used (especially its power), such as the model of the cable that connects the car to the electrical network, or even the temperatures are all elements that greatly vary the charging time of an electric car.
The elements that determine the charging time of an electric car
It is possible to recharge the batteries of your electric vehicle in several ways. At home by plugging their vehicle into a standard or reinforced socket in the house, by equipping their home with a charging station, called a wallbox, using a mobile charging station, or even on charging stations made available on public property, in car parks of shopping centres, at petrol stations, etc., or at his work.
Regardless of the method used to charge your electric car, the required charging times vary greatly, from just a few minutes to 8, 10 or even 24 hours, because many factors influence this charging time.
In fact, recharging an electric vehicle can take more or less time depending firstly on the capacity of the batteries of these cars (expressed in kWh), the types of recharging systems used which do not all offer the same load, expressed in kilowatts (kW). There are indeed charging systems, such as simple or reinforced household sockets whose power is quite low (3 kW), such as 7, 11 or 22 kW wallboxes, or even 50 kW fast charging stations and many more. beyond, in particular, those available in the public domain.
Then, the more the battery of an electric vehicle has a large capacity (expressed in kWh), the longer its charging time will be. Obviously, the more the battery is empty, the longer the charging time will also be.
On the other hand, the more powerful a charging system, the greater its capacity to deliver electricity, and the shorter the charging time. As a reminder: be careful, however, to charge your electric vehicle with a suitable charging system because these cars are not all configured in the same way and are not all capable of supporting all charging powers.
The quality of the cables that connect an electric car to its charging point, but also whether they are provided by the manufacturer or not, also influences the charging time of an electric vehicle. In any case, the cable used to charge an electric vehicle should never be undersized.
The climate, and temperatures in particular, also play a role in the charging time of electric vehicles. Cold weather can indeed require a longer charging time and high temperatures can lead to the automatic shutdown of the charging system to prevent overheating with the consequence, again, of extending charging times.
The charging time of an electric car plugged into a household socket
Recharging an electric car by plugging its battery into a simple domestic socket is by far the solution that requires the longest recharging time since these electrical installations are designed to accommodate, for safety reasons, sockets of a maximum of 10 amps.
If we take the example of an electric city car, a range of 400 km will be obtained after nearly a day if this type of electric car is plugged into a conventional household socket.
It is nevertheless possible to halve this recharging time by opting for a reinforced socket, of the Green’Up type, which allows the electrical power to be increased to 3.2 kW.
Charging time for an electric car connected to a home charging station
If you have a wallbox type charging station in your home for your electric car, the charging time depends on the power of your equipment.
Thus, if we take the example of recharging an electric city car equipped with a 20 kWh battery, to achieve the autonomy of its battery, we estimate the recharging time at 3 hours using a charging station. charging with a power of 7.4 kW, just over an hour for a charging system with a power of 22 kW.
If this type of vehicle has a 40 kWh battery, the charging time will be 2 hours with a 22 kW wallbox, nearly 6 hours if the charging station is 7 kW.
Charging time for an electric car at a fast public charging station
While most of the charging points available in the public domain, in service stations, car parks, etc., have a power roughly equivalent to that of wallboxes, generally between 7 and 22 kW, or even sometimes 3 kW, some allow however, to benefit from so-called fast or ultra-fast charging systems. The latter most often deploy a power of 50 kW.
With this type of charging terminals, the charging time of an electric vehicle capable of supporting this power, and to obtain an 80% charge of the battery, is generally limited to 30 minutes.
As for ultra-fast charging stations, whose power can reach up to 250 kW, but which only concern a minority of electric cars for the moment, the charging time can only last a few minutes.