This New EV Charging Method Can Take Just Minutes

There are already some very fast charging options available. If you go home at night and plug your EV into an outlet in your garage, there’s a good chance things will be pretty slow. Charging speeds boil down to the type of charger you’re using. Level 1 chargers, which usually come with your car, plug into a standard 120-volt socket. These basic chargers can add as little as three miles of range per hour, so if you have an EV with a half decent range, filling the battery could take the best part of a week. Luckily, Level 1 chargers aren’t the only option. 

You can opt for a faster Level 2 charger that uses a 240-volt connection. This can either be a 240-volt outlet if you have one in the garage or a direct connection installed from the breaker box. A good Level 2 charger may set you back between $500 and $800, but if you’re an EV owner, it’s well worth the money. At the high end, you can get up to 30 miles of range per hour of charging.

Then there are public chargers, some of which are Level 3. At that rating, chargers use direct current and provide up to 350 kW of power. A Level 3 charger can provide over 100 miles of range in less than 20 minutes. At the pinnacle of public charging are Tesla’s Supercharging Stations. The 250 kW V3 stations are capable of providing up to 1,000 miles of range in an hour. To put things into perspective, it takes the Tesla Supercharger less than 15 minutes to provide the same amount of juice as a Level 1 charger will put out in 200 hours.