How Long Does It Take To Charge An Electric Car

Between 5 and 8 hours is how long it takes an electric car to fully charge on average. This depends on different factors, some related to the vehicle and others to the charger or charging point.

It is not possible to speak of a single recharging time for an electric car three main speeds are recognized: slow, semi-fast, and fast charging. How long does it take to charge an electric car? To define the time is an estimated and intermediate way, it is noted that those who take less time need at least 5 hours; while others can reach 8 or exceed them. Different conditions include and define this time value, these are different for each vehicle and also for the different charging points.

The recharging time of a vehicle is important for many things, but above all, because it influences and determines the economic cost, although it is not the only factor to calculate the electricity cost of an electric car.

Types of charge for an electric car according to time

Slow charge: between 5 and 8 hours on average

Slow charging is the one carried out by the largest number of electric vehicles, it is basic and at low power, it can be done at domestic or private charging points such as those installed in workplaces or shopping malls. In this case, the battery is charged with a single-phase alternating current at 230V, 16A, and with a maximum power of 3.6 kW. The charging time in this usual type varies from 5 to 8 hours, above all, depending on the capacity of the battery that the car incorporates.

There is a variable within this charge that uses a three-phase alternating current at 400V and 16A, which allows you to reduce the charging time to 2 or 3 hours, reaching 11 kW of power.

Semi-fast charge: between 1 hour and a half and 3 hours.

This type of charge is not yet very widespread and there are not many public or private points that allow it. It is designed to be viable in both public and private charging areas, such as large shopping centers, company car parks or business areas, or fleet car parks.

Semi-fast charging is achieved through a single-phase current of 230V, 32A, and 8-14 kW, which allows full half-charged batteries not to exceed 3 hours. It has a second possibility, which will be to provide the charging point with 400V triphasic alternating current, up to 63A and from 22 to 43 kW, which manages to recharge a battery in 30 minutes.

Fast charge: less than 15 minutes

Fast charging is what gas stations or recharging points of this type necessarily have to offer where many users go, but they cannot be for a long time. It is a question of approaching –at the moment it is not possible- the refueling times of fossil fuels. Installing a fast-charging point is still complex; a continuous current of up to 600V and 400A is needed to reach 240 kW of power.

With these conditions, charges of up to 80% of an average battery can be offered in intervals of between 5 and 30 minutes. Fast charging is also possible through alternating current -500V- in this case up to 250A and 220 kW are needed. In this scenario, electric car drivers can be offered recharging times of 10 minutes for almost the entire capacity of the car’s battery.

How are the electric cars that charge faster?

The battery and its capacity are key to understanding why some vehicles take longer to charge than others. It is obvious and easy to understand the reason that a larger battery – with more capacity – lasts longer and requires fewer recharges, but once it is depleted it will take longer to return to 100 percent. Electric car manufacturers are currently working on Along with safety, the goal is to achieve powerful batteries that allow the vehicle many kilometers of autonomy, but without increasing weight or size, in addition to achieving fast charging methods even for these large batteries.

Today motor companies -and those that come from other sectors- indicate approximate recharging times for their electric models to guide consumers, they also usually implement at least two charging modes: one faster and one slower to offer comfort and autonomy.

How are the charging points?

The charger of your mobile offers power to your phone and, in addition, you always plug it into a standard domestic power. In the case of cars, there is no such homogeneity. Although domestic charging is, at the moment, the most common – also the slowest – other types of charging points offer more power and therefore more speed in this task.

The charger is not unique either and the different brands offer several alternatives that go from more to less power and that make the estimated charging time vary. Today all these details, if you are interested in sharing an electric car, you should compare them when you go to the dealer.

Key factors to determine: how long does it take to charge an electric car?

The main key factor in determining the charging time of an electric car has to do with the size of the battery.

As we have explained in past publications on electric car batteries, these are called “Battery Packs”.

These batteries are made up of battery cell packs grouped until the car’s operating voltage is achieved.

Due to the above, the greater the capacity of the battery, measured in Kilowatt Hours KWh, the longer it will take to charge.

Now, you may have a battery with a high charge capacity but a low charge rate, how so? This is because charging capacity is what measures the rate of Kilowatts KW that can enter the battery during charging.

On the other hand, the charger you use also determines the charging speed since it is configured with a maximum supply rate in Kilowatts KW. 

Temperature factor in battery charging time

Extreme temperatures (Cold or Hot) affect the speed of battery charging. 

This condition is even more noticeable if you use a high-speed charger, especially in cold temperatures.

Useful tip: If you are in a very cold or hot environment, and you must use the comfort accessories of the car (Heating, air conditioning, seat heater) we recommend you start them on, before starting the trip and with the car connected to the load. This way you conserve much more battery charge.

How long does it take to charge an electric car depending on the type of charger?

Charging time depends on the type of charger used, as is how much it costs to charge an electric car.

Chargers are divided by their charging rate or cargo delivery capacity, there are mainly 4 types:

Slow electric car chargers Maximum 3KW

It is the most basic and time-consuming method and consists of connecting directly to a 3-pin socket (3-Pin Plug). It is the simplest and cheapest way by which you can recharge an electric car.

The charging rate is low (Maximum 3 KWh).

Charging time for 3 Pin Plug chargers: 30 hours for a fully discharged small car battery. And 20 hours to recharge a battery with 20% charge remaining.

If you have a high autonomy battery, that is, a large capacity, this method is not viable and you can cause damage to the unit.

Wall electric car chargers from 3KW to 22KW

Its use is mainly for home and office. And they are classified into:

3.7KW wall electric car charger: 

From 0 to 100% charge a small car battery (30-40 KWh) charging time of 10-12 hours. 

From 0 to 100% charge a large car battery (70-80 KWh Tesla or Porsche type) charging time 20-24 hours.

7 KW wall electric car charger:

From 0 to 100% charge a small car battery (30-40 KWh) charging time of 6 hours. 

From 0 to 100% charge a large car battery (Tesla or Porsche type 70-80 KWh) charging time of 10-12 hours.

22 KW wall electric car charger.

From 0 to 100% charge a small car battery (30-40 KWh) charging time 4-6 hours. 

From 0 to 100% charge a large car battery (Tesla or Porsche type 70-80 KWh) charging time of 5-6 hours.

This type of charger has a peculiarity, and that is that you usually have to request the energy supplier company to carry out their installation. 

Fast and Ultra-Fast Chargers How long does it take to charge an electric car with these chargers?

These types of chargers are used at service stations or electric car recharging points (pay per use). 

Although they provide faster battery recharging, not all car models are suitable for connecting to these points.

They are classified in:

50 KW Electric Car Fast Charger:

They go from 43 KW to 50 KW. They are located at recharging points for electric cars and due to their peculiarities, they offer charging times of 2-3 hours for batteries that are at 20% charge until they reach 80% charge. Small car battery (30-40 KWh).

For large car batteries (Tesla or Porsche type 70-80 KWh) charging time of 1 hour.

150 KW Ultra-Fast Electric Car Charger:

They are the most sophisticated and fastest, however they are only suitable for modern high-capacity batteries.

This type of charger can charge a 73 KWh Tesla battery in less than 1 hour.

A final aspect to keep in mind is that to optimize charging time and increase battery life, you should take advantage of every opportunity to connect the electric car to charge. 

These types of batteries degrade over time, therefore you must anticipate that their autonomy will be affected by the time of use.

If you want to learn in-depth how to work with electric car batteries and specialize in-depth in this subject, we suggest you take the course on electric vehicles.

How long does it take to charge an electric car with a trickle charge?

First of all, when we refer to slow charging, we are referring to the standard charge that we can carry out at most domestic or commercial charging points. These charging points are, as a general rule, the ones that supply us with up to 3.6 kW of maximum power. If we take this power into account, the second question to know how long it takes to charge an electric car is to know the capacity of the battery or the need for recharging. An average 50 kW battery that needs to be fully charged will take almost 14 hours to complete its charge cycle. If the battery is not completely discharged and it has 36% of the battery, it will take almost 9 hours to complete the charge to 100%.

Within this type of charge, in addition to the 230V, 16A, and 3.6 kW, there are the 400V and 16A, which allows you to significantly reduce the charging time as it allows us to reach up to 11 kW of power and this makes that the same 50 kW battery takes just over 4 hours to complete its full charge from zero.

How long does it take to charge a car with semi-fast charging?

In this case, we are talking about a single-phase current of 230V, 32A, and a power that ranges between 8 and 14 kW or a three-phase alternating current of 400V, up to 63A, and with a power that goes from 22 to 43 kW.

As you can imagine, this type of charging reduces charging times even more. Contrary to other types of cargo, this one is not very widespread.

How long does it take to charge an electric car with fast charging?

This is initially the solution to the “anxiety” that electric cars cause us and to the main problem that electromobility poses in long-distance trips and that is that with this charge, we can stop and in a few minutes we can enjoy a recharge in just a few minutes.

In this case, we are talking about the direct current of up to 600V and 400A, to reach 240 kW of power or an alternating current of 500V with 250A and 220 kW. Some manufacturers speak of up to 800V and up to 300 kW. The company that is likely to lead fast charging is Ionity although there are other options.

To give you an idea of ​​how long it takes to charge an electric car with fast charging, you should know that a 50 kW battery can take about 15 minutes to complete 80% of the charge.

We hope that this information is useful to you and that you put it into practice. successes.

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