Charging an Electric Vehicle – All You Need to Know
Charging an Electric Vehicle
One of the primary differences between owning an electric vehicle and a regular ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicle is in the ‘tank’. This proverbial ‘tank’ of an EV is what many people’s nightmares are made of – what if I run out of charge in the middle of nowhere? Range anxiety is real. But thankfully, the reality is not so scary.
A very common question that people who are skeptical about switching to electric vehicles have is – how far can an electric car go on a single charge? Most electric vehicles on the market can travel up to 300 miles on a single charge. But what happens on longer trips? One of the cool things about an electric vehicle is that you can charge it anywhere – at home, at the office, at a mall, a restaurant, and even at the gas station. So anywhere you park your car is a potential charging station.
Where Can I Charge My Electric Vehicle?
With rising gas prices, people are switching to sustainable mobility options and electric vehicles are making it happen. Therefore, the need for charging stations is now more heightened than ever. There are already 48,000 charging stations across the US with 120,000 individual charging ports.
To expand this network, the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed last year includes a $7.5 billion budget for setting up charging stations across the nation. In the same spirit, GM is planning to add to the number with 2700 charging ports in the next three years. 7-Eleven will add 500 more. Volvo has partnered with Starbucks to install charging stations at Starbucks stores along the 1350-mile route between Seattle and Denver.
That said, the most convenient place to charge an EV is at home. Home chargers, also known as Level 2 chargers can fill an EV battery from almost zero to 100% in seven hours. So you can leave your car charging overnight and wake up to a full battery with no exorbitant electricity bill due to the low demand (and cost) of electricity at night. But should you charge your car every night? No. Generally, plugging in every three days is ideal to keep the battery in good shape.
Public Level 3 charging offers DC fast charging that can power up the battery from 15 to 80% in under 40 minutes. As far as the numbers go, there is one charging station for every 7.5 electric cars on the road. So that’s great news. But what’s the price? On a cold day with a temperature around 35 degrees, a Ford Mustang Mach-E battery charged from 23 to 80% in 37 minutes at $12.94. We’ll get into more details around cost a little further along in the article.
If all else fails, there’s still one ‘awkward’ question that solves the riddle of charging an EV to a certain extent – can a portable generator charge an electric car? The answer is, yes. The great thing about a generator is, that it serves as a backup power supply in times of need like power outages, when traveling to a remote area, when you’re camping, etc.
More on Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 Charging
Level 1 charging
When you plug your car into a standard 120-Volt outlet, you are using Level 1 charging. This is low-level charging and is naturally slow, taking around 40 – 50 hours to fully charge a car. Typically, a 40-mile commute can be replenished by using overnight Level 1 charging.
Level 2 charging
Level 2 charging, on the other hand, is considerably faster since it uses a 240-Volt circuit, the same kind that heavy-duty appliances like washers, dryers, etc. do. Most EV owners install Level 2 charging equipment at their garages for convenient and faster charging. Level 2 charging adds between 14 and 35 miles to the range for every hour of charging time.
Level 3 or DC charging
Level 3 or DC charging uses a 480 Volt connection and provides the fastest fill-up. The direct current bypasses the vehicle’s onboard AC/DC converter, delivering DC power directly to the battery. DC charging is faster and more powerful than Level 2, charging your car in minutes.
Considering how far we’ve come with the ease and convenience of charging an EV, why can’t electric cars charge themselves? Fact is, we neither have the tech nor the infrastructure yet to make that happen. However, there’s something that comes close – regenerative braking. When the driver presses the brake, the electric motor shifts to generator mode, thus enabling the wheels to transfer energy to the generator. Some of this kinetic energy is re-captured and stored in the battery. This ingenious technique is known as regenerative braking.
AC vs. DC Charging in an Electric Car
So why is DC faster? And how is it different from AC? In AC or Alternating Current, the voltage periodically changes from positive to negative to positive again and this changes the direction of electricity. But in DC or Direct Current, the voltage is constant and the electricity flows in a straight line. The changing direction makes it easy to transfer AC over long distances, which is why you get it through your sockets at home, at work, at the airport, at the mall, etc. So when you are charging any equipment from your wall socket, the charger converts the AC power into DC.
Without getting too technical, batteries can only store DC power. Same with your electric car battery. So when you are plugging your car into your home’s Level 2 socket, AC power is pulled from the grid and converted into DC by the car’s onboard converter. Now this onboard converter cannot convert too much electricity at a time, which is why it takes a long time to charge at Level 2. However, with DC charging, the current directly moves to the battery, thus making the process fast.
This brings us to another commonly asked question – can you overcharge an electric car? The answer is no. When the battery charge nears 100%, the built-in battery management, and charging process slow down the charging. Once 100% is reached, the battery shifts to trickle charge. This means as the battery self-discharges periodically, it will keep being topped up accordingly to maintain the 100% charge without overcharging. That said, continuously charging the battery to 100% will degrade it over time. But you do not need to be wary of car fires.
Cost of Charging an Electric Car
This cost mainly depends on two things – the battery size and the local electricity cost. If you want to charge a 40 kWh with a range of 150 miles at an average electricity cost of 18 cents per kWh, it would take about $7 to fully charge. The price gets higher for DC charging than Level 2.
For public charging, the industry is moving towards a cost structure that is based on kWh used instead of the time taken to charge the battery. This rate is again based on local electricity charges and the prices set by the owners of charging stations. If the cost is 40 cents per kWh of charge, the same car with the above configurations will cost around $16 to fully charge.
That said, many automakers provide complimentary charging at certain stations. There is also a subscription-based cost structure that is gaining popularity. Government incentives for setting up charging stations at home as well as in public places also come as a sigh of relief.
As the infrastructure expands and prices reduce, it wouldn’t be long before electric vehicles become the new norm.
