We’ve been refueling our cars with gasoline for more than a hundred years. There’s a few variants to choose from: regular, mid-grade or premium gasoline, or diesel. However, the refueling process is relatively straightforward, everybody understands how it’s done, and it’s completed in about five minutes.
However, with electric vehicles, refueling—the recharging process—isn’t quite as simple, or as quick. There’s a number of reasons why that’s so, such as the fact that every electric vehicle can accept different amounts of power. There are also different types of connectors used, but most importantly, there are different levels of EV charging that determine how long it takes to charge an EV.
Charging levels and charging times apply to EVs and plug-in hybrids, but not to traditional hybrids. Hybrids are charged by regeneration or by the engine, not by an external charger.
There are three levels of EV charging; Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. Level 3 is broken into DC Fast Charging and (Tesla) Supercharging. The higher the level of charging, the faster the charging process, as more power is delivered to the vehicle. It’s important to note that different EVs charge at different speeds on each level, because each EV can accept different levels of power from the EVSE, industry-speak for electric vehicle supply equipment, the charger.
When an electric vehicle is plugged in, there’s a communication process before the charger is energized. Basically, the car asks the charger how much power it can deliver, and then the car calls for the maximum amount of power that the station can deliver and the vehicle can accept.
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