Over the holidays EV drivers have been accessing public chargepoints leading to headlines with confusing information about electric car charging. Here’s a rundown on charging an electric car away from home on the two public networks: “rapid” and “fast”.
Rapid charging units are similar in size to petrol pumps and are found at motorway service stations, fuel stops, some restaurants/pubs and Tesla charging destinations. Rapid charging is great for quick top-ups to get you to your destination and, as a ballpark, in 15 minutes you can expect 45 miles of range – often more.
A number of factors affect the speed of rapid charging. Older units and cars were limited to 50kWh whilst newer electric cars and chargepoints are usually capable of 100kWh or more. If you need to regularly rapid charge, check the rate at which your car operates to see how long your pitstops will be. Other factors that affect the rate of charge include the temperature of the car’s battery and the number of other cars charging at that destination.
Rapid chargepoints have their own cables and all offer rapid charging through a CCS connection. If you have a Nissan Leaf it uses the CHAdeMO system – most banks of rapid chargepoints have at least one CHAdeMO connector. If you have a Renault Zoe (22kWh or 40kWh) you can only use fast chargers which are less available at rapid chargepoint destinations. It is worth checking in advance if your car does not use CCS (pictured).
The “fast” charging network supplies electricity at around 7kWh giving around 25 miles of range an hour. These units are either wall mounted or short columns at supermarkets, roadside in lampposts and at public car parks. You can also have one installed at home. Fast charging is great for longer or overnight charging sessions.
The best place to check chargepoint availability is at zap-map.com. On their maps fast chargers are shown in blue and rapid chargers in purple. You can also check whether you need an app to access the chargepoint or if you can pay contactless simply by touching your bank card/app. Operators are introducing dynamic pricing with cheaper rates available outside of peak charging times. The websites and apps of the chargepoint operators are worth a look when planning your charging stops.
EV Experts customers have travelled far and wide in their electric cars either by journey planning with us or letting their in-car sat navs identify charging destinations en route. Whichever fits your lifestyle – come and talk to us about switching to electric today!