EV Charging Is Easy
EV charging is easy. At some chargers, all one has to do is simply lift the charger from the charging station and plug into the EV (takes 10 seconds… or less). No need for a card to activate charging, as with this free charger below. Push the button to start.
If you have an EV, you typically need apps such as ChargePoint, PlugShare, and Greenlots to locate stations — along with the dash of your EV.
One can normally activate a charger that requires a card for activation by phone app as well — or call the number on the station before a card arrives. A friend only uses her cell app to activate stations. I like my card.
Once you are signed up and have an account, 
is very customer friendly. The fastest way (for me) is to pull out the card, swipe it in front of the charging station to unlock the charger, and the charger is released to plug in. (In no time at all.)
Many of the 
leading grocers have handy EV charging spots. ChargePoint is a primary charging station company that one finds in many parking lots, etc. ChargePoint is easy and free 95% (where I live) of the time — but not always. I’d say nearly 99% of the chargers I use are free — even the fast charger.
I still do not have a CHAdeMO DC fast charging card, as I don’t seem to need it. In another place, I would — possibly with a charge such as 10 cents a minute or 60 cents or so for half an hour. The stations I frequent, though, are free and very user friend. The screen says “ready,” I touch it, two signs pop up, and I touch the charging sign applicable to my EV. The fast charger then unlocks and I can plug in and charge.
Signing up for ChargePoint takes only a few moments. In a few easy steps, one can set up an account to get or activate cards. In the ChargePoint Cards section, select the option to have a new card mailed to your address. If you have a ChargePoint account and just need to activate your ChargePoint cards: log in, go to “My Account,” and click on “Manage ChargePoint Cards.” Next, select “Activate More Cards,” then follow the steps to enter the serial numbers on your ChargePoint cards.
Kyle breaks down the simplicity of charging a Tesla in “Charging In Public: Tesla vs Other EVs.” From that, here’s a breakdown of various levels and types of EV charging:
- Level 1 — Home charging @ 110v delivering ~1.1 kW speeds.
- Level 2 — Typical Level 2 chargers utilize the J1772 or Mennekes adapters for public and private chargers delivering up to 7.2 kW speeds, with most being 6.6 kW.
- Level 3 — Also known as “DC fast charging,” these CHAdeMO or SAE Combo chargers deliver charging speeds up to 50 kW in 30 minute sessions and have been designed to fill up current-gen EVs capable of “fast charging” in a relatively short amount of time.
- Level 4 — This new charging tier is defined by the Tesla Superchargers which offer consistent speeds up to 135 kW today with a near-term goal of 150 kW speeds.
For more on various EV charging matters, CleanTechnica & EV Obsession director Zach Shahan interviews Schneider Electric’s Pierre Sacre, NAM EV Solutions Director, on the sidelines of Formula E in Long Beach, California, in the following video:
Related:
Tesla Charging Stations Will Soon Outnumber Gas Stations In Manhattan 3-To-1
What Does Electric Vehicle Charging Only Mean?
All images by Cynthia Shahan
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AFAIK Level 2 is as low as it goes in Europe as the domestic voltage is 230 Volts with ~ 3 – 6 kW.
Yeah, more or less. Pretty sweet.
Well. a standard power socket in Europe can output around 2.3 kilowatts. And that’s plenty for most people’s home charging needs. Not many people in Europe drive so far each day that charging overnight from a normal socket won’t be enough. In Australia, which has similar but slightly mightier current, the average distance a car is driven a day is about 42 kilometers, which represents about 3 hours of charging from a normal power point.
There is actually no need for swiping a card. The handshake between the car and the charging station should transfer the minimum information required for automatic billing. They should also charge by the kWH instead of per unit time.
Correct on the handshake. Some places only the utility can sell electricity so charging by unit time gets around that problem
to achieve fairness, we must petition to change the regulations about selling electricity at the charging stations at the federal level in order to avoid mishmash of state rules.
While that might be true, it will likely be a long time before that happens.
Does Matt make money from charge stations? Aren’t they charging about 5-10 times more than the KWhrs delivered?
That works for me
It could be easier. Multiple apps, swiping cars, QR codes, phone calls. Some chargers must unlock first, some have “Start” and “Stop” buttons. Most networks need you to set up an account, with credit card they can charge. And some charge $25 to your card the first time you charge. ChargePoint did this to me. I got 80 cents worth of charge but got a $25 hit. I now have $24.20 credit on ChargePoint, but where I live I almost never use them so that should last just about forever.
A Greenlots DCFC asks you if you want to unlock connector #1 or #2 (one is CCS, the other ChaDeMo). But the unit wasn’t labeled so of course I picked the wrong one.
Quote : “Tesla Superchargers which offer consistent speeds up to 135 kW today”
The current maximums I have read about or seen are superchargers that can provide 135kW split over two cars, or maximum 120kW to a single car. That 120kW is the maximum a single Tesla can consume, and only when the battery is at less than half charged capacity, beyond that it tapers down to 90kW and then slowly dropping to 40kW as you get up near the top of the battery capacity.
Up to five cards/devices in Perth/Australia for the charging networks here.
Nice simple article. No tecno babble.
EV charging is a good illustration of where private enterprise is the worst possible way forward with many providers all offering their own little solution. There really needs to be a federal system with standard connections and operational protocols. When you go to the gas station, every pump is pretty much the same, and all you need is cash or your credit card to fill up. Charging stations need to be the same.
Over here, In the EU, there is an EU wide standard for level two chargers using the Mennekes type two connector, though you would need a whole wallet full of membership cards to be able to use all the stations that are available.
On our motorways in the UK, we have CHAdeMO fast chargers at every service area. These are not provide by the government, however, but by a social enterprise called Ecotricity, who invest 65% of their income in new renewable energy sources, and expanding their fast charger network, where the electricity is 100% renewable, and free of charge to users. There is another social enterprise, NetZero, which provides level two chargers, free of charge, to any business with a customer car-park. Customers use them for free. Apart from these, when you arrive at a station there is no guarantee that you will be able to use it, if you don’t have the right card, account, etc.
Level 1 is much more than the cord that comes with the Car! Southern California Edison’s new charging station program will include level 1 (Telefonix is the only approved vendor) for workplace and other long dwell parking such as airports. Even SpaceX has level 1 charging for their employees!