Ways of charging electric cars - how it works

The main advantage of an electric car is the ability to charge them in any place where there is a normal household electricity network. Most electric vehicles are adapted for charging in two ways: alternating or direct current.

The simplest and most common way to charge an electric car is in the garage from an ordinary outlet.

The standard outlet of the household power outlet produces 220/230 Volts, 16 Amperes. Accordingly, it allows you to safely connect devices up to 3.5 kW. Electric vehicles fit into this limit.

What are the types of electric cars chargers?

The last question that needs to be clarified is: Do you need a special cord? Yes. It is necessarily included with the car and looks like a charger from a rather big laptop. In addition to the actual charger, it monitors the process of "pouring" the battery and has reliable protection in case of critical situations (i.e., built-in fuses).

Finally, you can start charging. In general, there are four modes of "filling the tank" electric vehicle (in the English language terminology Mode). American classification of charging methods is simpler and contains only three levels (Levels): an ordinary home socket, a special home socket with a powerful current and a fast charging public station.

Mode 1 is the most basic. This is charging AC power from the household network, when a standard cable is plugged into the cable without additional protective devices. It does not guarantee safety in case of overheating of the cable/outlet or short circuit, therefore it is not used in modern electric vehicles. The charging time of a standard electric car with a battery of 20-25 kWh is 6-8 hours.

Mode 2 - the same as the first option, but using a proprietary cable with protection. There will be no short circuit or overheating of the cable, and with simple light indicators informs about the charging process. Unlike laptop chargers, car chargers are designed either for Europe (220/230 volts), or for the USA (120 volts). If you purchased a Nissan Leaf with American charger in the US, you will have to change it to European one.

Mode 3 - charging with high-power alternating current using a separate outlet, which is essentially a special charging station. It has the necessary protection, monitors the process of charging, and the connection of the machine is carried out through the cable built into it with the corresponding electrical connector. The Mode 3 outlet can be installed anywhere - at home, in the office or on the street. Of course, this should be done by a professional electrician. Depending on the type of cable used (single-phase or three-phase), charging can give from 7.2 to 43 kW. Accordingly, the time of "refueling" of a standard modern electric car will be from 4 hours to several minutes.

Finally, Mode 4 is the fastest way to charge an electric car at the moment. In contrast to the previous versions, DC is used here. The popular Japanese standard charging station CHAdeMO gives up to 62.5 kW of energy, which allows you to charge the battery of a standard electric car for 20-30 minutes. Tesla Motors equips its cars with large batteries (up to 90 kWh) and uses its fast charging method. Tesla Supercharger brand stations issue 135 kW of electric power.

Charger for an electric car based on Mode 4 has its own peculiarity: in fact, the battery quickly fills up only 80% of the battert, the remaining 20% of capacity is "poured" very slowly. This is done in order to extend the life of the traction battery.