How long does it take to charge an electric car?

How long does it take for an electric car to recharge? This is certainly one of the main questions and concerns of electric vehicle owners.

Below we try to clarify how and what parameters are needed to understand how long the car takes to recharge day by day.

What are the essential elements to evaluate the charging time?

The nominal power of the charging station, the conductor section of the cable, the availability of power at a given moment are essential elements for evaluating the charging times of an electric car, but they are not the only factors.

You must also consider:

the power of the car’s internal charger (if recharged from an AC station);
the type of car charger whether single-phase or three-phase; this aspect is more evident with an example: if the charging station has a power of 11 kW (16A three-phase) and the car charger has a power of 7.4 kW (32 A single-phase), the charging will take place with the lowest current between the two systems, therefore with 16 A single-phase which correspond to 3.7 kW.
the state of charge of the battery itself; in fact, the charging power accepted by the car decreases as the battery charges and heats up.
This behavior is revealed on the high-power DC charging stations, to keep the temperature of the internal parts under control, especially the battery, the car progressively reduces the charging power.

Time it takes the car to recharge

In reality, more than the time required to fully recharge the car (a parameter that is certainly important on long journeys) is the time it takes the car to recharge the kilometers actually traveled from day to day.

Charging times at different battery powers from 56 kWh

Tempi-di-ricarica-a-diverse-potenze-di-batteria-da-56-kWh

Is it necessary to increase the contract power to recharge the car?

In the home, increasing the contract power is not essential; it must be evaluated according to the electricity consumption of users and the kilometers traveled daily.

However, it is highly recommended to have a charger (wallbox) equipped with an automatic charging power adjustment system to prevent the protections from tripping (anti-blackout system).

Is it possible to use the shuko socket for charging?

Recharging Mode2 using a cable equipped with a shuko socket, on the one hand, it is convenient for emergency applications, in the case of prolonged and frequent use it can present overheating and safety problems.

It is therefore advisable to have at least a system with an industrial CEE socket or rather a wallbox.