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5 Apr

Complete Guide to Your Electric Vehicle Charging Station

by D-ENERGi
 

With the charging infrastructure in the UK growing rapidly, this article will tell you everything you need to know about your electric vehicle charging station.

Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are becoming more and more popular and are increasingly better developed than they have previously been and so the number of electric vehicle charging points is growing on a daily basis.

There is still a little confusion over the terminology involved with electric charging, as it is still such a new technology, so this guide will hopefully clear up a little of the jargon involved.

What is an electric vehicle charging station?

There is no standard definition for an electric vehicle charging station at the moment, but the most widely held belief is that if there is more than one electric vehicle charging point in the same place then it becomes a ‘station’. This may not be on a petrol station forecourt though – charging stations tend to be tucked away in the corner of a car park somewhere – either a motorway service station or a multi-storey somewhere.

You may be able to find individual charging points on the street still, and some local councils are looking into some experimental ideas such as lampposts with charging points attached, but the move towards more electric vehicle charging stations is being mainly driven by a change in consumer behaviour.

How many public electric vehicle charging stations are there?

According to Zap-Map, a company that monitors the charging infrastructure within the UK, there are currently around 14764 locations providing 23128 individual chargers. It is interesting to note that these numbers are continually increasing, with 773 charging points being added to the map within the last 30 days alone. This means there are now more electric vehicle charging points in the UK than there are petrol and diesel stations!

How long does it take to charge an electric vehicle?

If you think about the wide variety of electric vehicles available and the number of companies who offer electric vehicle charging points, then it should come as no surprise that the actual length of time it takes to charge an electric vehicle can vary wildly as well.

The length of time taken usually relies on how many kWh the charging station offers and how many the electric vehicle can accept, and there are three different charging rates:

  • Slow charging rate = 3 kWh (around 8 hours to fully charge from empty)
  • Fast charging rate = 7 to 22 kWh (around 4 hours to fully charge from empty)
  • Rapid charging rate = 43 to 50 kWh (around 30 minutes to charge 80%)

 

Hopefully, this has cleared up some of your questions about electric vehicle charging. We are focusing on this subject for our next few blog posts, so keep reading to find out more.

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