How Long Does It Take to Charge an Electric Car?

How long it takes to fully charge an electric car

Empty-to-full time to charge with different chargepoint speeds:

Don't see the model you were looking for in this table? Browse other EVs here.

Find out more about EV home charging.

* Pod Point Confidence Range is the maximum distance we’d be confident driving on electric power between charges. Real range will depend on various factors including driving conditions, personal driving style, outside temperature, heating / air conditioning, etc.
** Numbers shown are for the entry level Tesla Model S Standard Range.
*** Charging time may be limited by the maximum charging rate of the electric vehicle.

How fast do electric cars charge?

• Rapid chargers (43-50 kW and 150kW) are the fastest way to charge EVs: For example, they can charge a Nissan LEAF (2018) in 1 hour or less, a Tesla Model S (2019) in 2 hours or less, and a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (2018) in 40 minutes.

• Home charging points typically have a power rating of 3.7kW or 7kW: These chargers take 11-21 hours for a full charge for the Tesla Model S (2019), 4-11 hours for the Nissan LEAF (2018), and 4 hours for the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (2018).

• All electric cars can charge on compatible charge points with a higher maximum charge rate than they can handle: They will charge at the maximum rate they can accept, providing flexibility in charging options, such as using a 22kW fast charger, which can charge the mentioned vehicles in 4-6 hours.

How long does it take to charge an electric car at a charging station?

It can take as little as 30 minutes or less to charge a typical electric car (60kWh battery) at a 150kW rapid charging station from empty-to-full. If you use a 7kW public charger, you can expect to achieve the same in under 8 hours and around 3 hours using a 22 kW chargepoint.

A rapid charger will offer the fastest charging time at the highest cost, which is great if you’re on the road and want to continue your onward journey. If you’re in no rush, using a lower kW rated charger will be cheaper. You can leave your car to charge overnight or while you run some errands.

How long does it take to charge an electric car at home?

A 7kW home charger will charge a typical 60kWh electric car battery from empty-to-full in just under 8 hours. The perfect amount of time to fully recharge your EV battery while you sleep. A slower home charger rated at 3.7kW would take around 16 hours to do the same.

22kW home chargers are sometimes available but they’re rarely used for this purpose. While they offer faster charging than lower rated chargers, their installation and operation requires three-phase power - something that isn’t common in residential properties and expensive to implement.

What is top up charging?

Most electric car drivers plug-in to charge whenever they park, be it at home overnight or during the day at the supermarket, gym or their workplace. This is called top up charging.

• Instead of letting the battery run empty and waiting while it fully recharges, drivers make use of the time their car is parked (which is about 95% of the time) to keep the battery topped up.
• Public and workplace charging points typically range from 7kW to 22kW, making them ideal for top up charging. Find out how to access public charging in our guide.
• Combining daytime top-up charging with overnight charging at home is an effective way to keep your electric car charged and ready to go.

How much range you get per hour of charging

As an electric vehicle driver, it’s useful to know how many miles of range you are getting during the time your vehicle is charging so you know you can get to your next destination.

Analysis:

• Range per hour varies depending on how efficient your car is. Small full battery electric cars (e.g. Renault Zoe) are the most efficient and get 30 miles of range per hour charging at 7kW.
• The biggest full battery electric cars (e.g. Audi e-tron Quattro) are heavier and get ~20 miles of range per hour at 7kW. (Plug-in hybrids are usually less efficient than full battery electric vehicles).
• How efficient a car is also depends on environmental factors like temperature. This means electric cars are more efficient and get slightly better range per hour in summer than they do in winter.

Factors that affect charging speed

There are 5 main factors that affect the time it takes to charge an electric vehicle.

• Size of battery: The bigger your vehicle’s battery capacity (measured in kWh), the longer it will take to charge.
• State of battery (empty vs. full): If you are charging from empty, it will take longer to charge than if you are topping up from 50%.
• Max charging rate of vehicle: You can only charge a vehicle’s battery at the maximum charge rate the vehicle can accept. For example; if your vehicle’s max charge rate is 7kW, you won’t charge any faster by using a 22kW chargepoint.
• Max charging rate of chargepoint: The time it takes to charge will also be limited by the max charging rate of the chargepoint you are using. For example; even if your vehicle can charge at 11kW, it will only charge at 7kW on a 7kW chargepoint.
• Environmental factors: A colder ambient temperature can make it take slightly longer to charge, particularly when using a rapid charger. Colder temperatures also mean vehicles are less efficient, so less miles are added per time charging.