If you don’t drive long distances every day, level 1 charging may be all you need.
If you’re a new electric vehicle owner, you may be surprised to learn how many charging options you have available, both at home and to extend your range on the road. While the industry has standardized terms such as Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 loading, these labels provide little information on their own. Installing a Level 2 charger can also cost hundreds of dollars, so is it an expense worth taking?
A Level 1 charger can take more than 40 hours to fully charge an EV’s battery, while a Level 3 charger can add hundreds of miles to your car’s range within an hour. While you may think that faster is always better, we also have to consider costs such as cost and battery life. So which charger should you use? The answer depends entirely on where you plan to charge your car, how far you drive and the cost of electricity in your area.
Level 1 vs Level 2 vs Level 3 Charging Stations: What’s the Difference?
A Level 1 EV charger simply uses the standard 120-volt household outlet in North America, limiting it to about 1.4kW of charging power. Level 2 chargers use 240-volt circuits, typically at higher currents, which allows them to deliver significantly more power. How much more depends on the charger and the circuit: A 40-amp Level 2 charger (on a 50-amp circuit) can deliver as much as 9.6 kW of power. Level 2 chargers up to 80A also exist, delivering up to 19.2kW, provided your home’s electrical service can support it.
Level 1 and Level 2 chargers supply alternating current (AC) from the grid to the EV. The vehicle’s onboard charger converts this supply to direct current (DC) before it reaches the battery. Converting AC to DC is not 100 percent efficient, so it generates heat, and onboard chargers only work up to a certain power limit. With Level 3 charging, the AC-to-DC conversion takes place before it reaches the car, bypassing the onboard charger and delivering high-voltage power directly to the car’s battery.
This lets Level 3 chargers kick things up a notch, typically pushing anywhere from 50kW to 500kW of power. It is important to note that the charging speed decreases as the battery gets fuller, so no EV will charge at its absolute peak for very long. Regardless, Level 3 chargers can be enough to fully charge a depleted EV battery in an hour or two. That’s especially true for newer vehicle models that support the highest power levels. The Lucid Gravity, for example, can charge up to 400kW if you find a Level 3 charger that supports this rate. Meanwhile, the Tesla Model Y’s maximum charging power ranges from 175kW to 250kW, depending on the model.
Level 1 vs Level 2: Which EV charger do you need at home?
If you only drive a few miles a day, a Level 1 charger is all you need. There’s little reason to pay hundreds of dollars for a Level 2 charger and an electric upgrade when your EV battery can easily charge overnight. If you’re on a schedule with your energy provider, you can schedule charging during off-peak hours and still gain plenty of range by level 1 charging for your commute the next day.
While the exact figure depends on the efficiency of your vehicle, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates a Level 1 charge at about 5 miles of range per hour. So even with a conservative 8 hour charge time, you can gain about 40 miles of range.
Level 2 chargers make a lot more sense if you frequently drive longer distances during the week. You can still take advantage of off-peak electricity prices, but with a 40A charger you can add over 30 miles of range per hour. This all but eliminates latitude anxiety as you can easily add hundreds of miles in a single overnight session.
If you’re on the fence about installing a Level 2 charger, consider that you can also charge all day on the weekend. Some time-of-use plans offer lower or off-peak rates over the weekend, allowing even a Level 1 charger to add significant mileage when plugged in for a full day. This can make the level 1 charger a perfectly viable option if your car is parked for most of the weekend. And if you’re ever in a pinch, you can easily use a public Level 2 or Level 3 charger.
On the flip side, some EV batteries require heating up in the winter, so a Level 1 charger will struggle to both heat up and supply power to the battery at the same time. Cold weather also reduces an EV’s effective range, so an unheated garage may make the Level 2 charger the more sensible option.
When should you use Level 3 chargers?
Level 3 chargers are the fastest option for charging your EV’s battery, but they are uncommon in residential settings. This is because they require a much more substantial electrical connection, and installing one in your home would almost certainly involve a significant electrical service upgrade. You’ll typically find Level 3 chargers in commercial settings like parking lots or highway rest stops.
Level 3 chargers can add over a hundred miles of range within an hour, making them ideal for road trips and quick top-ups. That being said, the maximum power varies significantly between DC fast chargers so one level 3 charger will be significantly faster than another.
The disadvantages of level 3 chargers are cost and potentially battery life. While the jury is still out on the impact of faster charging on long-term battery health, Level 2 charging continues to alleviate that concern. The upside is obvious: Public Level 3 chargers offer the closest analogue to the fill-and-go experience of a gas-powered car.
When looking at public chargers, you need to pay attention to the physical connector. North America is currently transitioning from older J1772 and CCS connectors to NACS, which you may recognize as the connector historically used by Tesla vehicles. NACS has now become the standard for EV charging stations in North America and will ship to most new electric cars in the coming years.
If your car requires NACS and a public charger only offers the CCS connector, you will not be able to plug in without an adapter at that location. Some charging stations offer different plugs to choose from, but this is not always the case.
The CCS/NACS issue should resolve itself over time, but for now I’d recommend using an app like PlugShare or ChargePoint to find out what connectors are available in a given location. These apps also report whether a location offers Level 2 or Level 3 charging, allowing you to find the fastest station when you’re in a hurry.