Electric Car Charging – Everything You Need To Know

Public charging points are to EV users what fuel stations are to petrol users. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be found in multiple destinations. They work in a very similar way to home wallbox systems (which we’ll cover in a bit) in that they have cables or sockets you plug your EV into to start charging. And just like home wall boxes, public EV charge stations have a variety of charging speeds too, that range from slow to fast to rapid. 

Like the name suggests, public chargers are open to the public, and there are normally multiple chargers available. While some may be free to use, there are public charging systems which require special access as well as payment. We’ll go through this in a little more detail later on.

The two main types of public electric car charging points are: 

• Destination chargers – these chargers are most commonly found in supermarkets, car parks, residential areas or places of work, generally offering lower charging speeds (up to 22kW). This is because they’re designed to be used for longer – the idea being you leave your car on charge whilst you shop, go for tea or have an afternoon out with the family. Destination chargers look like metal bollards or chunky poles. Sometimes they’re even installed in lampposts or actually in the kerb if they’re being used for off-street charging. 
• Off-road chargers – these chargers have a higher power output than destination chargers, ranging from 50kW – 350kW. They’re designed to provide a lot of charge in a short space of time and are commonly found at fuel or service stations. Because these charge stations are so powerful and often serve more than one vehicle, they’re a lot bigger than home or destination charge points. 

From service stations to supermarkets to side streets, public charging stations can be found across the UK. The beauty of these charging points is that most of them don’t need as much space as petrol stations do – they can be conveniently dotted around the country without the large tanks of fuel taking up all that room. 

In fact, according to ZapMap, by the end of January 2023, there were just over 35,000 EV charging points across the UK, spread across 22,355 locations! With more and more are being added every year, we’re confident you won’t have much trouble accessing one. 

However, it’s useful to be able to pinpoint exactly where your nearest one is (especially if you’re visiting another city). For this, we recommend checking out Zap Map’s map of electric charging points. The points on the map are also colour coded, so you know if it’s a rapid, fast or slow charger, as well as whether or not it’s public and/or in use. Travelling further afield? Chargemap.com can provide the same information on a global level.

Once you’ve found the right public charge point for your electric vehicle and gained access to it, it’s just a case of plugging in and waiting. You charge an electric vehicle at a public station the same way you would at home: 

• Open the charging flap on your electric vehicle to reveal the charging socket, or locate your car’s charging cable from the boot
• Retrieve the cable from the public charger and plug it into the charging socket. Or, plug your EV’s cable into the public charge point 
• Sit back and wait for your EV to reach the amount of charge you need 
• Once fully charged, disconnect the cables and put them back
• If required, pay or confirm on the app that you’ve finished your session

Charging networks are the infrastructure system behind a group of charging stations. There are currently over 20 different charging networks including Shell Recharge, PodPoint and InstaVolt. 

Each operator will have their own charging point access methods. These can usually be broken down into four categories: 

• App-enabled – you download a mobile app that grants you access 
• RFID card – you swipe the card to start charging and are billed accordingly
• Contactless payment – you tap or insert your card either before or after you start charging your electric car 
• Simply plug in – does what it says on the tin

Each network also comes with their own pricing structure and payment method. For example, some networks might offer cheaper chargers for those with a monthly membership. Others might adopt a pay-as-you-go system – though most will be flexible about their options. Check in advance to see if you need to register or have a specific app to use a certain network. Some plug-in and go chargers might not require any payment because they are free – you tend to find these at supermarkets, car parks and restaurants mainly.

It’s worth noting that some charging networks are interlinked too. Meaning if you sign up with one network, you can gain access to multiple. To find out which charging network covers your area, you can check Zap Map’s live map and use the network filter feature. 

Though charging your electric car at home is relatively smooth sailing, it’s not quite as simple as just plugging it into the nearest socket and waiting. 

Most home electric car chargers are mounted to the wall on the outside of your house, close to where you usually park. These units are typically known as wallbox chargers, and they come with either tethered or untethered cables. 

What’s a tethered EV charger? If your wallbox is tethered, it will come with a Type 1 cable that will plug directly into your electric car. This cable is permanently attached to the wallbox. An untethered wallbox, also known as a socket-only charger, works in the opposite way – instead of a permanent wallbox cable, you attach a cable from your car to the charging unit. This type of charging system has a Type 2 connector as opposed to a Type 1. Don’t worry if this doesn’t make much sense now; we’ll explore the different EV charging connectors and plugs more in a later section. 

The type of wallbox you need depends on the type of electric car you have, so make sure you double-check before you invest in one. 

But how powerful are home electric vehicle chargers? Generally speaking, manufacturers provide three power rating options; 3kW, 7kW and 22kW. We’ll take a look at charging speeds and installation costs in the upcoming sections.

Wondering how to charge your electric car at home? Once your home charging system has been installed, actually charging your electric car is really easy. If you have a tethered wallbox with a permanently attached cable then all you need to do is: 

• Open the charging flap on your electric vehicle to reveal the charging socket
• Retrieve the cable from the wallbox charger and plug it into the charging socket 
• Sit back and wait for your EV to reach full charge 
• Once fully charged, disconnect the cable from the car and wind it back into the wallbox

See – we told you it was easy! It’s just like charging any other electrical device once you get the hang of it. 

If you have an untethered wallbox, the process is almost the same as above, except you will just connect a cable from your EV to a socket on the wallbox instead. This cable can normally be found in the boot of your vehicle. 

If you’re using a standard 3-pin socket to charge your EV from your house, then you’ll need to use a special cable that will usually come with the car. However, this method is not only slow, but potentially unsafe too due to overheating risks. So our advice here is to only charge your EV like this as an absolute last resort.

The cost of buying and installing a home wallbox charger will depend on the manufacturer and kilowattage of the system. Typically, you can expect to pay between £250 – £500 for a 3kW unit and around £450-£800 for a 7kW unit. For the really powerful chargers with 22kW units, you’re looking at around £1,000 – £1,500.

Worried about the costs? If you’re an electric car owner, you might be eligible for the government’s EV Chargepoint Grant. This recently replaced the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme and is designed to help cover the cost and installation of a home EV charger. The grant will contribute up to £350 towards the cost of the purchase and installation of a home EV charger. However, there are certain criteria you will need to meet, such as: 

• You must live in a rented property or own a flat with dedicated off-street parking
• You must own or lease a qualifying electric vehicle
• You can only claim for the grant once per vehicle and household

For further information on the EV Chargepoint Grant, you can visit its dedicated page on the government’s website. 

It’s also worth noting that certain carmakers will occasionally offer perks for new electric car buyers that can include a free or discounted home charging point.

How fast you can charge your electric car at home will depend on both your wallbox and your EV. Generally, you can expect the following charging times: 

• A 3kW wallbox charger will provide a full charge within 8-12 hours 
• A 7kW wallbox charger will provide a full charge within 4-6 hours 
• A 22kW wallbox charger will provide a full charge within 2-3 hours 

It’s important to remember this is only an estimation since all electric cars have their own charge rates too. Current UK electric vehicle models are fitted with either a 6.6kW, 7.2kW, 7.4kW, 11kW, 16.5kW or 22kW charging speed so regardless of your wallbox’s kilowattage, your EV will be limited to the speed of its built-in charge rate. 

So what does this mean? It means that you’ll need to purchase an electric car charger that matches your vehicle’s charging speed. For instance, the Renault Zoe has a 22kW charge rate so will certainly benefit from a 22kW charger whereas the Nissan Leaf has a 6.6kW charge speed so will only require a 7kW charger. Purchasing a 22kW charger when a 7kW charger will suffice won’t charge the car any faster, but will cost you more upfront. 

As most EVs are fitted with a charging speed of 6.6kW or above, you may be wondering why you would purchase a 3kW wallbox charger. The answer comes down to your budget. Yes, these chargers will take longer to charge your EV but they are cheaper than a 7kW wallbox charger.

How often you should charge your EV at home depends on how much you use it. Most people tend to charge their cars overnight so they can start the day with a full battery, but that’s not to say you need to do this every night. 

In fact, you should avoid putting it on charge every night simply for the sake of it. If you drive regularly, you’ll have a rough idea of how many miles you travel each day, and unless you’re using your EV for work, or you have a long commute, it’s very unlikely that you’ll use a full battery every day. Think about it this way – in most cases, you wouldn’t need to fill your car with a full tank of petrol every day, and it’s the same here. 

With this in mind, it might be better to charge your vehicle overnight every other night, as opposed to every single night. Not only is this more cost-effective in terms of your electricity usage, but can keep your car’s battery in better health, too. 

Don’t forget, you can also top the battery up on the go or at work if you do find yourself low on charge.

What if your home isn’t right for a wallbox system? For example, you might live in a large block of residential flats, or perhaps you can’t park that close to your house because it doesn’t have a driveway. 

In cases like this, you will normally be able to access on-street residential charging. These are charging points near your home that you can plug your electric car into overnight, just as you would a home wallbox. You can often find residential chargers fitted into the lampposts and kerbsides of busy residential areas – apartment blocks may also have car parks with dedicated charging points. 

To help get everyone access to an EV charger, the government has also set up the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, providing local authorities with up to £7,500 towards the cost of a residential charger. It’s designed to make EV charging accessible for those who can’t install a home charger. 

If you don’t have any electric vehicle charging points near your home, you can speak to your local council about getting some fitted and if there’s a big enough demand in your area they should be able to sort this out for you. If your local council does install residential EV charging points, you will not be required to pay anything towards the cost of this. 

If you do find yourself in an area with no residential charge points, then don’t panic. You still have plenty of options. For instance, you may be able to charge your car at work. Or, since public chargers can be found by the bucketload, we’re pretty sure you won’t need to travel very far to find one. 

At Motors, we want you to get the best out of home charging, so here are our top tips: 

• Make sure your home charging unit matches your electric vehicle’s charging speed. There’s no point in overpaying for a system that won’t even charge your car any faster
• Shop around for an energy provider that offers cheaper evening electricity tariffs
• Charge your electric car whilst you’re sleeping so you don’t have to wait around during the day
• Some electric car manufacturers recommend that you set a ‘top charging limit’. Normally this is up to 90%. Doing so can help prevent battery degradation as it allows the battery’s management system to rotate the charging cells more evenly. We recommend following the car manufacturer’s advice on this

This will vary from organisation to organisation, but a lot of employers opt for wall-mounted chargers. This is because they are more affordable than the larger, faster, charging units we mentioned earlier. However, some will opt for the post/boulder style charging units, as not all car parking spaces will be close enough to the wall to accommodate wallbox chargers. 

On the whole, workplace chargers tend to be 7kW which will charge most electric vehicles in around 3–7 hours, ideal if you consider most people will be charging their cars whilst they’re at work.

Similarly to the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, we mentioned earlier, there is a government-backed scheme for employers looking to install electric car charging units. 

The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is a voucher-based scheme that supports eligible applicants with financial support towards the upfront installation and purchase costs of EV charging points. It’s currently active in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island, though is unfortunately unavailable for those in the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

The WSC covers up to 75% of the total costs of the purchase and installation of an electric car charge point for eligible businesses, charities and public sector organisations. Like the home EV chargepoint grant, this is capped at £350 per unit. Plus, applicants can only apply for a maximum of 40 chargers across all sites. For more information on this grant, GOV.UK has a really useful Workplace Charging Scheme guide that covers everything you need to know.

It’s important to note here that it will be down to your employer, not you as the employee, to apply for the government scheme. Your organisation might not apply for the scheme if they don’t feel there is a high enough demand for electric vehicle charging points. However, with the upcoming sales ban on new petrol and diesel cars, this could change in the coming years. 

Workplace EV chargers are typically installed in the car park. If your company doesn’t have one, they may be installed kerbside, or in a lamppost close to where employees normally park. 

In terms of accessing electric vehicle charge points at work, it will be up to your employer to decide this. Generally speaking, they will either work on a first-come, first-served basis. Your employers may also decide to set up a rota or booking system to ensure everyone gets a fair turn.

Charging your electric car at work is almost identical to charging it at a public charge station: 

• To gain access you might need to scan an employee card
• Open the charging flap on your electric vehicle to reveal the charging socket, or locate your car’s charging cable from the boot
• Retrieve the cable from the charger and plug it into the charging socket. Or, plug your EV’s cable into the charging point 
• Go into work and wait for your EV to charge – you might need to take it off at lunch if your colleagues need to use it 
• Once charged, disconnect the cables and put them back

As a rule, employers don’t have to provide free EV charging just because they have installed EV chargers. But most will. Even if they don’t offer it completely free, they will probably offer some free usage up to a point.

You should charge your electric car as frequently as you need to. Whilst it might be tempting to wait to charge your car at work (especially if your employer does offer free charging), you shouldn’t do so at the risk of running out of battery. If it’s genuinely convenient to charge your electric car at work, then of course do so, but you shouldn’t let this stop you from using public or residential charge points. 

But don’t forget your colleagues – there might be loads of you wanting to use the chargers and you don’t want to fall out of favour for hogging them now, do you?

Anything with a charging speed of less than or up to 3kW is considered a slow electric vehicle charger. These come in the form of either 3-pin plug chargers (but these are pretty unsafe and should only be used as a last resort) or lower-grade home wallbox chargers. Slow chargers are most frequently found in the home and some workplaces. 

Though these offer much slower charging speeds than fast or rapid chargers, they’re perfectly safe and secure. Plus, they’re cheaper to purchase and install than their 7kW or 22KW counterparts, too.

Anything with a charging speed of between 3kW and 22kW is considered a fast electric vehicle charger, with the most popular being the 7kW EV charger. 

7kW charge points are most frequently found in home and destination charge points. This is because they offer much more reasonable charging times than 3kW chargers, capable of delivering a full charge in around 4–6 hours on average. 

22kW chargers go even further and offer up to ten times the charging power of 3kW chargers, providing a full battery in around 1–2 hours on average. This makes them perfect for car parks, supermarkets, leisure centres, fuel stations or residential areas. 

It’s important to note here that if you want a 22kW for your home, then you will need to check if your house can actually accommodate one. 7kW chargers require a two-phase electrical supply, whereas 22kW chargers require a three-phase electrical supply. Standard houses come with a two-phase supply, with three phases being reserved for very large houses and blocks of flats.

Rapid chargers start at 43kW and go right up to an incredible 350kW. Rapid and ultra-rapid chargers tend to be reserved for places where people need a lot of charge in a short space of time, such as petrol stations and motorway services. 

They can provide between 60–200 miles of range within just 20–30 minutes – Pretty impressive right? And you can see why they’re not for home use – they’d take your whole electrical system out in seconds.