The time it takes to charge an electric car can be as little as 30 minutes or more than 12 hours. It all depends on the size of the battery and the speed of the charging point.
A typical electric car (60kWh battery) takes just under 8 hours to charge from empty-to-full with a 7kW charging point. If you need to add miles quickly, you can add up to 100 miles of range in ~35 minutes with a 50kW rapid charger. Most drivers find the best way is to top up charge rather than waiting for their battery to recharge from empty-to-full.
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.
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.
To find out what it takes to fully charge a specific electric car - take a look at our vehicle guides. Or for more EV tips and news head over to our blog.
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