And, as you’ll further see, these levels have implications regarding charging voltage, frequency, and current. However, the most significant aspect EV drivers will associate with charging levels has to do with speed — as in, “How rapidly will each level of charging put range back into my car’s battery?”
Getting up to speed with Level 1 charging
Generally speaking, the higher the charging level, the higher the power delivered by that charger, resulting in a faster charge rate for your EV.At the slowest end of the charging spectrum is Level 1 charging. A Level 1 charger supplies power at a rate of between 1.3 kilowatts to 2.4 kilowatts, using (in the Americas) a 120-volt AC circuit.
When using a Level 1 charger, sometimes referred to as a trickle charger, you can expect to refill the battery at a rate of about 3 to 5 miles of range per hour of charge.
The good news about Level 1 charging is that you can find chargers almost everywhere. A Level 1 charger is simply a standard household wall outlet that provides power output at a rate of 120 volts. In most of North, Central, or South America, the 120V outlet is part of everyone's daily experience.
This thing you’ve been around your whole life has a name other than power socket, and that name is the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) 5-15 outlet, which is a helpful thing to know if you’re the kind of person who likes to have lengthy conversations with electricians. If that’s you, you might as well know that NEMA also describes a standard for plugs, which in the case of the NEMA 5-15 plug, will also look familiar. See the image below.
©Evan-Amos/ Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainA Type A plug, left, and a NEMA 5-15 plug
NEMA 5-15 describes a 2-prong plug — the positive and negative pins — with a ground pin underneath. Didn’t know those things had names, did you? Well, even if you did, I didn’t know before I purchased an EV. Now I do know, and I think it’s pretty cool.
How do you use Level 1 charging?
Throughout most of North America and South America, using Level 1 charging couldn’t be easier. Simply put, if you can plug in a lamp or toaster, you can plug in the car. All you need is your car’s mobile charger and, if it’s not attached already, the NEMA 5-15 adapter.Level 1 cheat sheet
Outlet: A standard household outlet (in most of the Americas)Voltage/current: 120 volts, 60Hz AC
Connector type: NEMA
Power: 1.3–2.4 kilowatts per hour
Rate of charge: Four to five miles of vehicle range per hour
Cost to charge: $9.30 for 70 kilowatts (at 13.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, the U.S. average price for electricity, charging from empty to full)
If you’re the type of insufferable person (like me!) who points out information nuggets like it’s the Berenstain Bears, not the Berenstein Bears, you’ll delight in knowing that American appliances run on 110 volts of power, not 120 volts. Your car, however, can pull all 120 volts of juice from that outlet.
Turning things up with Level 2 charging
As you might guess, Level 2 charging serves the same purpose as Level 1 charging — it just does so considerably faster than Level 1.Level 2 charging supplies between 3 and 19 kilowatt-hours of power using a power circuit of 208–240 volts. This translates to adding 20 to 50 miles of range per hour of charging, beating Level 1 charging by a factor of five times or more. In other words, Level 2 charging does in an hour what the Level 1 charger does overnight.
You can charge at Level 2 speeds while out and about, either running errands or at the office, or while parked in your (home or apartment) garage.
©Mak / Adobe StockA standard, Level 2, electric car charging plug
Level 2 charging at home
Level 2 home charging works just Level 1 — you plug the car in and let it charge.In terms of the connectors used during a Level 2 charging session, we’re typically talking about a NEMA 14-30, 14–50, or 6-50 outlet/plug combination (throughout most of North America and South America), although other outlets/plugs facilitate Level 2 as well.
The image below shows what each of these looks like.
©Enphase Energy, Inc.NEMA 6-50, 14-30, and 14-50 outlet/plug combinations
As with the 120V outlets, the good news is that most U.S. households already have the infrastructure necessary for 240V circuits (which are created by combining two 120V circuits at the fuse box).
In fact, if your home has a washer and dryer, chances are good that they’re plugged into 240V outlets already, although they might not actually draw quite that much power.
To use the Level 2 home charging, just plug your mobile charging cable in. Alternatively, some homeowners (and apartment landlords) are installing dedicated wall chargers in their garages so you don’t have to muck about with your mobile charger. I’ll discuss that option later in the chapter.
Using an Airbnb or a VRBO and have an EV? Check the listing to see if it’s got a 240V outlet.
Level 2 charging in public
And the good news continues. Level 2 is by far the most frequently installed type of EV charger in the public space, having popped up in recent years in parking garages, grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, shopping centers, movie theaters, and other locations like the workplace.Office buildings are beginning to make Level 2 chargers standard issue, and workplace charging is offered as a perk from many employers. Yes, I work at an EV manufacturer, but we get 10 kilowatt-hours for free before the meter starts running — if we arrive early enough to claim a spot, that is.
Level 2 cheat sheet
Outlet: 240V household outlet (in most of the Americas)Voltage/current: 208–240 volts, 60Hz AC
Connector type: NEMA
Power: 3–19 kilowatts per hour
Rate of charge: 18–40 miles of vehicle range per hour
Cost: Varies. If you’re charging at home, the average cost is 13.3 cents per kilowatt-hour in the US, or from empty to full for roughly $10. Public stations charge roughly 30 cents per kilowatt-hour, so from empty to full for most battery packs is in the $20–$25 ballpark. Note that some employers or businesses now offer limited charging for free.
Getting a really fast charge with Level 3
Perhaps the most recognizable, most often discussed level of EV charging is Level 3. Ironically, it’s also the least often used. (I don’t have data on this; it’s just an educated guess.)You might have heard Level 3 charging discussed as DC fast charging (DCFC), or just “fast charging.” These three terms are interchangeable and will be used that way in this section. Oh, and the reason it’s called DC fast charging is yet another topic I’ll address in a bit.
And now let’s throw yet another synonym into the mix: because Tesla dominates both the mind- and marketspace for DC fast charging infrastructure, you may have heard it called supercharging. If you see the word supercharger, it refers only to something specific to Tesla.
Got it? Level 3, DCFC, fast charging, supercharging — these all refer to the same thing, which is this: much higher charging speeds than either Level 1 or Level 2.
Level 3 charging supplies between 75 and 250 kilowatts of output per hour, meaning that it can add between 3 and 20 miles of range every minute.
In practical terms, a good Level 3 charger can take an EV battery from almost depleted to 80 percent in roughly 15 to 25 minutes.
So, as you can see, this charging is most targeted and appropriate for those folks going on road trips — DCFC is analogous to the neighborhood or roadside filling station. You can see in the image below that the chargers themselves are even designed to resemble gasoline pumps.
©Ehrlif / Adobe StockA Level 3, fast-charging station
Level 3 cheat sheet
Outlet: N/A. You don’t install Level 3 chargers in your home, and even commercial installations require limitations such as permitting and land acquisition. Level 3 chargers have their own charging stations, owned and operated by a variety of companies.Voltage/current: 400–800 volts DC
Connector type: SAE/CCS Combo, CHAdeMO, Tesla connector
Power: 75–350 kilowatts per hour
Rate of charge: 75–1000 miles of vehicle range per hour
Cost: Can vary widely. Most DC fast chargers bill somewhere between 32 and 36 cents per kilowatt-hour. In this case, adding 70 kilowatt-hours of power results in a fill-up cost of $22–$25. I have seen nonmember rates of 69 cents per kilowatt-hour.