If you've been considering making the switch to an electric car, this question has probably crossed your mind: how long does it actually take to charge? The short answer is "it depends", but you don't need to be an engineer to understand it. With two figures — the battery's capacity and the charger's power — you can get a pretty accurate idea of the wait, whether you're at home, at work, or at a fast charging point on the road.
Charging an electric car is, at its core, like filling a tank: the bigger the tank (the battery) and the narrower the tap (the charger's power), the longer it takes. In practice, this comes down to two figures:
On top of these two factors, add a 10-15% margin for losses inherent to the charging process itself (some of the energy is dissipated as heat), so the real time is always a bit longer than the "on paper" calculation.
Taking a mid-size battery of around 50 kWh as a reference (similar to many of today's compact and mid-size electric cars), here's roughly how long it would take to charge from 0 to 100% depending on the type of charging point:
These are indicative figures: the actual charging power also depends on what the car itself can accept, so two vehicles plugged into the same charger can take different amounts of time.
If you've ever charged at a fast charging point, you'll have noticed the percentage climbs quickly at first and then slows right down past 80%. That's not a fault with the charger — it's the battery protecting itself. As it approaches 100%, the system reduces power to avoid overheating it and to extend its lifespan. That's why, on long trips, it's almost always worth unplugging before reaching 100% and getting back on the road: you leave sooner and barely lose any real range.
The fastest way to "charge" your car isn't hunting for the most powerful charger — it's not depending on fast charging at all. If you charge every night at home with a domestic charger, the car is ready in the morning without you ever having had to wait anywhere, and if your electricity tariff has off-peak hours, it also works out considerably cheaper than filling up with petrol or diesel. And if you also have solar panels, you can schedule charging for the middle of the day and charge directly with energy you generate yourself.
You don't need to charge to 100% every time you plug in, just like you don't fill up a petrol tank every time you drive five minutes. For daily use, keeping the battery between 20% and 80% is more than enough for most trips, and it helps preserve its capacity over the long run. Save the full charge to 100% for long-trip days.
For everyday use, a properly sized home charger is almost always the best investment: you charge while you sleep, with no queues or waiting, and if you combine it with a solar installation you can significantly cut the cost of every charge. At Solarlife we install Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 chargers, integrated with the same app that manages your panels and battery, so you always know how much solar energy you're using to charge the car.
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