Understanding EV Charger Basics
Level 1: This is the basic way to charge your car while also being the slowest. Electric cars come standard with a 120-volt 20Amps Level 1 portable charger. Yes, these chargers can be plugged into a simple household outlet and don't require any special installation, but won’t charge your car efficiently. Also lower voltage means higher current, for every hour of charging through the day is only somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 to about 5 miles on average (about 50 hours for a full charge, Yikes!). This is only recommended for the casual in town driver (30 miles a day) with plenty of time to charge the vehicle in the home. The upside is that this requires typically little to no panel work at all and is most affordable.
Level 2: charging with 240v 50Amps outlets like those used by your dryer. At 240V the amperage will draw 50% less of what it is at 120V. This Receptacle is what is recommended for a 240v EV home charger. This type of charger can provide around 25 miles of range per hour of charging which is 5x faster than 120v level 1 charger. That allows much more freedom to use the vehicle for commuting or leisure. Your BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) will be charged in about 4 to 10 hours, and your PHEV(Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle) in 1 to 3 hours. Level 2 does require running 240v from your panel to the location your EV charger would be. A higher voltage system such as 240 V is more efficient than a lower voltage like 120V, since it experiences less resistance and energy loss. From 240V you can get higher current and faster charge. In monitoring the two different voltages on electric vehicles we get an efficiency reading of about 81% for 120V and 93% for 240V.
