If you’re buying an electric vehicle, you’ll want to charge it at home, and if you’re being practical, that can mean only one thing: a Level 2 charging system, which is another way of saying it runs on 240 volts. Typically, the most range you can add with 120-volt charging, called Level 1, is 5 miles in one hour’s time, and that’s if the vehicle you’re charging is an efficient, small EV. That’s far from enough charging speed for a pure battery-electric vehicle that offers hundreds of miles of range. With the right car and Level 2 charging system, you can recharge at 40-plus miles of range per hour. Though a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) might get by with Level 1 because its battery is smaller, we still recommend Level 2’s speed to maximize EV driving. Level 1 charging doesn’t provide enough power to run the heat or air conditioning for preconditioning the cabin in extreme temperatures when still plugged into grid power.
Unless you’re buying a Tesla, a Ford Mustang Mach-E or another model that comes with a combination Level 1/2 mobile charger that travels with the car — or you want faster charging than those provide — you’ll need to buy one of your own that mounts to the wall or somewhere near where you park. Why do you need this added expense in the first place, and how do you choose one?
Post time: May-09-2023