Cables & charge points

Most suppliers do allow this and it's best to speak to your supplier's customer services for this.

Most EVs can be charged with a 3-pin plug. This can be plugged into your home socket and is connected to a small transformer box that has either a Type 1 or Type 2 plug which you connect to the car. This should only be used for the occasional top-up as regular use can harm your home’s wiring. Please do not use this with an extension lead either.

Kwh stands for killowatt-hour and is a unit of electricity. For example, the Renault Zoe has a 52kWh battery - this means it can store up to 52 units of electricity.

There are four types of charging slow, fast, rapid and ultra-rapid.

Slow (3kW-6kW): Generally this is used at home with a 3-pin plug, the ones below can be used on the go.

Fast (7-22kW): This category covers chargers from 7kW – 22kW and tends to cover home charging, supermarket chargers, garage forecourts & hotels (average cost: 26p p/Kw, highest 45p, lowest 4p as at Nov 2022).

Rapid (50+kW): When you’re on the road and need to top-up, rapid charging is a great option. Rapid chargers can top you from empty to 80% in 20-60 minutes (average cost: 56p p/Kw, highest £2.77, lowest 30p as at Nov 2022).

Ultra Rapid (100+Kw): Ultra rapid is the next generation of rapid chargers. The Tesla only network is called supercharge and uses this technology. These chargers can deliver 200 miles of range in just 20-30 minutes.(Average cost: 56p p/Kw, highest £2.77, lowest 30p as at Nov 2022).

This is important to know if you're looking to install a chargepoint at home. Your meter at home will either be a 1-phase or a 3-phase and chargepoints are either 1-phase or 3-phase.

The electricity meter may help you find out how many phases are available for charging.

If the meter says 220 / 230V, this means you can have only a single-phase connection.

If you see 3×220 / 230V, 380 / 400V, or 380V, you can use all three phases.