How to recharge your electric car

Through this guide, you will learn more about the 3 places where it is possible to recharge, the 3 charging levels available in North America, fast recharging with BRCC, charging times and different connectors. You will also discover an essential tool for public recharging as well as links to useful resources in order to answer all your questions.

Guide on how to recharge an electric car using the charging stations

Rechargeable electric and hybrid cars are relatively new on the market and the energy used to propel them involves a charging infrastructure with which few are familiar. This is why, we have created this practical guide with the objective of demystifying the different charging solutions for electric vehicles.

Through this guide, you will learn more about the 3 places where it is possible to recharge, the 3 charging levels available in North America, fast recharging with BRCC, charging times and different connectors. You will also discover an essential tool for public recharging as well as links to useful resources in order to answer all your questions.

1) Residential recharge

2) Public recharge

3) Recharge at work

Before going into details, it is important to know the different terms used to designate a charging station. They usually all have the same meaning.

• Charging point
• Charger
• Recharge infrastructure
• Recharge port
• Charging station

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Residential car loader for electric car

The main place where recharging an electric or rechargeable hybrid car is made is at home. In fact, residential recharge represents more than 80% of the recharges made by electro-mobilists. It is therefore very important to understand the types of charging solutions available as well as their advantages.

Types of charging solutions: level 1 and level 2

There are 2 types of charging solutions available for the house, that is to say the recharging of level 1 and of level 2.

• Recharging level 1 corresponds to the recharge of an electric vehicle (Vé) with the typically supplied charger with the car. These chargers plug into a standard 120 -volt socket and can recharge an electric car of 200 km in 20 hours.
• The charging stations of level 2 are usually not included with your experience. These chargers need a 240 -volt taking which allows you to recharge 3 to 7 times faster depending on your electric vehicle and your charger. It’s charger have SAE J1772 connectors and are available for online purchase. They usually have to be installed by an electrician master. You can learn more about this type of terminal by reading this guide.

We recommend, for any rechargeable electric or hybrid vehicle, the use of a level 2 charger to be able to recharge more quickly and thus make the most of the charging capacities of your car. Provincial and municipal subsidies are available to facilitate the purchase and installation. You can also consult the following government sites:

• Subsidies for residential charging stations Government of Quebec
• Subsidies for residential charging stations Government of British Columbia (program temporarily suspended)
• For the United States, you are suggested to visit the government site of your state.

The advantages of level 2 recharge at home

In order to fully enjoy all the advantages of recharge at home, you must use a level 2 charger.

A battery full of 3 to 7 times faster!

Level 2 recharge allows you to recharge an electric car from 5 to 7 times faster and a rechargeable hybrid up to 3 times faster than with a standard level 1 recharge. This means that you will be able to maximize the use of your Vé and minimize your need to recharge in public stations.

Start the day with a recharged car

Recharge at home is generally made in the evening and overnight. Just connect your electric car with your charger when you come back from work in the evening and you will have a full battery the next morning. Since in most cases the autonomy of an experience is sufficient for all your daily trips, you will no longer have to stop at service stations to fill up! The recharge will be at home when you eat, play with the children, listen to the television and sleep!

Savings on charging costs

• In Quebec, it is approximately 30% less expensive to recharge at home than to a public charger and it is on average 6 times cheaper to travel 100 km to electricity than to petrol.
• In Ontario, it is 65% less expensive to recharge at home than a public terminal and it is 5 times cheaper to travel 100 km on electricity than to petrol.
• In British Columbia, it is approximately 30% less expensive to recharge at home than a public charger and it is on average 5 times cheaper to travel 100 km to electricity than to petrol.
• For the United States, it will naturally depend on the price of electricity and gasoline. Just compare electricity consumption in kWh/100 miles multiplied by the price of kWh vs. Fuel consumption in gallon/100 miles multiplied by the price of the gallon of gasoline. Thus, you will be able to quickly see which savings you could achieve in terms of travel costs.

Recharging an electric car using public charging stations

Public recharging allows an electro-mobilist to be able to recharge your electric car when it makes travel whose distance exceeds the remaining battery life. These charging stations are often located near shops such as restaurants, shopping centers, parking spaces and many others.

In order to locate them easily, we recommend the use of the ChargeHub charging terminal card which is available on iOS, Android and for web browser. This card allows you to find all public chargers in North America, see their use in real time, do routes and much more. We will use certain elements taken from our application to be able to explain to you as simply as possible the operation of the recharge of electric cars using public chargers.

There are three elements to be taken into consideration to fully understand public charging: different charging levels, charging stations and charging networks connectors and charging networks.

Recharge levels

Recharge terminal connectors

Recharge networks

How to recharge your electric car

Easily recharge your electric car on public charging stations in the street thanks to this info. How to find them, how to recharge, how much it costs, we tell you everything !

Public electric charging stations, what is it ?

Before we start, clarify what we mean by Public charging station : these are The charging stations installed on roads and managed by local communities or municipalities. There are also Semi-private electric charging stations, installed by companies and accessible for certain users. Thus, in this article, the electric terminals in supermarket car parks are not considered to be public limits to recharge electric cars, but as semi-private terminals.Several public charging networks exist today in France. They are set up by municipalities, municipalities, regional or departmental energy unions. You will find a list of public charging networks for electric cars at the end of the article.

How to recharge your electric car on a public charging station ?

The three conditions to recharge your car on a public charging station are:

• Have a charging card or a means of payment which gives access to the charging station. This can be the dedicated public network card on which you want to load or a charging card from another subscription that has signed an agreement with the network concerned. Some terminals also allow you to pay the charging costs directly without being subscribed to a network, you then pay with your bank card or a QR code.
• Have a car and a cable compatible with the charging station. The standard 2 -taking standard has established itself today in Europe, but certain terminals with type 3C sockets still exist. For fast recharging, you must check the standard available between Combo 2 and Chademo.
• The charging station must be in operation and available. As with any electronic equipment used intensively, technical concerns can arrive on public charging stations. If a terminal is in use, you cannot use it either. This information is indicated on the sites listing the charging points and you can also see it on site via the terminal or color LEDs screen.

What is the price of recharge on public charging stations ?

The price of recharge on a public charging station can be free or paid, often not exceeding a few euros for recharging. It depends on three main factors:

• The charging card that you have,
• Time to which you recharge,
• The type of recharge (normal, accelerated or fast recharge) that you make.

When the recharge is chargeable, the price often follows the following model:

• The annual subscription or the cost of the charging card : from zero to twenty euros.
• The connection cost : it is often between 0 € and 3 € and can include an hour of load.
• The minute or time of charging : the cost of the load time returns between € 2 and € 5, knowing that it includes parking.

For users who do not have a subscription, some networks charge a Package rate by recharge, generally between 4 and 8 €.

Where to find public electric charging stations ?

Several solutions exist to find public charging stations for your electric car. The charging stations are identified on Public charging bollard websites. To find out if a public charging network exists near you, you can contact your municipality, your municipality or your department

Finally, specialized websites or applications identify all the charging stations open to the public, whether public or semi-private.

List of public charging networks in France

Here is a non -exhaustive list of public electric charging networks:

• Belib in Île-de-France revea in the Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée region
• Bluecub in Bordeaux
• Bluelly in Lyon
• E-Born (Departmental Energies Union of Ardèche and Departmental Energies Union of Drôme)
• Eco Charge 77 (Departmental Energies Union of Seine-et-Marne)
• Electricity Seine Downstream in the Yvelines
• Departmental Energy Federation of the Somme
• Mobility (Inter -municipal Energy Union of the Loire Department)
• Mobive (Aquitaine Region)
• Morbihan Energies (Morbihan energy union)
• Mouv ‘Oise (Oise energy union)
• SDE 22 (Departmental Syndicate of Energy of the Côtes d’Armor)
• SDE 28 (Departmental Energies Union of Eure-et-Loir)
• SDE 76 (Departmental Energy Syndicate of Seine-Maritime)
• SDE03 (Departmental Energy Syndicate of Allier)
• SDE-32 (Departmental Energy Union of Gers)
• SDEA 10 (Departmental Syndicat Energy Aube)
• SDEF (Departmental Syndicate of Energy and Finistère Equipment)
• SDEHD (Departmental Electricity Union of Haute Garonne)
• Seolis Sied Energies-Services
• Sidelc (Inter-municipal Loir-et-Cher energy distribution union)
• SIED-70 (Inter-municipal energy union of the Haute Saone department)
• Sieil-37 (Intercommunal Energy Syndicate of Indre-et-Loire)
• Simone (Bouches-du-Rhone department)
• Smilemobi (Intercommunal Energy Union of Maine et Loire)
• Sydego (Departmental Energy Syndicate of Loire-Atlantique)
• Sydev (Vendée energy union)
• Haute-Garonne departmental energy union
• Departmental energy union 35
• Departmental Energy Syndicate of Tarn-et-Garonne
• Departmental Syndicat des Energies de Seine-et-Marne
• Syndicate of energies of the Department of Isère
• Syndicate of energies and digital development of Haute-Savoie
• Indre-et-Loire intercommunal energy union
• Mixed electricity union of Hautes-Alpes
• Mixed Departmental Electricity Syndicate of Var
• Te 61 (Energy Territory Orne)
• Mayenne energy territory
• USEDA (Union of Energy Sectors of the Department of Aisne)

You want to know more about another subject ?

You will find below the answers to the most frequently asked questions on electric driving and recharge.

Compatibility

Can I recharge my car on any charging station ?

Yes, provided you have the same type of cable as your electric car and access to the terminal is open to the public.

Loading time

How long does it take to recharge my electric car ?

The recharge time of your electric car depends on the charging station you use and your electric car model.

Recharge at destination

Where can I recharge my electric car ?

You can recharge your car on any parking space equipped with a charging station. To recharge on public networks, you will need a charging card.