How long does it take to charge an electric car?

Updated May 2022

How long does it take to charge an electric car? Well, it varies by car and charging station.

The time is often quoted in hours from ’empty’ to full, but that’s not totally practical as most EV drivers never drive their car to empty. We do have a formula to figure that (below), but our EVSE Selector Tool also provides a chart of current electric cars (USA) with a more practical figure – miles of range added per hour of charging.

The selector tool chart illustrates how many miles can be added per hour of charging with various power levels. Please note that the battery acceptance rate (in kW) is a limiting factor and vehicles will ‘max out,’ meaning that no matter how powerful the charging station is, it will only charge the vehicle so fast.

The selector tool chart can also help determine what power level charging station you should install at your home. For instance, a 2020 Chevy Bolt has an acceptance rate of 7.2kW and a 32 Amp HCS-40 will add about 24 miles of range per hour of charging; a 40 Amp HCS-50 will not charge it any faster. Our recommended station, therefore, if your electric panel can support it, would be an HCS-40. However, if you plan on purchasing other electric vehicles in the future, or have friends/family that will also use this station to charge, you may consider a more powerful charging station, like the HCS-50. If your next electric vehicle is one that has a higher acceptance rate, like the Audi E-Tron SUV (acceptance rate of 9.6kW), it would add about 31 miles of range per hour with the HCS-50 versus 25 miles with the HCS-40.

Finding the Fastest Charging Stations For My EV 

If you’d like to know the total time to charge an electric vehicle from empty, use our EVSE Selector Tool, which will not only give our top recommendations for a charging station, it will also give the total time to charge from empty based on acceptance rate and battery size.

You can also figure this out manually. Electric vehicle charging times depend on a couple of factors:

1. Battery Size: Which EV is being charged? Electric vehicles are equipped with various battery pack sizes which determine the amount of energy stored in the vehicle.
2. Power of Station and Acceptance Rate: Electric vehicles have a variety of power acceptance rates and charging stations have various max power delivery ratings. If the EVSE offers less power than the vehicle’s maximum acceptance rate, the EVSE is the limiting factor in charge time. If the vehicle’s acceptance rate is lower than the EVSE’s maximum output rate, the vehicle is the limiting factor.

To Determine Your Estimated Total Charge Time:

Divide the electric vehicle’s battery pack rating by whichever number is lower: the vehicle’s acceptance rate, or the charging station’s output rate. Most vehicles will provide this information through the dashboard interface once you plug into an EVSE.

For more references on electric vehicle charging, please visit our Electric Vehicles Directory. ClipperCreek regularly updates our resources as new vehicles and charging stations are introduced into the market.

Please email ccmarketing@enphaseenergy.com if you do not find your vehicle listed.