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How long does it take to charge an electric car battery?

Everything depends on the charging point used and the battery capacity of your electric car.
In practice, the charging time for an electric car battery may vary between 10 hours to half an hour. Sure, it's longer than filling up a conventional car. But in the future, with the development of new solutions, it may be just a few minutes!

Tip ! Calculate the charging time for your electric vehicle with Sibelga’s simulator.
You can also calculate the charging time yourself by using the formula at the bottom of this page.

Good to know : after circa 50% of charging time, the battery will be for 80% full.

Brief overview of existing charging systems

The times below are averages given for information only and are calculated based on fully charging a completely empty battery.

Recharging with a domestic plug into a regular household socket: 8-to-10 hours

Excluding sports and upmarket models, most electric cars are recharged in 8-to-10 hours on any 230 V power outlet through a cable with an adapter provided by the vehicle manufacturer.
The ideal is to charge electric cars at night unless they can benefit from electricity produced by your solar panels!

Normal charging with a home charge point: 4-to-6 hours

It is possible to have a charging station for domestic electric vehicles installed at your home. Some electricity providers offer to install a system designed to recharge electric cars at their customers’ homes: a “wall box”.
For a budget of €300.00 to €1,000.00, charging time is reduced almost by half. This makes it the cheapest and the easiest solution to put in place. Beware though, it is sometimes necessary to increase the power of the electrical connection to the house, which can increase the bill.

Corporate semi-quick charging: 1¼ hours

Companies can install more powerful connections for recharging their fleets. They also generally have three-phase circuits, which greatly reduces the charging time compared to recharging at home.

Quick charging at petrol stations: 30 Minutes

A very powerful terminal can charge an electrical battery to 80% in a half hour.
This time could be further reduced in the coming years: the manufacturer Tesla is currently developing an electrical terminal capable of fully charging a battery in a matter of minutes. The electrical power needed is enormous: 600 kilowatts, equivalent to the connecting power of 70 houses!

How to calculate charging time yourself?

Sibelga has developed a simulator that can calculate the recharge time for your batteries according to their capacity and the features of your charging point.
But of course you can also do the calculation yourself:

  1. Divide the load power by 1,000 for a value in kilowatts.
    For example: 3,680 W = 3.7 kilowatts
  2. Divide the power of your battery (also in kW) by the figure obtained to get the charging time.
    For example:  24 kW/ 3.7 kW= 6.5 hours
  3. First calculate your load power (P), by multiplying the voltage (U in volts) by the current (I, in amps). You get a value in watts.
    P = U x I
    For example: 16 A x 230 V = 3,680 W

Note that electric car manufacturers usually provide a charging device with a cable for standard sockets. This includes a security system that lowers the amperage to prevent overheating. Result: the charging time is increased but there is greater safety!
 

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