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Energy Business
Sunil Vaswani
 · Posted in Energy Business

EV Charging Connector Types

Whether you want to charge your electric vehicle at home, at work or at a public station, one thing is essential: the outlet of the charging station has to match the outlet of your car. More precisely, the cable that connects the charging station with your vehicle has to have the right plug on both ends. Makes sense, right?
Four types of plugs exist, two for alternating current (AC)  which allow charging up to 43 kW and two for direct current (DC) which allow fast charging up to 350 kW. 

Let's start with AC. There are two types of AC plugs:
Type 1 is a single-phase plug and is standard for EVs from America and Asia. It allows you to charge your car at a speed of up to 7.4 kW, depending on the charging power of your car and grid capability. 

Type 2 plugs are triple-phase plugs because they have three additional wires to let current run through. So naturally, they can charge your car faster. At home, the highest charging power rate is 22 kW, while public charging stations can have a charging power up to 43 kW, again depending on the charging power of your car and grid capability.

Two types of plugs exist for DC charging:
CHAdeMO: This quick charging system was developed in Japan, and allows for very high charging capacities as well as bidirectional charging. Currently, Asian car manufacturers are leading the way in offering electric cars that are compatible with a CHAdeMO plug. It allows charging up to 100 kW.

CCS: The CCS plug is an enhanced version of the type 2 plug, with two additional power contacts for the purposes of quick charging. It supports AC and DC charging. It allows charging at a speed of up to 350 kW. 

Four types of plug exist, two for AC (type 1 and 2) and two for DC (CHAdeMo and CCS).

  • Type 1 is common for American vehicles, it’s a single-phase plug and can charge at a speed of up to 7.4 kW.
  • Type 2 is standard for European and Asian vehicles from 2018 onwards, it’s a triple-phase plug and can charge at a level of up to 43 kW.
  • CCS is a version of type 2 with two additional power contacts. It allows very fast charging.
  • CHAdeMO can be found in Asian cars and allows for high charging capacities as well as bidirectional charging.
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