Types of Electric Car Charging Stations – EV Chargers, Connectors, and Plugs

In the last blog, we spoke about how to set up a successful electric car charging business. This blog talks about all the mechanical intricacies of an EV charging station.

Covered topics include types of EVs, EV charger types, types of connectors, and different EV plug types.

Let’s start by understanding the different types of electric vehicles.

Types of Electric Vehicles

There are 4 types of electric vehicles. Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Hybrid Electric Vehicles(HEVs), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles(PHEVs), and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles(FCEVs).

Battery Electric Vehicles are the simplest form of an electric vehicle, which consists of an electric motor that is run by a battery that is directly charged from an EV charger. 

Hybrid Electric Vehicles consist of both an electric motor and an engine. While the electric motor is run by the battery, the engine is operated by gasoline fuel. The batteries present in these vehicles are charged by the fuel added to them.

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles are integrated the same as Hybrid Electric Vehicles, but here,  even the batteries are capable of being recharged directly or swapped.

Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles are claimed to be the cleanest electric vehicles. They are also known as zero-emission vehicles. They work on the principle of fuel cell technology and convert the chemical energy of the fuel to electrical energy, which then runs the vehicle.

However, the most common types o electric vehicles noticed on Indian streets are BEVs, HEVs, and PHEVs.

EV Charger Types – All about EV Chargers 

EV charging can be mainly categorized into two main categories – AC charging and DC charging. 

Power outlets get AC supplies. Electricity is stored inside the batteries as DC. When we connect our electric vehicles to chargers, they convert the AC into DC internally. 

This conversion is time-consuming, and AC electric car charging is time-consuming because of the same reason.

This problem is resolved by DC electric car charging, where AC is converted to DC directly at the outlet, and hence, while charging, DC gets supplied to the batteries directly. This saves time as there is no internal conversion going on.

EV chargers are then divided into three types depending on the charging speeds – level 1, level 2, and level 3 charging.

Level 1 and level 2 correspond to AC charging, and level 3 corresponds to DC char