Driving into the Future: Different Charging Options

In our series "Driving into the Future," we take a closer look at the different charging options for electric vehicles: plug-ins and plug-in hybrids.

Auto experts said if you're thinking about buying new or used, you have to do some research about charging options for that particular vehicle.

They said it's important before buying to ask your car dealer what kind of charging the vehicle you're interested in can handle.

All agree that you should first talk to an electrician to see how much installing a charger at your home will cost and make sure it can be installed properly.

Dan Reed, with the Community College of Philadelphia's Automotive Technology Program, showed us the different types of chargers on the market and how to use them.

Just like you would use a gas pump, the charger plugs into the side of your car and when your vehicle is done charging, you simply disconnect.

"And close your charge port and you're ready to go," said Reed.

But the question many drivers have before buying an electric vehicle or hybrid plug-in is: how long does it take to charge a vehicle?

"So that all depends on what kind of charger you're using," said Richard Saxton also with the Transportation Technology Program at CCP. "Usually there's two standard levels: level 1 and level 2, and then there is supercharging."

Level 1, Saxton explained, is a charger you can plug into any standard outlet. He said if your vehicle battery's depleted, it can take eight to 12+ hours to fully charge.

He said a Level 2 charger can take just four hours to fully charge but it's a DC high voltage port and has to be plugged into a special charging station that most owners have installed at home.

The Toyota Prius Prime and this Nissan Leaf have both Level 1 and 2 charging options.

And then there is the "supercharge."

"Supercharging is much quicker. You could get in a minute the same as what takes an hour in a level two charger," said Saxton. "So it is much quicker, but not all cars can do that."

Most superchargers have NACS ports, originated by Tesla. And while many other EV automakers have used a different port starting this year, most are transitioning to Tesla's NACS port to make driving into the future easier for everyone.

Superchargers are the stations you see at places like Wawa or at rest stops.

Many non-Tesla owners can use them even now since many brands come with adapters that connect to the NACS port.