Electric Vehicle Charging Process, How to Find a Charging Station Near You

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 10 March 2022, 03:03 am

Electric vehicles or EVs are slowly gaining popularity as they introduce more benefits and as they become more affordable.

However, the question that EV owners often ask is where they can find a charging station.
Luckily, we have a list of the types of EV charging stations and how to find one that is near you.

Types of EV Charging Stations

Currently, there are four types of public charging stations for electric vehicles that are available: Type 1, Type 2, DC fast charging or DCFC, and Tesla Supercharger, according to HowtoGeek.

The Type 1 stations are the slowest, as they only have up to 110-volt and can only offer around 40 miles on an overnight charge.

The Type 2 stations will give you up to 25 miles in only an hour, and they offer up to 240-volt. The DCFC stations can recharge an electric vehicle battery up to 80% in just 30 minutes. As for Supercharger stations, they are used for Tesla vehicles.

Also Read: Charging Electric Vehicles At Night Leads To Higher Greenhouse Gas Emissions

How to Find an EV Charging Station

Most of the charging will happen at home or work if you have an electric vehicle. However, that is not possible for everyone.

Luckily, there are thousands of EV charging stations that can be found across the United States. Many of them are free and the ones that are not free are not expensive.

Electric vehicles from Nissan and Chevy can use the US Standard Level 2 charging outlets. These types of outlets are also called SAE J1772 or J1772.

So you need to search for charging stations that use a J1772 outlet if you are not driving a Tesla. But do not worry, that is all public charging Type 1 and Type 2 charging stations that are not on the Tesla network.

For fast charging stations, they use either a CHAdeMO plug, or the J1772 plug, also known as the J1772 combo, or just a combo plug.

Tesla owners can charge at stations with a J1772 outlet as well, since Tesla EV's come with an SAE J1772 adapter plug, but you can't charge a non-Tesla on the company's Supercharger network.

Tesla launched a program to open its network to other EVs in November 2021, but they are only available in Netherlands, according to ReviewGeek.

Finding an EV charging station that you can use in the United States is very simple. There are apps and websites that you can use to find the nearest charger, including Plugshare, Open Charge Map, The US Department of Energy's website, and ChargeHub.

Automakers also have their own apps that let you know where you can charge your EVs. Tesla's app finds nearby Supercharger stations.

You can find a place to juice up on Google Maps, just search EV charging stations, and you will see ones near you.

Aside from Tesla's Supercharger network, there are three other charging station networks across the United States run by three different companies: ChargePoint, EVGo, and Electrify America, according to Axios.

App and website will usually tell you what network a charging station is linked to, what type it is and the rate per kilowatt-hour to fill up if there is a fee.

In 2021, an ex-NASA scientist said that it is possible that a wireless electric vehicle may happen.