How Long Does It Take to Charge an Electric Car?

Whether you charge your EV in your garage overnight or use a fast charger in the middle of a road trip, a few important factors determine how quickly the battery replenishes. Charging time depends on the power of the charging equipment, the maximum power the vehicle can accept, the size of the battery, and other conditions like the ambient temperature and the battery's state of charge. Follow along as we explain these factors using a Chevrolet Bolt EUV , a Ford F-150 Lightning , a Kia EV6 , and a Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance as examples.

DC Fast Charging: It’s The Fastest Way To Charge

With DC fast charging, you can boost most EVs from 5 percent to full in less than two hours, with some cars reaching 100 percent in less than 45 minutes. This is the fastest way to charge an EV, but the catch here is that DC fast charging can only be done at public charging stations typically located at shopping centers, restaurants, gas stations, or hotels and run by companies such as EVgo, Electrify America, ChargePoint, and Tesla. The speed of these units varies, as well, with power ranging from 22 to 350 kilowatts. More power means faster charging, but only if your vehicle has the ability to accept that power.

A 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Premier can charge at a maximum of 55 kilowatts (kW) while a 2022 Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance charges at up to 300 kW. If you plan on taking long road trips with an EV, you'll want a vehicle that charges at high power and has excellent efficiency.

The Right Way to Measure Charging Speed

Automakers tend to talk about charging speeds in terms of kilowatts and battery percentages, but this buries the information that most buyers really want to know: How long do I need to charge to make it to my destination?

To answer that question, MotorTrend conducts a test to measure how many miles of 70-mph highway range an EV gains after 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes of fast-charging, starting with the battery at 5 percent. Our fast-charging test makes it easy to figure out which car can get back on the road and cover the distance quicker. The chart above shows the results from our tests of a 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV, a 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat Extended Range, a 2022 Kia EV6 Wind AWD, and a 2022 Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. For each time interval, a larger bar represents more driving range added.

When you only focus on the time to charge from 10 to 80 percent, a vehicle with a small battery often appears to refuel quicker than a vehicle with a big battery. The Lucid Air's battery holds 45 percent more energy than the Kia EV6's, for example, so it shouldn't be a surprise that it needs 32 minutes to charge from 5 to 80 percent compared to the EV6's 20 minutes. But when you look at charging speed in terms of driving range, these two EVs are neck and neck through the first 30 minutes. The EV6 and the Air are among the fastest-charging models you can buy today, making them a great choice for anyone planning to drive long distances.

The Best Way to Use a DC Fast Charging Station

Electric vehicles will typically charge the quickest at the start of a charging session, with peak power lasting only a few minutes before it starts to taper off. As the battery nears 80 percent full, the charging output slows significantly to protect the vehicle's battery. The chart above shows how charging power steadily falls as the Lucid Air Grand Touring fast charges. The exact shape of these plots varies from vehicle to vehicle, but the general trend and takeaway is the same.

Charging beyond 80 percent at a fast charger is often a poor use of your time and, if the fee is based on time rather than energy, not cost effective. To get the most out of your time and money and to preserve your EV's battery, arrive at the DC fast-charging station with your battery as close to empty as possible. Shortly after charging begins, you should get full power output from the station (or as much power as your vehicle's charging equipment can accept). By the time the battery nears 80 percent full, you should have enough energy to make it to the next charging station or to return home to your Level 2 charging station. ( You have one, right? )

Level 2 Charging: Not the Fastest, But It’s Best Practice

Although DC fast charging is the quickest way to recharge in a hurry, EV owners typically don't worry about how long it will take to charge. That's because they plug in at home and charge overnight while they sleep. It's also rare to charge the battery to full, as most manufacturers recommend charging from 20 or 30 percent up to 80 percent unless you're planning on a long-distance drive. This approach helps the battery last longer.

Level 2 chargers, which operate at 240 volts like an electric stove or clothes dryer, can replenish an average commute's worth of battery power in just a couple hours. Depending on the efficiency of your EV or plug-in hybrid, a 9.6-kilowatt charger can add between 15 miles (think: electric trucks and large SUVs) and 30 miles (more efficient electric sedans and small SUVs) of range per hour of charging. Plugging in even a significantly depleted battery to a Level 2 charger overnight should bring it back to full. For most drivers, installing a Level 2 charger at home is the best solution to keeping an EV or plug-in hybrid charged, as overnight charging eliminates any concern about how long it takes to refuel an EV.

How Fast Is Level 1 Charging?

Level 1 charging refers to plugging into a common 120-volt wall outlet. The charging cord used for this often comes with the purchase of new EVs, but it's only meant to be used in a pinch. Level 1 charging is slow. With a relatively inefficient truck like the Ford F-150 Lightning, you might only gain 1 or 2 miles of range for every hour of charging. More efficient EVs might improve that to as much as 5 miles per hour. After 8 hours of charging a Level 1 charger might only add 40 miles or less to an EV's battery. Need a full charge? It would take almost five days of continuous charging to bring a nearly empty F-150 Lightning to full with these low-power chargers.

If you only drive around 30 miles a day, it's possible to rely on Level 1 charging while making the occasional visit to a more powerful public charger.  For most EV owners, though, the convenience of a more powerful Level 2 charger is worth spending the $1,150 to $2,750 that it typically takes to have a home charging station professionally installed .

Where Can You Charge An Electric Vehicle?

You can often find public chargers using the navigation system in your EV or plug-in hybrid, but third-party websites and apps like PlugShare and A Better Route Planner offer an easier way to browse and sort stations based on what you're looking for. DC fast chargers are the quickest way to deliver power to the battery of your EV or plug-in hybrid, and they can be found in public locations across the country. Tesla fast chargers, called Superchargers, are among the most common and most reliable, and they'll soon be able to charge EVs built by other automakers, such as Ford, GM, Rivian, and Volvo. Other fast-charger networks, including EVgo, Electrify America, and ChargePoint, are also expanding coverage.

Summary: How Long Does It Take to Charge an EV?

• DC fast chargers, the fastest way to recharge an electric vehicle, can fill a battery in two hours or less
• The quickest-charging EVs can add more than 150 miles of range in just 15 minutes at a fast charger
• Charging speed using a fast charger varies depending on the vehicle, charging station power, and battery state of charge
• Best practice: Don't charge higher than 80 percent on a DC fast charger
• Best practice: Charge at home using a Level 2 charger for everyday use
• Slow Level 1 chargers aren't practical for most EV drivers to use them regularly