Compare the fastest charging electric cars

Although it’s possible to charge an electric car from a three-pin socket, it takes an age and puts a strain on your domestic energy supply. You can charge more quickly if you install a home charger. The charging time will vary depending on the size of the car’s battery and the power of the charger but leaving the car plugged in overnight should be enough to top up the batteries.

When you are out and about, you’ll be able to use the public charging network. AC (alternating current) chargers are fine, but for quicker charging it really helps if your car is compatible with rapid DC (direct current) chargers. Find out the maximum charging speed an EV will accept before you buy one, especially if you plan to do lots of long journeys and will need to recharge as you go. Plenty of cars now recharge at 100kW or more, with some charging from 10-80% in as little as 18 minutes.

The cost of charging an electric car will vary hugely depending on when and where you charge. As a rule, the cheapest way to charge is to sign-up to an EV charging tariff and recharge overnight at home. At the time of writing, that could mean a cost as low as 7.5p per kWh of electricity. That means a battery with a 74kWh capacity will cost just £5.55 to fully recharge.

It’s a different story if you’re on the road, with ultra-rapid chargers usually the most expensive kind of public charger. You could easily pay 75p per kWh – yes, that’s 10 times the price of home charging, and would set you back £55.50 for a full charge.

Yes, but it’s fairly rare. You may find free electric charging in some public car parks, on car dealer forecourts, or at hotels.

All sorts of places. You can charge at home through a dedicated charge point. Many workplaces now have EV chargers in the car park, and there are EV chargers at motorway services as well as dedicated charging hubs (with several charge points at one location) just off many main roads.

In fact, you could find chargers just about anywhere you might want to park your car. From supermarkets to leisure centres, from airports to retail parks, once you start looking you’ll find there are EV chargers in all kinds of locations.

Check out our handy interactive EV charging stations map to find the nearest public charging points to you.

Reckon on paying £500-£1,000 for a 7kW home charger. Go for a more powerful 11kW charger and you can expect to pay a little more. Many companies bundle the cost of charger installation and the charger itself.

More powerful 22kW chargers are available for home use, but your house will need to have a three-phase power supply.

It depends on the car. Official figures typically give a range of over 200 miles, while 300 miles or more is not uncommon. Just keep in mind that the range you see in the brochure and the range you achieve in everyday driving will probably be very different. Cold weather reduces the range of an electric car, and high speeds eat into the battery charge. Take a look at Carwow’s real-world EV range test for a better idea of the distance several popular EVs will travel on a full charge.