Selecting the right charger comes down to how you want to use it.

Fleet Use Only

Simple plug and go.

Fleet charging is all about making charging simple. Generally these chargers are installed behind closed gates and not available to general staff or the public. As your fleet grows it also pays to start thinking about faster charging if you have rapid turnaround situations.

Staff Use

Free or Pay per Use? You Choose.

The simple act of providing EV charging can increase EV uptake amongst your people by 6x (US Research). But should you provide free charging or put in pay per use? Fortunately future-proofing your EV charging fleet can be achieved today with chargers that can be monetised (or not).

Customer Use

Free or Fee? It's over to you

With a limited number of EV's in the market, free charging can be a real point of difference. But as EV numbers grow you could go from novelty to destination. We recommend you future proof your investment with the ability to monetise your charging fleet, even if you don't turn this feature on today.

AC Charging

OK so the first thing to understand is that AC charging isn't going anywhere fast. Every home across the planet uses AC (alternating current) electricity at 110v (North America) or 230v (pretty much everyone else). Car manufacturers know most of us will charge at home, so AC charging is here to stay. So how does it work? Well all EV's store electricity as direct current (DC) in their batteries, so when you're charging using AC, the on-board 'charger' converts AC to DC. This creates a limiting link in the EV charging chain - if the cars on-board 'charger' is 3.7kW then it can only use 3.7kW, regardless of the size of the socket it is connected to. Check out the list of EV's on our site which tells you the size of their on-board AC 'chargers'.

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AC chargers range from 1.7kw right up to 43 kW, but the key is understanding what your vehicle can handle.

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Best use for AC: home charging, workplace charging overnight or where vehicles are parked charging for 1hour+

DC Charging

OK so DC charging is where fast charging really kicks in. Unlike an AC charger, DC chargers are what we call 'off-board' chargers.This is because a DC charger bypasses the on-board AC 'charger' and fills the batteries up directly. Now there are limitations on most vehicles to stop batteries overheating so it's not unlimited. DC chargers start at 20kW and go as high as 350kW. But don't worry, you can't blow up a Nissan Leaf by connecting it to an ultra-fast 350kW DC charger! A global communications standard means the car and the charger 'talk' to each other before any energy is released.

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DC chargers are significantly more complicated than AC chargers, and with this complexity comes high costs. A 24kW DC charger can start at $20,000, going all the way up to $200,000 for a 350kW DC charger. Plus installation, which can vary significantly dependant on how much energy you have available on-site.

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Best use cases: fleet for fast turnaround, shared private/public spaces where you can use it for fleet and provide it pay-per-use for staff/general public.