This is the most common way to charge at home or work. Your wallbox sends alternating current (AC) to the car's onboard charger, which converts it to DC for the battery. Typical UK home speeds are up to 7.4 kW on single-phase and up to 11–22 kW on three-phase supplies.
This European rulebook pushes for more public fast chargers, simple pricing, and card/NFC "ad-hoc" payments at ≥50 kW chargers, with retrofits due by 1 Jan 2027 on key routes. If you're driving in the EU, you should increasingly be able to tap a card and charge without apps or subscriptions.
These are the battery's negative and positive sides. Most EVs use a graphite-based anode and a cathode made from materials such as LFP (iron phosphate), NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt), or LMFP (LFP with manganese). The mix affects cost, range, and fast-charge behaviour.
This is the battery's "brain." It monitors temperature and voltage, estimates state of charge and health, balances cells, and sets safe charge/discharge limits.
Newer EU rules phase in a digital record for large rechargeable batteries, showing origin, carbon footprint, and recycled content. It's meant to make the supply chain clearer for buyers.
This is a pure electric car with no petrol engine at all. It charges from the grid and recovers energy when slowing down (regeneration).
This is Europe's standard plug family. The upper Type 2 part is for AC; the two extra pins underneath enable high-power DC fast charging from the same port. If your car has CCS2, you can use almost every public DC fast charger in Europe.
This is a Japanese DC fast-charging standard. It remains in use mainly in Japan and on some older models; in Europe it has largely been superseded by CCS2. A newer high-power successor family called ChaoJi is under development.
This shows how fast power flows into your battery across the state-of-charge (SOC) range. The best cars hold higher kW for longer, especially after preconditioning the pack.
The CE mark is a certification mark used across Europe (and still recognised in the UK for many products) that shows a device meets safety, health, and environmental protection standards. On an EV charger, CE marking means the unit has been tested to comply with EU requirements for electrical equipment, ensuring it won't present undue risk of fire, electric shock, or interference with other devices. In the UK, CE marking is still valid, though a new mark called UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) is gradually replacing it. For the consumer, seeing CE (or UKCA) on your charger is important because it proves the product has been built to strict safety standards.
Here the charger supplies direct current (DC) straight to the battery, bypassing the onboard charger. Think 50 kW and up; modern sites commonly offer 150–350 kW for shorter stops on long trips.
Your wallbox watches the home's total draw and automatically turns the car up or down so you don't trip the main fuse. It's increasingly standard on UK-compliant smart chargers.
A Distribution Network Operator is the company responsible for the physical electricity network in your area — the cables, substations, and infrastructure that bring electricity from the national grid into your street and home. In the UK there are a handful of regional DNOs (like UK Power Networks or Western Power Distribution). If you install an EV charger, especially one rated above 32 amps or if you want three-phase, your installer must notify the DNO. Sometimes the DNO may need to upgrade your local supply or give approval before installation. For you as a driver, the DNO is the silent player in the background ensuring your charger can run safely without overloading the street's cables.
The EPA test is the official method used in the United States to measure EV efficiency and range. It is considered stricter than WLTP and closer to real-world driving. The full version includes up to five separate cycles: a city cycle (stop–start traffic), a highway cycle (steady 60 mph cruising), a high-speed and rapid-acceleration cycle (up to 80 mph), an air-conditioning cycle, and a cold-temperature cycle with the heater running. Because the EPA includes harsher scenarios, such as cold weather and AC use, its published ranges are usually 10–20% lower than WLTP. In practice, these figures often match UK motorway driving more closely, especially in winter or at higher cruising speeds.
That's the formal industry term for the charging hardware you plug your car into — whether it's a simple home wallbox, a workplace unit, or a public rapid charger. The EVSE includes the cables, connectors, communication electronics, and safety systems (like residual current detection) that make sure electricity flows to your EV safely and only when the car requests it.
Before a DC stop, the car warms or cools the battery to the sweet spot so your session starts fast and stays faster.
A hydrogen fuel cell generates electricity onboard. These are rare compared with BEVs and rely on hydrogen stations.
Newer power electronics made from gallium-nitride (GaN) or silicon-carbide (SiC) waste less energy as heat. They help smaller, more efficient chargers and inverters—especially in 800 V cars.
This is a very efficient heater/air-conditioner. In cold weather it reduces winter range loss versus simple resistive heaters.
Many chargers and cars can follow your smart tariff, avoid peak times, or soak up solar surplus automatically.
A vehicle powered by the combustion of petrol or diesel inside cylinders, driving pistons to create motion. ICE cars have dominated transport for over a century, but in the UK their sale is scheduled to be phased out by 2030 (with hybrids allowed until 2035) as part of the shift to cleaner mobility. In EV discussions, "ICE" is often used in contrast to "EV" (electric vehicle), and also appears in the phrase "ICEd", meaning a charging bay blocked by a petrol or diesel car.
Modern AC chargers include electronics that detect smooth 6 mA DC leakage so upstream safety devices keep working correctly. It's a behind-the-scenes safety feature required by today's standards.
This communication standard lets a compatible car identify itself to the charger automatically for Plug & Charge authentication and also defines the messaging needed for vehicle-to-grid/home features.
This is the compact Tesla-style connector that SAE standardized in 2024 for North America. It combines AC and DC in one small plug and is rolling out widely there.
kW is power (how fast energy flows). kWh is energy (your "tank size"). A 77 kWh pack can, in ideal conditions, accept 150 kW for a period during a rapid charge.
These chemistries favour long life and stability. They can charge to 100% more often with less degradation, though cold-weather performance and energy density differ from NMC packs.
In the UK, load balancing for home EV charging means the charger automatically adjusts how much electricity it draws so your house supply is never overloaded. Most homes run on a single-phase supply with a main fuse of 60–100 amps, and running big appliances like ovens or showers alongside a 7 kW charger could blow that fuse. To prevent this, a sensor monitors the home's total usage and the charger reduces or increases its output in real time, keeping everything within safe limits. This protects your main fuse, avoids costly call-outs from the Distribution Network Operator, and ensures your EV can charge safely without clashing with other household demands.
This is an ultra-high-power DC connector class for lorries and coaches, targeting megawatt-level charging. It's not for cars but will reshape heavy transport in the late 2020s.
An old lab cycle that overstates range. Treat any NEDC value as optimistic versus modern WLTP/EPA numbers.
Nickel-manganese-cobalt cathodes offer higher energy density than LFP, often giving more range in a similar-size pack.
This is the car's AC→DC converter. Common sizes are 7.4 kW (single-phase) and 11 kW (three-phase). Bigger OBCs shorten home/work AC charging.
This is the language many chargers use to talk to their cloud. It enables roaming, smart charging, and better diagnostics—useful for reliability at public sites.
OLEV was the original UK government department set up to encourage the adoption of electric and ultra-low emission vehicles. It created the first financial support schemes to make EVs and home chargers more affordable, such as the EV Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) which gave drivers up to £350 off the cost of installing a home charger. OLEV also worked on grants for plug-in hybrid and fully electric cars. For a driver, the key thing to know is that OLEV was the earlier body behind government EV support in the 2010s. If you see "OLEV-approved charger" on older marketing material, it simply means the charger was eligible for these official grants.
OZEV replaced OLEV in 2020, with a new focus on zero-emission vehicles only. This reflects the government's shift from hybrids toward fully electric cars, especially after the announcement that new petrol and diesel car sales will be phased out. Today, OZEV manages schemes like: The EV Chargepoint Grant (which replaced the old EVHS) — a £350 contribution toward the cost of a home charger, but now limited to renters, flat owners, and certain landlords. The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) — support for businesses to install chargepoints. Support for on-street and public charging infrastructure. For drivers, OZEV is the current official body that oversees EV incentives, charging standards, and grant schemes in the UK. If you're buying and installing a charger, you'll want to check whether it's OZEV-approved, because only those units qualify for grant funding.
Your car and wallbox can receive new features and fixes without a garage visit. Updates often improve charge curves, navigation to chargers, and energy features.
A PHEV has a smaller battery you can plug in plus a petrol engine. Short trips can be electric; long trips use both. Real-world fuel use depends on how often you charge.
With a compatible car, charger, and contract, you just plug in and charging starts automatically, with billing handled in the background via digital certificates (ISO 15118).
Most UK homes use PME earthing. Outdoor EV chargers need special open-PEN protection so they can be installed safely without a ground rod in many cases.
In the EU you should increasingly be able to pay on the spot with a card, phone, or a secure QR flow—especially at ≥50 kW, thanks to AFIR.
Focus on kWh/100 km (or mi/kWh) rather than headline range. Driving style, temperature, and speed change consumption more than most spec sheets suggest.
Lifting off the accelerator turns the motor into a generator that tops up the battery and reduces brake wear. Stronger regen can cut energy use in stop-start traffic.
These are the common AC connectors. Type 2 is the European standard you'll see on almost all new UK/EU charge points and cars. For DC, look for CCS2 on your car's port.
From June 2022, all home and work chargers sold in the UK were required to ship with smart features like default off-peak scheduling (meaning outside of 8–11 am and 4–10 pm on weekdays) and a randomised start delay (up to 10 min) to protect the grid. If your charger starts a bit later than scheduled, that's by design. The regulations stipulate that even if the charger loses its WiFi/mobile/network connection, it must still allow charging. There is much more. For a start, charge points must measure or calculate electricity used (imported/exported) as well as the duration of the charging session. Users must be able to view usage over the previous 12 months. Accuracy must be within a 10% margin. Sellers must provide you with a statement of compliance, and a technical file must be available on request. They must also keep records of sales for 10 years. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) enforces these rules, and non-compliance can lead to notices, civil penalties, or enforcement undertakings.
This is the battery's equivalent of a fuel gauge. It tells you how much usable energy is left in your EV's battery, usually shown as a percentage. A reading of 100% means the battery is full, and 0% means it's effectively empty. Unlike a petrol tank, the top and bottom ends aren't always the absolute limits—manufacturers often keep small safety buffers so the pack lasts longer. SOC changes depending on how fast you drive, the terrain, and how much energy systems like heating or air-con are using, so it's always a live figure rather than a fixed number. For drivers, SOC is the main guide for how far you can go before recharging, but the actual miles you'll get from each percent will still vary with conditions.
This is a measure of how much life remains in your EV's battery compared with when it was new. It's usually expressed as a percentage, with 100% meaning the battery is at full original capacity. Over time and use, chemical changes inside the cells reduce the maximum amount of energy the pack can store and how well it delivers power. For example, if your car once had a 60 kWh battery and it can now only store 54 kWh, its SOH would be about 90%. SOH declines gradually with age, fast charging, high mileage, and frequent charging to 100%, but modern batteries are designed with protective buffers and smart management systems to slow this process. For drivers, SOH is the long-term health check: it doesn't change day to day like SOC, but it tells you how much range and performance your battery can still deliver compared to when it was new.
Single phase is the type of electricity supply most UK homes have. It delivers power through one live wire and one neutral wire, which is fine for running everyday appliances like kettles, lights, and TVs. For EV charging, a single-phase supply usually limits the charger to a maximum of 7.4 kW, which translates to about 25–30 miles of driving range added per hour depending on the car. For the average UK household, single phase is completely adequate, because overnight charging can still refill the battery comfortably.
Liquid-cooled packs and power electronics keep the battery in its happy temperature zone, unlocking faster charging and longer life.
Three phase electricity is common in commercial buildings and some larger homes, but most UK houses don't have it. Instead of one live wire, three-phase supply uses three, each carrying current at slightly different timings. This allows for more power delivery and better efficiency. With three phase, a home EV charger can deliver up to 11–22 kW, which can triple the charging speed compared to single phase. To get three phase at home in the UK, you would need a major upgrade from your electricity provider, which can be expensive. For most drivers, the only time this matters is if you want ultra-fast home charging or you're future-proofing a very high-mileage lifestyle.
These are sites with many 150–350 kW posts, usually near motorways. They offer redundancy (more working posts) and amenities to make 15–30-minute stops tolerable.
UKCA is the new product certification mark that replaces CE marking in Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) after Brexit. It shows that a product meets UK safety, health, and environmental protection standards. For EV home chargers, this means the device has been tested and verified to comply with the UK's electrical regulations, ensuring it is safe to install and operate. From the driver's point of view, the practical meaning is simple: if your charger carries the UKCA mark, it meets the standards required to be legally sold and installed in the UK. For now, many EV chargers still display both CE and UKCA marks, since CE remains recognised in some transitional cases and in Northern Ireland. But long term, UKCA will be the primary standard in Britain. In short: when you see UKCA on an EV charger, you can be confident it's built to the UK's required safety standards — just as CE once indicated compliance with EU standards.
Many EVs can power laptops and gadgets directly; some also offer V2L (see V, below) for bigger appliances.
Vehicle-to-grid/home lets your car export energy to your house or the grid; vehicle-to-load lets you power appliances from a socket on the car. These features rely on the car, the charger, local rules, and standards such as ISO 15118-20.
800 V systems can charge faster at the same current and run cooler cables; 400 V cars remain more common and can also charge quickly where curves and cooling are well-engineered.
A dedicated home unit gives safer, faster, and smarter charging than a 13 A socket. Look for UK compliance, load management, solar integration, and a solid warranty.
See GaN/SiC above. They are why newer EVs and chargers can be smaller, cooler, and more efficient.
Warranty coverage is the guarantee a manufacturer or installer gives you that your EV charger (or car) will be repaired or replaced if it develops faults within a set period of time. In the UK, most home EV chargers come with warranties of 3 to 5 years, though some premium brands may offer longer. A warranty usually covers defects in materials or workmanship — for example, if the electronics fail, if the charger won't connect properly, or if the casing develops cracks under normal use. It does not normally cover damage caused by misuse, accidents, unauthorised modifications, or poor installation. For the EV driver, warranty coverage matters because it tells you how long you can expect peace of mind without paying for repairs yourself. A longer or more comprehensive warranty often signals higher confidence in the product's reliability. It is always worth checking whether the warranty covers parts and labour, whether it includes on-site support or requires you to send the unit back, and if it transfers to a new homeowner if you move.
WLTP is the official laboratory test used in the UK and Europe to measure the energy use and driving range of electric cars. It replaced the older NEDC test in 2017. The test is split into four driving phases: low speed (city), medium speed (suburban), high speed (rural), and extra-high speed (motorway). The car reaches a top speed of 131 km/h (81 mph), with an overall average speed of 46.5 km/h (29 mph). WLTP gives a good indication of urban and mixed driving, but it usually overstates real-world range on UK motorways because sustained high-speed driving is only a small part of the cycle.
This is marketing shorthand for very high, sustained DC rates. Your results depend on pack temperature, your car's charge curve, and charger capability.
High factory yield means more cells pass quality checks. That usually translates to better reliability and fewer recalls down the line.
This is the policy term for cars with no tailpipe CO₂—BEVs (and FCEVs). Many regions set ZEV sales targets that influence model choice and public charging growth.