Electric vehicle charging stations

Charging stations for electric vehicles: Top-left: a Tesla Roadster (2008) being charged at an electric charging station in Iwata city, Japan. Top-right: Nissan Leaf recharging from a NRG Energy eVgo station in Houston, Texas. Bottom-left: converted Toyota Priuses recharging at public charging stations in San Francisco (2009). Bottom-right: Brammo Empulse electric motorcycle at an AeroVironment charging station.

An electric vehicle charging station, also called EV charging station, electric recharging point, charging point, charge point (not to be confused with the ChargePoint network) and EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment), is an element in an infrastructure that supplies electric energy for the recharging of electric vehicles, such as plug-in electric vehicles, including electric cars, neighborhood electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

As plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicle ownership are expanding, there is a growing need for widely distributed publicly accessible charging stations (some of which support faster charging at higher voltages and currents than are available from residential EVSEs). Many charging stations are on-street facilities provided by electric utility companies or located at retail shopping centers and operated by many private companies. These charging stations provide one or a range of heavy duty or special connectors that conform to the variety of electric charging connector standards.

Charging stations fall into four basic contexts:

Battery capacity and the capability of handling faster charging are both increasing, and methods of charging have needed to change and improve. New options have also been introduced (on a small scale, including mobile charging stations and charging via inductive charging mats). The differing needs and solutions of various manufacturers has slowed the emergence of standard charging methods, and in 2015, there is a strong recognition of the need for standardization.

As of December 2012^[update], around 50,000 non-residential charging points were deployed in the U.S., Europe, Japan and China. As of August 2014^[update], there are 3,869 CHAdeMO quick chargers deployed around the world, with 1,978 in Japan, 1,181 in Europe and 686 in the United States, 24 in other countries. As of December 2013^[update], Estonia is the first and only country that had completed the deployment of an EV charging network with nationwide coverage, with 165 fast chargers available along highways at a maximum distance of between 40 to 60 km (25 to 37 mi), and a higher density in urban areas.

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