Electric Car Charger Sockets

When you connect your electric car or van to a charging point you'll notice that not all connectors are the same.

Your electric vehicle manufacturer will have provided you with a cable (in fact usually two, so you can use both slower home chargers and fast or rapid chargers on route).

But when you recharge away from home you may well encounter different types of plugs on the chargers you see.

Why Sockets Are Different

The power that comes from the UK National Grid when you plug in your electric car is known as type 'AC' (for 'Alternating Current').

But the batteries in an electric car only store electricity as type 'DC' (or 'Direct Current').

So, to switch the current between 'AC' from the electricity mains to 'DC' stored in the batteries, a special device called an 'inverter' is used inside the car.

Then, to change the stored 'DC' current from the batteries back to 'AC' electricity for the electric motor (because electric car motors use 'AC' electricity), the 'inverter' swaps the current from 'DC' back to 'AC'.

Sometimes this requires a different socket from the mains, but it's also because different manufacturers have chosen different sockets too.

So Which Socket Does My Electric Car Use?

We've put together details of the battery performance and charger socket types for new cars so you can check the socket type before you buy an electric car (and other factors too, like recharge times).

Scroll down to choose the car manufacturer or car body style you want to look at, then when your search results appear click on the 'Battery' or 'Performance' buttons to see all the data you can view.