Classification of voltage/mode:

Electric vehicle charging equipment has different classifications in the United States/Europe, which is generally classified by Level 1/2/3 in the United States; Outside the United States (Europe), it is generally distinguished by Mode 1/2/3/4.

Level 1/2/3 is mainly to distinguish the voltage at the input of the charging pile. Level 1 refers to the charging pile that is directly powered by the American household plug (single-phase) with a power of 1.4kW to 1.9kW；; Level 2 refers to the AC charging pile with American household high voltage 208/230V (Europe) /240V, with relatively high power, 3kW-19.2kW；; Level 3 refers to the DC charging pile.

Mode 1/2/3/4 classification mainly depends on whether there is communication between charging pile and electric vehicle.

Mode 1 refers to charging the car by electric wires, one end of which is connected to the wall socket, and the other end is the charging plug at the car end. There is no communication between the car and the charging equipment (actually there is no equipment, only the charging wire and plug). Nowadays, many countries prohibit the charging of electric cars in Mode 1 mode.

Mode 2 refers to the portable AC charging pile which is not fixedly installed and has vehicle-pile communication, and the vehicle-pile charging process has communication;

Mode 3 refers to other AC charging piles which are fixedly installed (wall-mounted or upright) with vehicle-pile communication;

Mode 4 refers specifically to the fixed DC pile, and there must also be vehicle-pile communication.

There are other classifications. For example, AC piles are classified according to single/two/three-phase input power supply. The corresponding charging pile input terminals need to be connected to single-phase, two-phase and three-phase AC power supply respectively, and the number of output phases is the same as that of input. Generally, DC piles are powered by three-phase AC input.

Want to shorten the charging time, need to choose a charging pile with more power?

The answer is not necessarily. It can be seen from the diagram of AC/DC charging shown in the first chart that if it is AC charging, the AC pile is only a power supply device, and the real charging power is determined by on-board charger (of course, if the charging pile power is lower than that of on-board charger, the bottleneck lies in the charging pile). At present, the mainstream on-board charger has 3/7/11/22kW, so if a 22kW AC pile is used to charge an electric vehicle with only 3kW OBC, the final charging power is 3kW.

Can you charge at full power with a DC charging pile?

The answer is not necessarily. Although there is no restriction of on-board charger OBC, DC piles directly charge the battery, but the upper limit of the battery needs to be considered. The maximum power that the battery can support is also limited. Most non-high-end electric vehicles, the maximum charging power supported by the battery does not exceed 150kW. Even if it is charged on the super fast charging pile of 350kW, the charging power can't exceed the maximum power allowed by the battery (BMS). Of course, the charging power at different charging stages is also different.

Precautions for purchasing charging piles

Everyone is more concerned about how to buy an electric car when they have the conditions to install a household charging pile.

At present, AC piles are the main type of household piles (the price and power of DC piles limit their installation in ordinary households). First, confirm the upper power limit of charging piles allowed to be installed in the home (the distribution capacity of the home/community should be confirmed with the power supply company/property/electrician), and then confirm whether the home is single-phase (domestic) or three-phase (European) home, and then confirm whether the on-board charger (OBC) of the electric vehicle purchased is single-phase (most domestic electric vehicles are single-phase) or three-phase. Theoretically, single-phase three-phase charging piles and single-phase three-phase on-board charger can be compatible, but if the vehicle is equipped with single-phase OBC, there is absolutely no need to install three-phase charging piles.

In addition, you need to consider choosing smart piles or silly piles. Smart piles are charging piles that can be controlled/authorized/charged by mobile App, while silly piles can be charged by swiping a card or directly inserting a gun without human-computer interaction. It is the preferred smart pile, which can be controlled more conveniently (such as timed charging, remote charging, etc.), and the management of charging records will provide many conveniences. There is also a city power grid (Hamburg, Germany) which stipulates that newly installed household charging piles must be smart piles.

Newyea technology is specialize in electric vehicle intelligent charging pile since 2014, it is the first enterprise in China that integrates R&D, production and operation of wireless and wired intelligent charging system for electric vehicles.  Our products support customization, sample service, various types of interfaces, with a power of 7KW to 360 KW, which can be charged by mobile APP or swiped by card, with beautiful appearance, high protection, high adaptability and high intelligence.

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