Charging AC vs DC for Electric Vehicles

Categorised as EV Charging, EV Charging Apps, EV Trips
Plugshare Map - from plugshare.com

I have tried a number of chargers over last 4 weeks.

AC
All of the AC chargers I used were free and gave between 6 and 11 kWh. Some offer up to 22kWh but the Tesla Model 3 rectifier, which converts the AC to DC limits itself to consuming 11kWh of AC.

At home we pay about 25c kWh. The home charging is via a normal 10A PowerPoint at 2.4kWh which would be $18.75 for a full charge of 75kWh at home.

DC
The DC fast chargers cost allot more to build so it makes sense they cost money to use. The Jolt DC charger was 40c kWh consumed (first 7kWh free) and runs at 25kWh. The Tesla supercharger is 60c kWh consumed, running 50-130kWh.

NRMA DC fast chargers are currently free.

The Chargefox fast chargers are listed at 40c – 60c kWh and NRMA members get 20% discount down to 32c. The Evie are the most expensive I have seen listed, going from 40c per kWh consumed at a rate of up to 50kWh at Mosman to 60c per kWh consumed at up to 350kWh at Seven Hills.

At 60c that’s $45 for a full 100% 75kWh charge. On my mountains trip, I estimated a real world range for a full charge for my car was 502kms, so the cost of the Evie electricity is still less than petrol.

Trips
Plugshare.com is showing so many more chargers this year than last year and many more being built across Australia.

So, when travelling I’ts good to know there is now so much choice and I can use a mix of DC and AC.