Why do electric vehicles have several power inlets?
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have no internal combustion engine, so there is no need for liquid petrol or diesel. Instead of the fuel cap, you’ll find one or more power inlets. This is where you plug in your charging cable, with the other end plugging into a mains electricity supply, home charging point or an ultra-fast commercial charging post.
However, if you look closely at some of the top electric car models, you will likely find extra power inlets. So what are these for? Let’s dive deeper into the different EV power connectors and why some of the newest electric cars have more inlets than most.
Types Of EV Charging Connectors
First, let’s ensure we know the different types of AC (alternating current) power inlets fitted to electric cars worldwide.
Three of the most common types include:
- Type 1 single-phase connectors
- Type 2 three-phase connectors
- CHAdeMO high-speed chargers
Each of these has a different configuration of pins, like the live, neutral and earth pins on a standard mains electricity plug.
Type 1 Connectors
On a Type 1 charging inlet, you’ll see three large pins, which correspond directly to the pins on a regular electric plug. There are also two smaller pins, and these are the ‘pilot interface’, which allows the charger to communicate with the car.
Type 2 Connectors
Type 2 connectors are more common on newer electric vehicles, and their five larger pins allow faster three-phase charging, plus a neutral and earth connection. At the top, below the flat edge of the connector, you’ll find the two-pin pilot interface, making a total of seven pins.
CHAdeMO connectors
‘CHAdeMO’ comes from the Japanese phrase “O cha demo ikaga desuka,” which roughly translates as “Your car will charge while you drink tea” refers to the rapid charging speed of the interface.
The CHAdeMO plug looks more like a games console joypad layout, with two large round pins for the power supply, and two cross-shaped configurations of four pins each which provide additional communication and turn the charger on and off.
Some high-spec BEVs are fitted with a CHAdeMO connector for rapid DC charging AND one of the standard AC charging inlets mentioned above – one reason why you might see multiple completely separate inlets on a single electric car.
DC charging
DC (direct current) charging removes the need to convert an AC signal to DC when charging from the mains. This takes the vehicle’s onboard DC rectifier out of the process, allowing the vehicle to charge faster without the risk of components getting too hot.
CHAdeMO is a DC standard – the two large pins are a DC power source’s positive and negative rails, whereas standard Type 1 and Type 2 connectors operate on AC and require a rectifier. That’s why CHAdeMO can charge vehicles so much faster because it is not subject to the same limitations as AC charging.
What About Tesla?
For several reasons, Tesla connectors differ from the rest of the market. The main reason Tesla chargers are unique is that Tesla was among the first mass-market electric vehicles, and there wasn’t a standardised connector yet.
Because of this, the original USA Tesla connector had two large pins for America’s single-phase 120V electricity system.
At the same time, elsewhere in the world, Teslas were equipped with a modified Type 2 connector that could switch between AC and DC, depending on the electrical signal it received from the charging point.
Combined Charging System (CCS)
Finally, we come to the Combined Charging System (CCS). This only emerged after Tesla began manufacturing cars with the modified Type 2 connector. Instead of allowing two pins to switch from AC to DC, the CCS inlet has two dedicated DC pins below the normal seven-pin ‘squashed circle’ connector.
The two DC pins look like a bigger version of the power inlet you might see on a portable stereo or an electric kettle. Again, they mean the car can charge faster by bypassing the rectifier when plugged into an ultra-fast charging point.
Officially, the CCS is a single, combined power inlet. Still, if you’re familiar with the standard Type 2 connector, you might view it as two separate inlets, one on top of the other – and that’s why you might feel your EV has an extra inlet than usual.
