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Working out how to charge your EV at home can be confusing. Here is what you need to know, from regular power-points to wall boxes.
by Toby Hagon
Published
13 min read
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by Toby Hagon
Published
Text size
Electric cars are more popular than ever as more people embrace the technology and more manufacturers ramp up their EV offerings.
The big appeal with an EV is being able to charge it at home – potentially dodging the need to ever go to a petrol station again – and also run it for a fraction of the cost of a car that uses fossil fuel.
But working out how to charge your EV at home can, in some instances, be more confusing than deciding which car to buy.
From using a regular power-point to plugging into a wall box and even using excess electricity from your EV to power your home, here’s what you need to know about charging an electric car at home:
There’s a lot of chat about AC and DC charging.
Distilling it into plain language, DC (or direct current) is the fast charging you often get in public places, while AC (alternating current) charging is slower and what you’ll typically be doing at home.
One reason AC charging is usually slower is that it needs to pass through the car’s onboard charger to convert it to DC electricity, so it can be stored in the battery.
And even within those current types, there’s a wide range of charging speeds.
AC charging ranges from 2.3kW from a home power point to 22kW with a three-phase wall box.
DC charging can be as low as 11kW or upwards of 400kW.
Technology is advancing all the time, with some manufacturers planning to release chargers providing more than one megawatt, or 1000kW.
AC charging uses a Type 2 connector, while DC charging uses what's known as CCS2, or Combined Charging System.
Where the Type 2 plug uses only the upper part of the charge port, the CCS2 plug fills the whole thing.
Any time you charge an EV at home, it will almost always be using an AC charging plug.
All vehicles that can be recharged externally – battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) but excluding regular hybrids – can accept an AC charge.
BEVs will also take a DC charge and most of the newer PHEVs are also geared up to take a DC charge, although often at a lower rate than pure electric vehicles.
Most EVs come with at least one cable, although some brands – most notably Tesla – charge extra for those who want one.
The most basic cable that typically comes with an EV is a regular 230V adapter. On one end is a familiar three-pin plug and on the other end is a much larger, vaguely circular plug to slot into the charge port of your EV.
That charger allows charging from any power-point and is portable, so if you’re heading away for a weekend, you can take it with you and keep your EV topped up, provided the car can be parked within reach of a power-point.
Don’t reach for a regular extension cord, either; running full power load through it continuously will cause it to heat up to the point it can become a fire risk.
Another cable that is less common but is included with some EVs is a Type 2 to Type 2 connector.
The Type 2 connector is that vaguely circular plug mentioned above.
A Type 2 to Type 2 connector allows you to use public AC chargers that require the EV owner to bring their own cable. They’re less common (usually reserved for shopping centres or carparks) but keeping one stashed in the boot can be handy for a top-up when you’re out and about.
You won't need to carry a DC cable, because public fast chargers have their own cables built in.
Every EV can be charged from a home power-point. It just takes longer than using a wall box or fast charger.
A regular household power-point puts out about 2.3kW of power. Each kilowatt provided for an hour delivers one kilowatt-hour of electricity.
So a 2.3kW power-point delivers 2.3kWh per hour it's plugged in.
But not all of that makes it into the car. As with any electrical item, there are losses along the way; usually more with AC charging, because it has to pass through the onboard charger to convert the electricity to DC.
Those losses can be around 10-15 per cent, so figure on about 2kWh an hour reaching the battery.
For an EV with a 60kWh battery pack, that means it would take about 30 hours to perform a complete charge.
For a bigger EV with a 100kWh battery, that time steps up to 50-odd hours.
While parking your car for a couple of days may seem laughable to someone who drives regularly and has long relied on petrol, it's worth remembering that those estimates are for a full charge.
In other words, you will have had to have driven upwards of 400km before you’d need that amount.
For someone who travels around 30-40km per day (roughly the average distance travelled by the 21 million vehicles on Australian roads), the charge time is more like three or four hours.
As a rough guide, expect to add around 10km of charge per hour. This means that if you're travelling less than 100km per day, you would be able to charge an EV overnight from a regular power-point.
You just need to be vigilant with remember to plug it in and be patient for what will be a slow charge.
That regular charging is particularly important with a PHEV, maximise the EV benefits.
While the average electric range of a PHEV has increased – many are upwards of 100km these days – it's still nothing like the range of a BEV, so to get the full benefit, the car needs to be charged regularly.
If you do need faster charging or want the comfort of being able to charge less frequently, a wall box is the logical choice.
As the name suggests, it’s a box that bolts onto the wall.
They’re available from independent retailers, and many car brands also sell them. Some of the wall boxes you can buy from the dealer are generically available models, rebranded.
A wall box is connected to your home power supply and has a plug that connects directly to the charging port in your car.
That plug will be a Type 2 plug, which fits all new EVs.
The advantage of a wall box is it can provide much more power than a regular power-point.
Affordable wall boxes (less than $1,000) often have a single-phase connection and supply about 7.4kW.
But the box is only part of the cost. Installation is a job for an electrician and can easily cost more than the charger, depending on how far the charger sits from your switchboard and whether the board itself needs upgrading.
Horizon Power customers should also know their electrician has to lodge an EV Connect application for anything above 2.4kW.
No matter what your car is rated at, you can always use a charger capable of providing more power.
Just as most things you plug into a home power-point don’t take the full 2.3kW the plug puts out, an EV will regulate its charge according to the car’s requirements.
So even if the DC charging is limited to, say, 60kW, you can still use a 350kW charger.
It’s the same with home AC chargers.
Chargers providing 7.4kW or less are typically connected to a single phase of electricity.
Less common 11kW and 22kW chargers need to use three-phase power, which is common in businesses, but less so in residential houses.
If your home is already wired for three-phase power, it unlocks those higher-powered options without the expense of upgrading your electricity supply.
But there is a catch for home chargers that predominantly applies to the 11kW charger.
Some EVs – often cheaper ones or those with a smaller battery capacity – often accept only a single phase of electricity.
From a single-phase charger that’s fine. But connect it to a three-phase charger and it’ll only take one of those phases, or one-third of the total output.
So even though a charger is capable of providing 11kW, some EVs will only accept one-third of it, or about 3.7kW.
In some instances, then, a more powerful charger may take longer to charge for a car with a single-phase onboard charger.
If you’re going for a wall box, there’s a good chance you’ll only ever need a single-phase one (typically rated at 7.4kW) because that will usually be ample to fully charge an EV overnight.
Most EVs have a battery capacity between 50kWh and 100kWh.
A 7.4kW charger will provide 7.4kWh for each hour it's plugged in.
Allowing for charging losses, with a 7.4kW wall box charging a Tesla with a 60kWh battery, it'll take something more than nine hours for a full charge.
The advantages of a 22kW wall box over an 11kW unit are negligible if you’re already parking the car overnight – the 22kW unit will get the car fully charged in a few hours, whereas the 11kW will take double the time.
Besides, most EVs are limited to accepting 11kW of AC charge (some even less), so there’s often no benefit to installing the more powerful charger.
Not all wall boxes are equal.
A smart charger can connect to your solar system and use the excess that your house isn't consuming to charge your car, rather than sending it to the grid, says Riz Akhtar, founder of specialist EV data company carloop.
In WA that matters more than most places. With feed-in rates of as little a few cents per kWh, the solar you export is worth a fraction of solar you put into the car.
Most smart chargers also come with an app, letting you schedule charging around off-peak windows and monitor what the car is drawing.
No surprises, though, that they typically cost a bit more.
Unlike the eastern states, Western Australians can't shop around for an electricity retailer.
Households get one of two, depending on where you live. Synergy covers the South West Interconnected System (roughly Kalbarri to Albany and east to Kalgoorlie) while Horizon Power looks after regional and remote WA.
But there are ways to reduce what an EV costs, especially for those on the Synergy network.
Synergy customers have plans tailored to EVs, providing electricity during off-peak times at a fraction of the rate.
But beware that it can increase the electricity price during peak periods.
You’ll need to crunch the numbers and estimate your usage throughout the day before making the switch.
The fixed rate offered to Horizon Power customers (at the time of publication) means the main lever for regional EV owners is leveraging rooftop solar.
Once you're on a time-of-use plan, when you charge matters as much as how.
“There are some electricity plans that incentivise EV owners to charge at certain times of the day,” says Akhtar.
“It means you can charge your EV for a fraction of the regular rate – if you can utilise that – but beware that the electricity rate at other times might be higher.”
Generally, the sweet spot is the middle of the day, when rooftop solar inputs flood the grid, prices bottom out, and lower feed-in rates mean your own panels are worth far more going into the car than into the grid.
But as mentioned, in WA it’s a little different.
Overnight works, too, although avoid the peak time (usually between 3.00pm and 9.00pm).
A home battery reduces the timing problem; charge it on solar or when off-peak pricing is in play and feed it into the car when you need it.
The battery of an EV is generally much bigger than a home battery.
Unlocking it is the next frontier in home charging, and it comes in three types with similar names.
V2L (vehicle-to-load) is common and the one you can use today. It allows the car to power regular household items via a standard power-point plug.
V2H (vehicle-to-home) is the step up, and the one that stacks up best in WA.
Bidirectional charging hardware (similar to a wall box) lets the car feed the house through the evening, when electricity is dearest. Charge cheaply at midday, run the house off the car from 3pm to 9pm, and you sidestep the priciest window entirely. The catch is the hardware required to enable it, which, at this stage, looks like it could initially cost thousands.
V2G (vehicle-to-grid) uses the same hardware but sends power past the house and into the grid.
The economics are less compelling for V2G in WA at the moment.
Buying electricity in the cheapest window and exporting it during the late-afternoon peak leaves a slim margin, which charging losses would likely swallow.
Using the power yourself is a different story. Electricity bought at the midday rate and used to run the house through the evening peak avoids buying at several times that rate. That's where the value is.
As for timing, Hyundai and Kia have confirmed V2G capability arriving in Australia in the second half of 2026, led by the Ioniq 9 and EV9. Many others are working on it, but the requirements stack up: a compatible car, a certified charger, an electrician and network sign-off.
Around one in 10 Australians live in an apartment.
Installing EV chargers in unit blocks isn’t as easy, or as affordable, as at a house. That’s because it doesn’t always matter what you want to drive; it can also come down to what your neighbours want, via the strata committee.
“Getting charging infrastructure into apartment buildings is dependent on various factors, including how well set up the building is as well as the appetite of building managers, owners and strata operators,” says Akhtar.
Sometimes there can be big costs, but Akhtar says there are also systems that specifically cater to the unique challenges of apartments, including the potential to overload the electricity supply.
He says some apartments choose shared charging bays, which means less infrastructure.
A more expensive option is to install chargers – or, at least, the wiring for chargers - in every carpark.
“Those shared bays have commercial chargers that can do load balancing, which means when the complex needs the power, it’s prioritised there rather than the EV chargers,” says Akhtar. “When the building's load drops down it can go full speed.”
In many cases you can live in an apartment with an EV and rely on nearby public charging, including increasingly common kerbside chargers.
Last updated October 22, 2026. First published January 31, 2025.
