![show where cell phone charger plugs in show where cell phone charger plugs in](https://image.freepik.com/free-photo/ands-plugging-charger-smart-phone-outdoor_36755-486.jpg)
To illustrate this point: the Tesla Model S offers a $1,500 option that allows the car to convert up to 19.2kW. It is technically possible for a car to convert far more power than that, but the equipment would be bulky, heavy, expensive, and hot – and anything over 9.6kW would see infrequent use because higher-power outlets are not available. The conversion equipment in current plug-in cars varies most can convert up to 3.3, 6.6 or 9.6kW of power.įor comparison a typical household outlet can continuously provide up to 1.4kW, and “high-power” 240V outlets sometimes found in garages and RV parks can provide up to 9.6kW. That means every car has to be able to convert AC to DC.
#SHOW WHERE CELL PHONE CHARGER PLUGS IN INSTALL#
Dedicated DC charging stations provide more power, but being expensive to install and dedicated to plug-in charging, availability is limited.ĪC outlets are ubiquitous, so to make charging convenient your car should be able to plug in to them. Why bother with two types of charging – why not choose a single place to convert the power?ĪC is more readily available at power outlets, but despite AC lines carrying vast amounts of power, outlets are limited. Note that in both cases the power starts as AC and ends up as DC the only qualitative difference between “AC charging” and “DC charging” is whether the conversion is done before or after it goes in to your car. When you use a DC charging station – CHAdeMO and Supercharger are the varieties in active use, with CCS coming soon – the power is converted by the station, so DC goes straight in to your battery (not really, but close enough for this discussion). When you plug in to AC power – whether you plug in to a 120V or 240V outlet, or use J1772 charging equipment – your car converts the power to DC. Both sides have DC, so no conversion is required. It is simply a USB cable, which allows my tablet to charge from a DC USB port in a car or laptop. Here is the DC charging solution for my tablet computer. The key to understanding AC versus DC charging is learning where the box is, and why. You’ll notice that the more power the device uses, the larger that box is.
#SHOW WHERE CELL PHONE CHARGER PLUGS IN PORTABLE#
Portable electronics that recharge from wall power all have one: it is usually in a black box in the charging cord, along with some other components we will ignore.
![show where cell phone charger plugs in show where cell phone charger plugs in](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nlLgGaUUzXM/Wcu7C6eTPNI/AAAAAAAAGZA/S3lGzjxtN6wLSx5ZTKA0Vdh7-SeYqp2ggCLcBGAs/s640/Belkin%2BCharger.jpg)
This conversion is done by a “rectifier”. Stationary appliances that use electricity directly from an outlet – lamps, refrigerators, washing machines – use AC power.īecause the electric grid provides AC, the electricity must get converted to DC when you want to charge a portable device. That is why AC power comes in through the power lines to your home, and is what is available at power outlets. Plug-in vehicles are portable so they use DC batteries too (although most of them have AC motors – a complicating step we may consider another day).ĪC electricity is a little more complicated because it switches back and forth, but a key advantage is that it can be transmitted economically over long distances. That is why portable electronics – flashlights, cell phones, laptops – use DC power they have to store it. A key advantage is that it is easy to store in batteries. The reason we have two types of charging is that there are two “types” of electricity, AC and DC so we shall start by discussing them.ĭC is the simple positive-and-negative type of electricity that you probably experimented with in 7th grade science.
![show where cell phone charger plugs in show where cell phone charger plugs in](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/mobile-phone-plug-charger-telephone-battery-smartphone-charging-94180629.jpg)
![show where cell phone charger plugs in show where cell phone charger plugs in](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.991131.1349956842!/httpImage/image.jpeg)
Technical details are intentionally glossed over here. But for the curious, this is a simplified explanation of the difference between AC and DC charging. DC is faster, and that is all that they need to know.