All About Charging
Get ready to go
HOW TO CHARGE
To charge your electric car, simply plug it in to a suitable power source. However, there are several factors that affect how quickly your car charges. The UK National Grid supplies power in a form called Alternating Current (AC). This has to be converted to a form called Direct Current (DC) before it can charge your car battery. The conversion from AC to DC can either be done by your car, or it can be done by the charger. Chargers that supply DC are faster than chargers that supply AC. A 3-pin household wall socket is typically the slowest way to charge up. Many drivers use this method to charge their cars overnight. This supplies power to your car as AC.
WALLBOX CHARGING
Your Wallbox is more powerful than an ordinary household socket and will need to be professionally installed at your home. Fortunately, there are grants available to help with the cost. There are three different Wallbox power outputs available:
Slow (3.6kW): 1.6x faster than a 3-pin plug. Can fully charge your car in 6-8 hours.
Medium (7.2kW): 3x faster than a 3-pin plug. Can fully charge your car in 3-4 hours.
Fast (22kW): 10x faster than a 3-pin plug. Can fully charge your car in 1-2 hours.
WHERE TO CHARGE UP
The network of chargers has grown so much that there are now more charging stations than petrol stations in the UK so you'll never be too far from a place to charge. You can charge your car at home using either a domestic socket or wallbox. Your car can be plugged into a domestic socket much like your phone or laptop, and it will start charging as soon as you lock it. More businesses are embracing electric vehicles for their fleets, with charging points becoming a more common feature in the workplace. Charging at work may be better for renters who don’t have access to a wallbox at home. You can charge your electric Volkswagen at the shops, with shopping centres and retailers adding charging points to their car parks. Take Tesco for example. In partnership with Volkswagen and PodPoint, 2,400 charging stations are being installed across 600 Tesco stores nationwide so you can recharge your battery while restocking your cupboards. You can also charge on the motorway at services, using rapid chargers. As time goes on, and more and more service stations enable you to charge your vehicle, you can travel longer distances with confidence.
CHARGING AT HOME AND ON THE GO
Volkswagen have made it possible for you to charge your vehicle on the go – simply and sustainably. The key: We Charge. We Charge is a digital access to more than 150,000 charging points all over Europe and makes charging your electric Volkswagen that much easier. You can also effortlessly plan routes following the public charging station network and navigate to available stations. For example, it can guide you to IONITY stations. These rapid-charging stations are not only powerful but also – depending on availability in each country – already up to 100% green. With We Charge, payments are easy and transparent through your chosen We Charge tariff with invoices included at the connected charging stations throughout Europe.
