A Guide To Charging An EV Vehicle 

​If it’s your first time owning an electric car or a plug-in hybrid car, you may find charging it feels a little daunting and new at first. Just like how you felt the first time refilling a petrol or diesel car. 

Where can you charge an electric car or plug-in hybrid car? 

There are two main methods for charging EV vehicles:  

Charging an electric car or plug-in hybrid car at home 

If you own your house, or you have permission to install one, a home wall charger is an easy and convenient solution to keep your car charged. 

These charging wall boxes are often made by energy and tech companies, or they may partner with them to create branded wall boxes. 

For instance, Vauxhall and Peugeot partner with Octopus Energy to provide their customers with a reliable and useful home car charger. Whereas Toyota offers their own wall charger, the Toyota HomeCharge. 

Charging your car at home offers several benefits, including low running costs, affordable charging rates, fast charging speeds, and complete control over when your car charges.

How to charge an electric car or plug-in hybrid car at home? 

The process of home charging. However, each home wall charger supplier may have a slightly different process, so you should double-check with your installer before you do your first charge. 

Steps to charge your car: 

1. Use the charging cable you get with your electric car or your plug-in hybrid car to plug into your home charger. 
   
2. Through your car manufacturer’s app or the home charger supplier’s app, you will be able to schedule when you need your car ready and how much you need your car charged. 
   
3. Once this is set, your car will be charged and ready for you. You can check your car’s charging level by using the app. 

Charge an electric or hybrid vehicle at a public charging station 

Now electric cars and plug-in hybrid cars are becoming more of the norm; you will see more public charging stations across the country. 

These may be situated in car parks in supermarkets, fast food restaurants, outside gyms, or parks. When you use public electric charging stations in these areas, they are designed to give you a top-up charge, so you can get back on the road and carry on with your daily routine. 

You will also see public charging points at service stations along the motorway. These tend to be rapid chargers that charge your car fully within an hour. However, rapid charging stations are also often found in select fast food restaurants in car parks within your area. 

In some cities, you may even find electric vehicle charging stations at street parking spaces.

How to charge a car using a public charging station?

1. Plug the attached cable into your car. Some public charging stations may require you to bring your own. 
   
2. Use the public charging station screen to enter your form of payment and click Start Session.
3. You will get confirmation that your car is charging, and it will be ready for you when you return to your vehicle. 

Use Zapmap or an alternative location finder to find the public charging network in your area. 

Buying An Electric Car or Plug-in Hybrid Car

Now you should feel more confident in charging an electric car or a plug-in hybrid car.

If you are looking to buy a new electric car or plug-in hybrid car, at Snows Car Centre, we are home to a wide variety of manufacturers, so you can easily find your next car.

Explore our electric car and hybrid car range and book a test drive today.