A charging station also called an EV charger or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), supplies electrical power for charging plug-in electric vehicles (including hybrids, neighborhood electric vehicles, trucks, buses, and others). Although batteries can only be charged with DC power, most electric vehicles have an onboard AC-to-DC converter that can be plugged into a standard household AC electrical receptacle. Inexpensive, low-power public charging stations will also provide AC power, known as “AC charging stations.”
The converter is built into the charging station instead of the vehicle to facilitate higher power charging, which requires much larger AC-to-DC converters.
The station supplies already converted DC power directly to the vehicle, bypassing the vehicle’s onboard converter. These are known as “DC charging stations.” Most fully electric car models can accept both AC and DC power.
Charging stations provide connectors that conform to a variety of standards. DC charging stations are commonly equipped with multiple connectors to supply various vehicles. Public charging stations are typically found in street-side or retail shopping centers, government facilities, and other parking areas.
An electric vehicle charging station, also called an EV charging station, electric recharging point, charging point, charge point, and EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), is an element in an infrastructure that supplies electric energy for the recharging of electric vehicles, such as plug-in electric vehicles, including electric cars, neighborhood electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrids.