• The short version
• Level 1
• Level 2
• The car has a say
• Plug in or hardwire
• Cord or wall box
• Smart features
• Plugs
• Where it goes

The short version

• Most households want a 240 volt circuit and a charger set somewhere between 32 and 48 amps. That refills a normal day of driving in two or three hours.
• A plain wall outlet, called Level 1, is enough for more people than the internet admits. Plug-in hybrids especially.
• The charger is the cheap part. The wire, the panel and the electrician are where the money goes.
• The car decides the top speed, not the box on the wall. A 48 amp charger will not make a car with a 7 kW onboard charger go any faster.
• If your panel looks full, don't panic yet. There are cheaper fixes than a new service, and the install estimator prices them.

Level 1: the outlet you already have

A normal 120 volt outlet and the cord that came with the car. It pulls 12 amps, which is about 1.4 kW, and adds roughly four miles of range an hour. That sounds pathetic until you remember the car sits in the garage for thirteen hours a night. Plugged in from 6pm to 7am, that's about fifty miles. The average American drives about 37 a day.

• It costs nothing, if the outlet is already there.
• It's fine for plug-in hybrids, short commutes, and anyone who works from home and mostly drives to lunch.
• It falls behind in a cold winter, on a long commute, or after a road trip, when you arrive home with nothing left and want it back by morning.
• Use an outlet on its own circuit if you can. Twelve amps for thirteen hours is a real test for a tired old receptacle that shares a circuit with the freezer. If the plug is warm to the touch, stop and have the outlet replaced.

Level 2: 240 volts, the proper stuff

The same voltage as an electric dryer, on a dedicated circuit. The charger's current setting decides the speed. The breaker has to be 25% bigger than the charger, because a car charging for hours is what the electrical code calls a continuous load, and continuous loads get headroom.

Range assumes 3.3 miles per kWh and 90% of the power making it into the battery. A pickup truck gets a lot less. Apartments and some condos run on 208 volts, which is about 13% slower at the same amps.

More amps isn't automatically better. A 48 amp charger needs a 60 amp circuit and thicker wire, and on a busy 100 amp panel it may not fit at all. If the car sleeps at home for ten hours, 32 amps refills a 100 mile day with hours to spare.

The car has a say

Home charging is AC. The car turns it into DC with its onboard charger, and that box has a size. Most EVs top out around 11 kW, which is 48 amps. Some trucks go to 19.2 kW. Older and cheaper cars stop at 6.6 or 7.2 kW, and plug-in hybrids often at 3.3. You get the smaller of the charger and the car, so check the car before you pay for amps it can't use.

Then there's the last bit of the battery. Charging slows as it gets full, and most manufacturers suggest stopping at 80% for everyday driving. Cars with LFP batteries are the exception: Tesla, for one, tells LFP owners to charge to 100% at least weekly. Your owner's manual knows which you have.

Plug in, or hardwire

A wall box can plug into a NEMA 14-50 outlet, the big one an electric range uses, or be wired straight to the circuit. It sounds like a detail. It decides your top speed, your breaker, and whether you wake up to a full car.

The rule of thumb: if you want 48 amps, or it's going outside, hardwire it. If it's a 40 amp charger in a garage and you might move, a plug is fine. Just buy the good outlet.

A cord, or a wall box

Many EVs come with a mobile connector, or offer one: a cable with a control box that plugs into a 120 or 240 volt outlet. Plenty of owners never buy anything else.

A mobile cord on a 14-50 adds around 23 miles an hour, which covers most people. If you use it every night, buy a second one for the car, so the home one never leaves the wall.

Smart features worth paying for

• Load management. Worth real money if your panel is full. A charger that watches the whole house and backs off when the oven and the dryer are running can save you a service upgrade. More on that in the install estimator.
• Power sharing. Two EVs on one circuit, splitting it between them. Cheaper than two circuits.
• Utility programs. Some utilities pay rebates or bill credits if the charger or the car reports in and lets them nudge the timing.
• Scheduling. Useful, but your car almost certainly does it for free.
• An app that tells you it's charging. So does the car.

Plugs: NACS and J1772

Since 2025 most carmakers have switched to Tesla's plug, now standardized as SAE J3400 and usually called NACS. Older non-Tesla cars use J1772. Most home chargers come in either flavor, adapters work fine for AC charging at home, and the Tesla Universal Wall Connector has both built in. Buy the plug that suits the car you'll own next, not just the one you own now.

Where it goes

• Measure from the car's charge port to the wall, then add a few feet. Cables run 18 to 25 feet. Check which corner the port is on, and where it might be on the next car.
• Close to the panel is cheaper, and the route matters more than the distance. Twenty feet along an open garage wall is cheap. Twenty feet fished through a finished living room is not.
• Outside needs a weather-rated unit, a proper cover, and somewhere to hang the cable so nobody drives over it.
• Renters and condo owners: a number of states have right-to-charge laws that stop a landlord or HOA from unreasonably refusing a charger. The details vary a lot by state, so look up yours before the first conversation.

Next, the money. What you pay per kWh depends less on how much you charge than on when.