AC Charging

What AC charging covers

AC charging is the default for most EV owners most of the time. It includes:

• A standard household 10A socket (called a granny charger - slow but universal)
• A dedicated home wallbox on a 32A circuit
• Destination chargers at hotels, shopping centres, and workplaces
• Some public AC posts at street locations

All of these supply alternating current. The vehicle’s on-board charger (OBC) converts that to DC before it reaches the cells.

Speed limits

A standard 10A outlet delivers about 2.4 kW, which adds roughly 12–15 km of range per hour. It’s slow enough that it’s really only useful for topping up overnight from a reasonable starting SoC - not for recovering significant range quickly.

A 32A single-phase wallbox (the standard home EV charger in Australia) delivers 7.4 kW. That’s around 45–50 km of range added per hour, or a 60 kWh usable battery charged fully in about 8 hours.

Three-phase wallboxes at 11 kW or 22 kW are available but require a three-phase power supply, which most Australian homes don’t have. Commercial sites - offices, hotels, shopping centres - often have three-phase available, which is why you’ll see 22 kW AC chargers in car parks.

The OBC ceiling

Installing a 22 kW three-phase charger doesn’t mean every car charges at 22 kW. The vehicle’s OBC sets the ceiling. A car with a 7.4 kW OBC draws 7.4 kW regardless of whether it’s connected to a 7 kW or a 22 kW charger.

OBC capacities vary: most affordable EVs have 7.4 kW single-phase OBCs. Renault, Mercedes, and a handful of others offer 22 kW three-phase OBCs. Tesla Model 3 and Y use 11 kW AC charging. The BYD Seal and IONIQ 6 are 11 kW. Knowing your car’s OBC limit helps you decide whether a more powerful home wallbox installation is worth the extra cost.

Why most owners charge at home on AC

For the typical Australian driver doing 30–50 km per day, a 7.4 kW home wallbox charging for 4–5 hours overnight completely covers daily use. It costs less than a takeaway coffee per night at off-peak electricity rates. DC fast charging is fast and useful for trips, but the economics and practicality of AC home charging are unbeatable for day-to-day life.

The combination that works well: AC charging at home for 95% of your km, DC fast charging for the 5% that involves longer drives.

Smart charging features

Modern wallboxes and newer EVs communicate to enable load management - the charger adjusts its draw based on your household’s current usage, or schedules charging automatically during off-peak tariff windows. Some wallboxes integrate with solar inverters to charge preferentially when excess solar is available. This is where AC charging gets genuinely interesting beyond just plugging in at night.