Type 2 Connector

What it looks like

The Type 2 connector is a round plug with a flat top edge and seven pins arranged in a D-shape. It’s the connector on the cable end of every home wallbox and most public AC chargers in Australia. The port on your car that accepts it is identically shaped.

It was standardised by the International Electrotechnical Commission under IEC 62196-2 and is also known by the name of the German company whose design was adopted as the standard - Mennekes.

What it handles

Type 2 covers a range of AC charging speeds:

• Single-phase, 16A: ~3.7 kW - common at some older destination chargers
• Single-phase, 32A: ~7.4 kW - the standard home wallbox configuration in Australia
• Three-phase, 16A: ~11 kW - requires a three-phase supply and a compatible vehicle OBC
• Three-phase, 32A: ~22 kW - maximum for Type 2 AC; requires three-phase supply, 22 kW charger, and a vehicle OBC rated for 22 kW AC

The connector itself handles all these configurations. What you actually get depends on the combination of your home power supply, the charger’s rating, and the car’s OBC.

Tethered vs untethered chargers

Home wallboxes in Australia come in two configurations: tethered (cable permanently attached to the charger) and untethered (you plug your own cable into a socket on the charger). Both use Type 2. Tethered is more convenient day-to-day - you just pick up the cable. Untethered requires keeping your own cable in the car but allows future vehicle flexibility if the next car has a different setup.

Public AC chargers are almost always untethered - a socket outlet that you connect to using the portable cable supplied with your vehicle or carried in the boot.

Relationship to CCS2

CCS2 (the DC fast-charging standard) uses the Type 2 connector form factor as its upper section. A CCS2 plug is essentially a Type 2 connector with two additional DC pins added below. The vehicle port that accepts CCS2 also accepts a standard Type 2 cable for AC charging.