AC vs DC charging curve

With a DC charger, the direct current can flow into the battery directly, while with an AC charger, the electricity has to be converted to DC first. This process will always take more time as the onboard charger can only take so much electricity at a time.

AC vs DC charging curve

With AC charging, the power flow to an EV is flat (meaning that it will charge at the same speed from 0-100 percent full), whereas with DC charging, the EV’s battery initially accepts a quicker flow of power, and then slowly starts to ask for less power as it begins to fill up. The reason for this is simple: the EV doesn’t want to damage the battery with a surge of power. As a result, with a DC or Level 3 charger, the initial phase of charging (to 80 percent full) goes quicker than the last 20 percent (which may take roughly the same amount of time as the first 80 percent).