Where do electric cars charge?
A motorway service area, 20% left. The car connects to a fast charger and is at 70% twenty minutes later.
On most weeks, this car never sees a fast charger. It charges overnight at home.
The questionWhere do electric cars actually charge, and how often at a charger like this one?
almost this share of charging, at home or at work, worldwide
only about this share of charging, worldwide
of electric car owners can charge at home
of electric car owners have a home charger
Survey data compiled by the IEA.
Charge where the car stands
Cars stand still for most of the day. Electric cars use that time: overnight at home, during working hours at work. Worldwide, electric car owners charge privately, at home or at a workplace, almost 75% of the time.
Access to home charging differs. In Norway, where most people live in detached or semi-detached houses, around 90% of electric car owners can charge at home; in China, where most people live in apartments, around half have a home charger, and another third can use shared chargers in their residential car parks.
AC where cars park, DC where they travel
- AC charging at home, at work and in town. The car's converts the current, often at up to 11 kW. Hours are available, so that is enough.
- DC fast charging along motorways and in hubs. The charger converts the current and delivers far higher power. Worldwide, public fast chargers cover only about 10% of charging, but they are what makes long trips work.
How a public session runs, from tap to invoice, is the subject of EV charging fundamentals.
The public network mirrors the pattern: most public charge points are AC, placed where cars park for hours.
Check your understanding
3 questions. Answer all of them to complete this stop. Each answer explains itself.
Where do electric car owners worldwide charge most of the time?
Almost 75% of the time privately, at home or at a workplace; only about 10% at public fast chargers.
Why is AC charging enough at home and at work?
Time makes up for power. 11 kW over a night adds far more than a typical day uses.
Why can around 90% of electric car owners in Norway charge at home, but only about half in China have a home charger?
Access to home charging is higher for owners living in houses than in multi-unit buildings.
- Onboard charger The converter in the car that turns AC from a wallbox or public AC charger into DC for the battery; its rating limits AC charging power. Stop 04 Glossary
- IEA: Global EV Outlook 2026: Electric vehicle charging. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2026/electric-vehicle-charging-chap-6-and-10. Checked 09 Oct 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
- IEA: Global EV Outlook 2026: Electric vehicle charging. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2026/electric-vehicle-charging-chap-6-and-10. Checked 09 Oct 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
- IEA: Global EV Outlook 2026: Electric vehicle charging. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2026/electric-vehicle-charging-chap-6-and-10. Checked 09 Oct 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
- U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center: How do all-electric cars work?. https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/how-do-all-electric-cars-work. Checked 09 Oct 2026.
- IEA: Global EV Outlook 2026: Electric vehicle charging. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2026/electric-vehicle-charging-chap-6-and-10. Checked 09 Oct 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
- emobility.directory: Charge point operators in Europe, from national registries of 8 countries and OpenChargeMap; Switzerland, Greece, Luxembourg and Poland left out, data as of 28 Sep 2026. https://emobility.directory/. Checked 28 Sep 2026. Charging data: Bundesnetzagentur.de (CC BY 4.0); IRVE, transport.data.gouv.fr (Licence Ouverte 2.0); NDW (CC0); DGT (CC BY); Fintraffic / digitraffic.fi (CC BY 4.0); Via Lietuva (CC BY 4.0); NOBIL by Enova (CC BY 4.0); Open Charge Map contributors (CC BY 4.0), including public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0; combined and calculated by emobility.directory.