Plug-In Hybrid Charging
What are plug-in hybrids?
Plug-In hybrid cars have a battery and engine to offer a mix of electric and petrol or diesel powered driving. The advantage of plug-in hybrids is they can travel anywhere between 25 and 60 miles using only electric. This is ideal for short journeys and helps to give the car good fuel economy.
Plug-In Hybrid Charging
Keeping a plug-in hybrid topped up is fairly simple. Like a petrol cap, there’s a flap on the vehicle that protects the plug-in point. The correct leads come with the vehicle and can plug into a three-point plug at home or public chargers if you’re out and about.
Generally, the car will tell you how long the vehicle will take to charge, this is normally around 6 hours from a plug point at home so if you plug it in overnight it will be charged in the morning.
Most PHEVs come packaged with a Level 1 charging cord in the boot, which makes it the simplest and cheapest way to charge at home. In fact, for many drivers, a Level 1 charger is all you really need.
As a rule of thumb, Level 1 chargers can add 3 or 4 miles of driving range for every hour they’re plugged in. You’ll typically be able to recharge the battery in 12 hours or less fully. Even if you’ve run down your battery by the end of the day, you can plug it in before you go to bed, and it should be ready to go in the morning.
We strongly recommend having a dedicated circuit and plug-in hybrid charger socket installed for the charging of PHEV’s for a whole host of safety, practical, and reliability reasons.
