As the world learns more about climate change and renewable energy, electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming the new normal in transportation. Electric cars need to be charged in order to be used. For the convenience of electric vehicle users, more and more charging stations have been erected. But the electricity that charges an electric car doesn’t magically manifest itself.

What is an EV charging station?

Electric vehicle charging stations, also known as EV chargers, charge electric vehicles through plug-in devices. You can buy different types of EV charging stations for your home or business use from the websites of charging stores, and you can also find them in public places where you have to charge your EV.

Electric vehicle charging stations are divided into three different levels: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3, and the charging speed increases with the increase of the level. Tier 1 is the most affordable option and also the slowest. Level 2 EV charging stations are most common in residential areas because of their convenience and speeds up to 15 times faster than Level 1 chargers. Level 3 EV charging stations are the fastest of all 3 and can charge your EV in minutes. But because they’re so big and expensive, you’ll find them at public charging stations like malls or commercial buildings.

Most Common Power Sources for EV Charging Stations

If you’re wondering how electric vehicle charging stations are powered, a common power source is natural gas. It’s plentiful, cheap, and available. But not all electricity is generated from fossil fuels alone, because EV charging stations are connected to the grid.

Your home is connected to the electoral grid, and if you have a home EV charging station, it is connected to the grid. So while an EV offers zero emissions, the energy it gets isn’t always clean. Taking the United States as an example, most of the electricity supply comes from natural gas and coal (about 60%), and 20% comes from nuclear energy. The rest came from wind, hydro and solar, with solar at 2%, the lowest.

Cleanest Electric Vehicle Charging Station Power Supply:

The cleanest sources of energy for electric vehicle charging stations come from solar, wind and hydroelectric power. Despite its controversy, nuclear power is also considered a zero-emission energy source. This may be debated, but one thing is for sure, nuclear energy is definitely cleaner than coal and natural gas.

Grids use a wide variety of electricity to generate electricity, depending on their location. For example, most EV charging stations in Las Vegas and other parts of Nevada use more hydroelectric power because of the Hoover Dam. At the same time, most of the charging stations in California use the large wind farm and solar grid built locally. So to answer how are EV charging stations powered, if clean energy is available in the area, they are most likely to use it, otherwise they rely on gas or coal.