Jun 10, 2026 · Guides
Public charging for beginners: plugs, speeds and a bit of etiquette
The guide we send to every new member. What the connectors are, what the numbers mean, and the handful of unwritten rules that make the whole thing pleasant.
By Ines Claes
If you are about to charge away from home for the first time, this is the short version of everything the community would tell you over a coffee.
There are two kinds of public charging and they are barely related. Slow charging, on a post in a car park or on a street, takes hours and is what you use when the car is parked anyway. Rapid charging, at a motorway hub, takes minutes and is what you use when you are actually going somewhere. Both are called charging, which is why the whole subject sounds more complicated than it is.
Connectors, in Europe, have mercifully settled down. Nearly every modern car takes the same plug for slow charging and the same larger plug for rapid charging, and at a rapid site the cable is attached to the post so there is nothing to carry. Older cars and a few imports are the exceptions. If you are not sure what your car takes, the answer is in the handbook and in about four seconds on any owners' forum.
The numbers are simpler than they look. Kilowatts are speed. Kilowatt-hours are quantity. A bigger kilowatt number means the battery fills faster, up to whatever your car will accept — plugging a car that tops out lower into a very powerful post does not make it go faster, it just means you never have to queue behind physics.
The one piece of technical advice worth remembering: the last stretch of a charge is always the slowest. Filling from low to around eighty per cent is quick; going on to a hundred can take almost as long again. On a journey, stop at eighty and drive on. At home overnight, fill it up if you like — different situation, no rush.
Now the etiquette, which is really just being a decent human in a car park. Move the car when it is done, especially at a busy site. Do not park in a charging bay if you are not charging. Coil the cable back on the hook rather than leaving it on the wet floor for the next person. Leave a note on the screen if the post is broken, and report it — networks genuinely do fix what gets reported. And if somebody is standing there looking baffled, offer to help. Every one of us was that person once.
That is it. Everything else you will pick up in a fortnight without noticing. If you get stuck, ask in the community — somebody is always awake, and nobody here will make you feel silly for asking.