Particle.news

Download on the App Store

ADAC Study Finds Electric-Vehicle Charging Can Lose Up to 30% of Power

Home charging wastes up to 30 percent of grid energy on popular EVs as fast-charger losses surge when batteries are cold

Mercedes EQA an einer Ionity-Ladesäule (Symbolbild)
Image

Overview

  • Charging from a household outlet incurs losses of 10–30 percent, while home wallboxes cut that to 5–10 percent.
  • DC fast charging avoids AC-to-DC conversion losses but still wastes 5–15 percent of energy, rising when battery heating is needed.
  • Warm batteries limit fast-charging losses to about 1–4 percent, but cold packs drive heating losses to 6–10 percent.
  • Battery preconditioning shaves charging time without reducing total energy consumed, since heating draws stored power.
  • ADAC advises topping up batteries to higher states when heating is required to dilute the percentage lost to thermal management.