Charge your electrical vehicle with us – all you need to know
We want to make it easier for you to charge your vehicle along the roads. That is why we are currently working on installing hundreds of super-fast chargers all over Sweden. Our ambition is to yearly equip 15-25 of our stations with super-fast chargers and become the obvious choice for you that drives and electrical vehicle. We use renewable energy where the majority comes from wind power.
Our super-fast chargers have an effect of 150-350kW, which is a lot more than the last generation of fast chargers of 50kW.
Please find the answers to the most common questions below.
Questions and Answers
How do I start and pay for charging on the station?
You can start charging on our stations in four different ways:
- By scanning a QR-code to pay with credit/debit card
- By using a preregistered fob or card
- By using an app
- By swiping your credit/debit card in our card register next to the charger.
Where can I find the prices for charging?
The prices are stated on the station as well as in the app.
How do I terminate the charging session?
Charging with credit/debit card:
Follow the instructions on the screen.
Charging with a preregistered fob or card:
Hold the fob or card against the card reader just like when you started the session. Follow instructions on the screen if needed.
Charging with the app:
Follow the instructions in the app.
How to disconnect the charger from the car?
There may be different reasons why you cannot get the plug out of the socket on a fast charger. There are three ways to get the plug out of the socket on the car:
- Double-click the unlock button on your key.
- Restart the charging session shortly and then stop the charging.
- If this doesn't work contact customer service for assistance.
Can all electrical cars charge on the new fast chargers?
Yes, the car adapts its charging speed automatically. Ie. If you have a car that can only charge 25 kW then the chargepoint will only provide that speed. Plugin hybrids are mostly not able to charge at the fast chargers due to having a different plug. Plugin hybrids tend to have a Type 2 plug.
What is the difference between different types of chargers?
All electric cars do not use the same type of plug for charging but we are moving towards a more standardized setup.
There are in general 3 types of plugs. CCS, CHAdeMO and Type 2.
The EU has decided that CCS is to be the standard for full electric car charging.
CHAdeMO is a Japanese standard for Japanese cars.
Type2 is slow charging and is very common in plugin hybrids. Type2 plugs will work in cars with CCS charging as well, which means that a pure electric car can charge at a Type2 charger, but a plugin hybrid cannot charge at a CCS-plug.
Will I need my own charge cable?
No. All charge cables are attached to the chargers.
Which type of plugs can be found at a Preem station?
At each station there is at least 1 CHAdeMO-plug and the rest are CCS-plugs. In some cases, there may also be Type2-plugs <22kW built together with the Recharge network.
Can two cars charge at the same time on the same charger?
If there are multiple plugs on the charger you can charge at the same time. The effect of the charger will then be distributed between the two cars so the effect will be lower for each car than if it were alone on the same charger.
How far will I get with an electric car on one charge?
A rule of thumb is that an electric car uses about 0,2 kWh/km. That is you will be able to drive 200km on a 40kWh battery.
How long does it take to charge the car?
There is no standard charging time. The below reasons decide the charging time:
- The battery capacity
The larger the battery the longer the charging time. The battery sizes of the electric vehicles that are out on the market today vary quite a lot. Larger and newer electric vehicles usually have a battery capacity of 70kW or more while older cars usually don’t have a battery that exceeds 50kW
- The charging speed of the car
The speed is determined by the car’s battery management system (BMS). Older cars may only accept 50kW while newer cars can accept 150kW or more.
- The temperature of the battery.
To protect the battery against unnecessary wear the BMS reduces the charging effect if the battery is too cold or too warm. The battery can be warmed either by driving the car, it being warm outside or that the battery has been prewarmed by the cars prewarming function which is available in some electric cars.
- The charging level or State of Charge (SOC)
A very simplified answer is that it takes between 15-45min to charge up to 80% of the total charge on a supercharger.
The current battery level (SOC) steers the battery management system (BMS) and in turn how much power the battery can accept. If the SOC is low or high (0-20% or 80-100%) the BMS will limit the charging speed to save the battery. The parameters for this vary between the car manufacturers and hence different cars can behave very differently on the same charging pole.
Why can't I get full charging effect?
This is a somewhat complex answer and there can be many different reasons for not getting the expected effect when charging:
- The effect that is stated on the charger is the maximal effect that the charger can provide. There may be limitations on the total capacity of the charger if it needs to distribute the effect on several plugs on the station.
- Some cars may limit the charging to 50kW while other cars can charge up to 250kW. It is mainly the car and its battery system that decides how fast the battery can charge.
Different limitations could be
- how much charge there is in the battery when connecting to the charger (State of Charge = SoC)
- which temperature the battery has and the temperature in the air. Cold limits the charging efficiency.
Optimal conditions are warm weather, warm battery and low SoC preferably under 10%.
Most cars also limit the speed above 80% of the battery’s capacity.
- There can be an issue with the charger limiting it from giving desired effect. If the reason for low effect is not low due to point 1 and 2 you can either contact personnel on the station or contact customer service. If contacting customer service, they will need the charger number which is stated on the charger.