Currently most EV cars come with an adaptor that your can plug into a charging unit that plugs into any standard 120 volt outlet. However, if you look at the charging rate for a 120 Volt outlet it will charge your Electric Vehicle VERY slowly.
A Level 1 charger that plugs into a dedicated standard housing plug can deliver at most 12 amps. This means it will delivery approximately 30-40 km for a 10-hour charge. This may sound like a lot of Kilometers, but if you start factoring dropping the kids off at school, driving to work, running out to grab lunch, picking up the kids from school and driving them their various afterschool activities pretty soon that one charge a night on the level 1 charger is not going to cut it. This does not even take into consideration what a cold Canadian winter day does to driving distances. At a outside temperature of -15 degrees Celsius the range of your vehicle is reduced by 50%. A overnight 10 hour charge on the level 1 charger may not provide enough range for your day to day activities. If you live out of town and commute into work the level 1 charger may not even be a feasible option.
There was one dealership that sold an electric vehicle to a customer that lived out in a rural community and commuted 128 Kilometers to the city at least 3 times a week. Unfortunately the dealership did not know the details around the vehicle use and the standard level 1 overnight 10 hour charge did not meet this customers driving requirements.
In Canada it is highly recommended to upgrade to a level 2 charger. A Level 2 charger will give you between 220KM -660 KM for a 10 hour over night charge. this is a significant increase from the Level 1 charger with a 30-40KM Range for a 10 hour charge. A Level 2 charger allows you to drive further on less charge time. The variables in the charge rate is dependent on the amperage in your electric vehicle charger circuit as detailed in the above graph.
