EV Charging Fundamentals: Self-Test

Ten questions covering the core concepts every EV owner and professional should know — connectors, charging levels, AC vs DC, and the basics of how charging actually works.

Q1. What does the kW rating of a charging station tell you?
Q2. Which type of current does an EV battery store?
Q3. Why is Level 2 charging significantly faster than Level 1?
Q4. A driver pulls into a DC fast charger advertising "150 kW" but their car receives only 50 kW. What's the most likely reason?
Q5. What happens to the charging rate as a battery approaches 100% SOC on a DC fast charger?
Q6. Which charging connector is the de facto AC standard in Europe?
Q7. What is the NACS connector?
Q8. A vehicle has a 7.2 kW onboard charger. It's plugged into an 11 kW Level 2 station. What rate does it actually charge at?
Q9. Which factor does NOT meaningfully slow down EV charging?
Q10. What does "Plug & Charge" refer to?

How to use this quiz

Take it cold, then look up anything you got wrong. The point isn’t the score — it’s finding the gaps.

Each question reveals the correct answer with an explanation as soon as you check answers. If you want to go deeper on any topic, the explanations link out to relevant articles where they exist.

What this quiz covers

This is the fundamentals quiz — concepts that everyone working in or around EV charging should know. It deliberately stays out of the protocol weeds (no OCPI, OCPP, ISO 15118 deep questions here). Those have their own quizzes.

Topics covered:

  • Power (kW) vs energy (kWh)
  • AC vs DC charging
  • Level 1, Level 2, and DC Fast Charging
  • Connector types (J1772, Type 2, CCS, CHAdeMO, NACS)
  • State-of-charge tapering
  • Onboard chargers
  • Plug & Charge

If you scored 8+ out of 10, you have the basics. If you scored under 6, the “EV Charging Fundamentals” course (coming soon) is built for exactly this gap.

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