A Quick Cheat Sheet to Help You Understand Some of the Most Common EV Terms

Provided by Angelo Elyassi

Tired of the EV buzzword soup? Here is a quick cheat sheet to help you understand some of the most common terms.

AC Charging – Low-power, low-cost charging. Great for fleet depots, homes, and anywhere cars sit overnight.

DC Fast Charging – High-power, high-speed charging. Best for short dwell times, long-distance, and uptime-critical fleets.

Level 1 / 2 / 3 – The U.S. charging ladder:

• L1 = 120V (wall plug)

• L2 = 240V (AC stations)

• L3 = DCFC (ultra-fast highway juice)

kW vs kWh – Power (kW) is speed. Energy (kWh) is how much. Mixing them up? Rookie move.

SOC (State of Charge) – Battery fill level. Dictates how fast (or slow) charging happens.

Onboard Charger – Built into the vehicle. Limits how fast you can charge on AC. Often overlooked.

CPO (Charge Point Operator) – Builds, operates, and maintains the hardware. The boots on the ground.

eMSP (eMobility Service Provider) – Customer-facing app or card. Handles access, billing, and UX.

EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) – The physical charger. Not the car, not the software. The box on the street.

OCPP (Open Charge Point Protocol) – The software handshake. Without it? You’re stuck in a walled garden.

Plug Types –

• CCS: U.S./EU standard

• CHAdeMO: Fading legacy

• NACS: Tesla’s plug, now industry-shifting

• Type 2: Europe’s AC default

Load Management – Dynamically balances charging power across multiple ports. Avoids site overload.

Demand Charges – Utility fees based on peak power draw. Can wreck your business model if unmanaged.

V2G / V2X – Vehicles send power back to the grid, buildings, or homes. Think mobile battery storage.

Distributed vs All-in-One –

• Distributed = Power cabinet + remote dispensers

• All-in-One = Everything in one box

Each has trade-offs in cost, scale, and layout.

Idle / Overstay Fees – Incentives to unplug when charging’s done. Keeps ports available.

Plug & Charge – ISO 15118. No apps. No cards. Just plug in and it works.

Charge Curve – Charging slows after ~80%. Why? Battery preservation. Plan accordingly.

Uptime – If your chargers aren’t working 97%+ of the time, you’re losing users.

Interoperability – Chargers, cars, software, networks — all working together. Without it, nothing scales.