World EV Day Special: Top tips to safely charge your battery-powered vehicle

Brought home a brand new electric vehicle (EV) but unsure about how best to charge it? Or think you know it all because you have been charging your mobile phone for years? Confused between home-charging solutions and charging at a public facility? This World EV Day, here's your simple guide to re-powering your EV - electric car or electric scooter - to ensure it is good enough for years and years, and miles and miles.

1 Charging at home - Key factors to note

Know one big buzzword if charging your EV at home - earthing! Regardless of the size of the battery inside your EV, ensure that the wiring in your home or office space has proper earthing. Earthing, basically, refers to a process by which the electric system(s) is connected to the ground for safety. Low-resistance wires are used to ensure that electric currents are passed to the ground, thus ensuring the safety of the equipment and guards against possibility of short-circuit and worse, fires. Also, ensure you do not use extension chords, boards and cables - or minimise the use of these - when establishing a connection between a charging point and your EV.

2 Keep a fire extinguisher ready at all times

Whether charging an EV at home or at a public location, always keep a fire extinguisher handy. Never pour water in case of a fire caused by an electrical short circuit and instead, spray the powdered coating from an extinguisher to quickly control the flames.

3 Never charge your EV battery to the full

For optimal battery health over a prolonged ownership period, ensure your battery charging range is always between 20 per cent and 80 per cent. This is the same for mobile phones as well because manufacturers insist overcharging can impact a battery's life to hold charge. It may also cause the battery to overheat and can damage electrical components.

4 Maintain charging decorum at public facilities

A parking spot meant for charging electric vehicles is for such vehicles only. But hogging a charging point even after the charging process is over isn't exactly decent. You won't want to reach a charging station with low battery and see EVs parked for endless hours, right?

5 Availability of charging stations is not enough

Multiple mobile applications of today show not just the nearest charging station but whether it is in use already or if it is functional. In SOS situations, ensure you pay close attention to these factors as well because you won't want to reach a location with 10 per cent battery, only to find out that the charging point is faulty.

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