EV charging time in Switzerland: table, calculation and km recovered overnight

EV charging time ranges from about 25 minutes on a rapid charger to more than a day on a household socket. An empty 60 kWh battery takes roughly 23 hours on a Swiss T23 socket, about 6 hours on an 11 kW three-phase wallbox, and under 30 minutes from 10 to 80 % on a rapid charger.

In daily life, though, nobody starts from zero. The useful question is: how many kilometres do you get back overnight on the low tariff? This guide explains the formula, gives a table for Swiss sockets (T13, T23, T25, CEE), shows the charging times of Switzerland's best-selling EVs and what it all means if you charge a company car at home. If you drive a company EV, Voltaback lets your employer reimburse every night of charging at the real price of your own electricity contract.

The essentials in 30 seconds

• Formula: time (h) = energy to add (kWh) ÷ (power actually accepted (kW) × efficiency).
• T13 socket: about 70 km per 8-hour night. Emergency use only.
• T23 socket on a dedicated circuit: about 120 km per night, enough for most commuters.
• Red CEE 16 socket or 11 kW wallbox: almost any battery is full by morning.
• Rapid charger: 10 to 80 % in about 25 to 30 minutes for common models, then power drops sharply.

How to calculate charging time

Charging time (h) = energy to add (kWh) ÷ (power actually accepted (kW) × efficiency)

A kWh measures an amount of energy: the size of the tank. A kW measures power: how fast the tap flows. Efficiency reflects charging losses, the share of electricity drawn from the grid that never reaches the battery.

Step 1: energy to add

Use the battery's usable (net) capacity, not the gross figure from the brochure, and multiply it by the share you want to fill. Example: 77 kWh usable, from 20 to 80 %, gives 77 × 0.6 = 46 kWh.

Step 2: power actually accepted

The real charging power is always the lowest of three values:

• The charging point: T13, T23, T25, CEE socket or wallbox (see the table below).
• The cable or mobile charger: on a socket, its control box sets the current. The cable supplied with the car is often limited to 8 or 10 A.
• The car's on-board charger for alternating current (AC): 11 kW on nearly all recent models, sometimes 22 kW as an option.

On a direct current (DC) rapid charger the on-board charger is bypassed. The limit becomes the car's maximum DC power, which falls as the battery fills.

Step 3: apply efficiency and calculate

The Touring Club Switzerland (TCS) analysed charging losses on 26 EVs charged at 11 kW three-phase: on average 11 % of the energy drawn from the grid is lost before you drive, with overall efficiency between 84 and 93 % depending on the model. About 7 points come from converting AC to DC and about 4 from battery operation and thermal management. Source: TCS press release, 9 December 2025 (in German).

On a household socket the power is lower, so fixed losses (electronics, cooling) weigh more. We therefore use a cautious efficiency of 0.85 on a socket and 0.9 on an 11 kW wallbox.

With the 46 kWh from the example:

• 11 kW wallbox: 46 ÷ (11 × 0.9) = 4 h 40;
• T23 with a mobile charger set to 13 A (about 3 kW): 46 ÷ (3 × 0.85) = 18 hours.

Charging time table for Swiss sockets and wallboxes

Switzerland has its own domestic sockets, which surprise many newcomers: T13 (10 A) and T23 (16 A) single-phase, and T25 three-phase. Garages and workshops also have industrial CEE sockets (blue 230 V, red 400 V). Mobile chargers deliberately reduce the current on domestic sockets, because charging loads the contacts for hours. The values below are those of the Swiss adapters made by Juice Technology.

*Based on 20 kWh per 100 km measured at the meter. Sources for the currents: Juice adapters T13, T23, T25 and CEE16.

Why no "7.4 kW single-phase wallbox", so common in other countries? Under Swiss network operators' rules, above 3.7 kVA single-phase only three-phase connections are allowed. To charge faster than a T23, you move to three-phase. Source: Electrosuisse brochure "Anschluss finden" (in German).

Rapid DC charging

On a rapid charger the simple formula no longer works, because power changes throughout the session. Common company cars go from 10 to 80 % in about 25 to 30 minutes on chargers of 150 kW and above. In April 2026 Electra opened its first charging park on a Swiss motorway, on the A4 between Zurich and Zug, with chargers of up to 400 kW. Source: electrive.

Keep in mind that a car limited to 135 or 175 kW will not charge faster on a 400 kW charger. The charger's rating is only a ceiling.

Charging at home: T13, T23, CEE or wallbox?

T13: emergency use only

The T13 is rated at 10 A. Mobile chargers limit it to about 8 A, or 1.8 kW. Electrosuisse, the Swiss electrotechnical association, notes that Swiss domestic sockets are "not very robust" mechanically and thermally under long, repeated loads. A night on a T13 gives about 70 km: fine at a holiday chalet, not as a daily solution. Never use an extension lead or a multi-socket adapter.

T23 or CEE on a dedicated circuit: the budget option

A T23 on its own circuit, with a circuit breaker and a residual current device (FI/RCD), delivers about 3 kW with a good mobile charger. A three-phase red CEE 16 reaches 11 kW, like a wallbox. We compare these sockets, their cost and the installation rules in T13, T23 or CEE: which socket for your EV.

The mobile charger matters as much as the socket: a Mode 2 cable limited to 8 A turns a T23 into a T13. Our comparison of charging cables and mobile chargers shows which models have adapters approved for Switzerland.

11 or 22 kW wallbox: which is really faster?

An 11 kW wallbox fills any battery on the market overnight. A 22 kW unit adds nothing if the car's on-board charger stops at 11 kW, as it does on most models. At home it mainly makes sense for future vehicles or for sharing power between several parking spaces.

Voltaback does not install sockets or wallboxes, but helps you get comparable quotes from licensed electricians: installing a charging socket.

Overnight charging: how many km does the low tariff bring?

Most Swiss network operators offer a dual tariff: high tariff (Hochtarif, HT) during the day, low tariff (Niedertarif, NT / tarif bas) at night and often at weekends. Each operator sets its own hours, typically from 9 or 10 pm to 6 or 7 am. In the Lake Geneva region, Romande Energie has gone further: since 2025, its dual-tariff customers get the low tariff almost around the clock, except 5 pm to 10 pm on weekdays. Source: Romande Energie, press release of 27 August 2026.

Assumption: 8 hours of charging on the low tariff and 20 kWh per 100 km measured at the meter (about 18 kWh into the battery plus losses).

Is one night enough for a commuter?

Take an engineer who lives in Zug and works in Zurich: about 30 km each way, around 70 km a day with meetings. She needs 14 kWh, which a T23 restores in under 5 hours. A sales manager based in Geneva who covers the whole Lake Geneva region up to Montreux and drives 200 km a day needs 40 kWh: only a T25, a CEE 16 or a wallbox will do that overnight.

How to schedule the start of charging on your operator's low tariff (ewz, EKZ, SIG, IWB, Romande Energie or a municipal utility) is covered in our guide to charging on the low tariff.

Charging times of Switzerland's best-selling EVs

In 2025 the best-selling battery-electric cars in Switzerland were the Tesla Model Y (4,522 units), the Skoda Elroq (3,308) and the Skoda Enyaq (2,774), ahead of the Volvo EX30 and the Audi Q4 e-tron. Source: electrive, based on auto-schweiz data.

The table shows the time to go from 10 to 80 %, the most common case, using this article's formula. Usable capacities and DC times: rounded manufacturer figures, depending on the version.

How to read it: on a T23, a 10 to 80 % charge does not fit into one night. But that rarely happens. A commuter uses 15 to 25 % of the battery a day, which the T23 puts back overnight.

Why charging slows above 80 % and in winter

Above 80 %, the battery management system gradually reduces current to protect the cells. On a rapid charger the last 20 % often takes as long as the first 70 %. On a trip, leaving at 80 % is almost always the better choice. At home, on AC, the effect hardly matters.

In the cold, a cold battery accepts less power. In winter, whether on the Plateau or on the way up to Zermatt or St. Moritz, part of the energy first goes into warming the battery, and cabin heating raises consumption per km. Two habits help:

• set a departure time, so charging finishes just before you leave with a warm battery and cabin;
• precondition the battery by entering the rapid charger as the destination in the navigation system.

On winter trips to the mountains, allow for longer charging stops and less range.

Charging losses: why the meter-side kWh counts

The 11 % losses measured by the TCS cost real money. For a car driven 15,000 km a year, the TCS puts them at about CHF 80.– a year on average, and up to CHF 137.– for the least efficient models. Source: TCS.

Your network operator still bills you for those lost kWh. A reimbursement based on the energy that enters the battery, as shown in the manufacturer's app, therefore leaves about a tenth of the cost with the employee. The correct basis is the kWh at the meter.

That is how Voltaback works: Voltaback relies on the home's MID-certified meter, not on a standalone cable meter. The measurement has been audited by an independent third party, with a relative error of 1.22 %.

Company car: get every night of charging reimbursed

With an electric company car, every night of home charging is a cost your employer can reimburse. In Switzerland there are two methods:

• the flat rate from the model expense regulations (Spesenreglement / règlement de remboursement des frais) of the Swiss Tax Conference (SSK/CSI): at most CHF 60.– a month, whatever your mileage, shown on the salary certificate (Lohnausweis / certificat de salaire) under item 13.2.3;
• actual expenses: the kWh actually charged multiplied by the price of your own contract, documented every month.

Source: SSK model expense regulations 2026 (in German, Italian version also available).

Documented actual expenses are not salary, neither for income tax nor for social security (AHV/AVS). Voltaback records each session (date, duration, kWh), applies your network operator's tariff, high and low separately, and produces a monthly statement. No connected wallbox is needed, and the employer never receives the vehicle's location, in line with the Swiss data protection act (nDSG/nLPD).

To see what this means across a whole fleet, try the fleet charging cost simulator. What a full charge costs canton by canton is covered in how much it costs to charge an EV in Switzerland. For installation, condominiums and reimbursement, see our guide to charging an EV at home.

Take the next step

Charging your company car at home? Mention Voltaback to your fleet manager or HR team: every night of charging can be reimbursed at the real price of your contract, on any socket.

Managing a fleet in Switzerland? Estimate your employees' charging costs with the fleet charging cost simulator, then book 30 minutes with a Voltaback expert.