Home/Explained/32, 40, 48 or 80 amps: what the rating changes

32, 40, 48 or 80 amps: what the rating changes

By Ethan WalkerPublished October 27, 2026Data as of October 27, 2026

A 48 A charger is rated 11.52 kW at 240 V, against 9.6 kW at 40 A and 7.68 kW at 32 A. 48 A is the most common rating on the ENERGY STAR list (134 of 424 Level 2 listings). An 80 A charger (19.2 kW) shortens a charge only for a car that accepts more than 11.5 kW on AC; with an 11.5 kW limit, 48, 50 and 80 A give the same time.

Rated output is amps times volts

Every listing on the ENERGY STAR file gives a maximum output current and an input voltage, and its rated output in kilowatts is simply the product of the two. At 240 V, 32 A gives 7.68 kW, 40 A gives 9.6 kW, 48 A gives 11.52 kW, 50 A gives 12 kW and 80 A gives 19.2 kW. Of the 424 Level 2 listings, 423 are listed at 240 V; the rest show 240.6 V.

These are nameplate figures, the most the charger is built to deliver. They are not measured outputs, and the car decides how much of that power it actually takes. That second limit, the car's own AC charging limit, is where most of the practical difference between ratings is decided.

How the five common ratings compare

Five ratings cover 391 of the 424 Level 2 listings. The table puts their listing counts next to the charging time for one fixed job: a 75 kWh battery from 20 to 80 %, at 90 % charging efficiency. The first time column assumes a car that accepts up to 11.5 kW on AC; the second assumes a car that accepts the full 19.2 kW.

Times are arithmetic, not measurements: energy from the grid ÷ the lower of the charger rating and the car limit. Linear charging assumed.

With the 11.5 kW car, the 48, 50 and 80 A rows all show 4 h 21 min, because all three ratings are above what the car accepts. The steps that change the result are lower down: 6 h 31 min at 32 A and 5 h 13 min at 40 A. Only when the car accepts more than 11.5 kW does the 80 A rating separate from the others, at 2 h 36 min for the same job.

The most common rating is 48 A

48 A is the largest group on the list, with 134 listings from 81 brands. 80 A is second with 112, then 40 A with 76. The 32 A and 50 A groups are much smaller, at 25 and 44. The 50 A group is also concentrated: Autel holds 26 of its 44 listings, so its medians mostly describe one brand.

What else differs between the ratings

The ratings also differ in how they are equipped, according to the listing fields. A high-resolution display appears on 35 % of 80 A listings against 8 % at 40 A. Two outputs appear on 14 % at 80 A and 3 % at 48 A, and an ISO 15118 board on 44 % at 80 A against 10 % at 48 A.

Standby draw follows the same order. The median 80 A listing draws 5.535 W with no car connected, the highest of the five, while the median 40 A listing draws 2.665 W, the lowest. The data does not say how much of that gap comes from the rating itself and how much from the extra equipment; it only shows that the two go together on this list.

The networked share is high everywhere. It ranges from 79 % to 93 % across the five ratings. Chargers without any network connection are a minority at every rating.

Brand variety follows the listing counts. The 48 A group has listings from 81 brands and the 80 A group from 49, while the 50 A group has only 14. The brand directory shows which ratings each brand lists.

Ratings outside the common five

33 Level 2 listings use other ratings: 16 A, 30 A, 60 A, 64 A, 65 A, 70 A, 96 A and 160 A. 16 of them are rated above 80 A, up to 38.4 kW, and 16 of those list two or more outputs. Whatever the rating, a car takes no more than its own AC limit. They have their own page, and they are ranked only against all Level 2 listings, because no single uncommon rating has 20 listings.

Using the numbers

The rating is one input to charging time; the car's AC limit is the other, and the lower of the two decides the result. The charging-time tool runs the same arithmetic for any battery, charge window and limit, and it can fill in the rated output of any of the 461 listed chargers. Each rating page, from 32 A to 80 A, lists every certified charger at that rating, sorted by standby draw.