EV Connector Types Explained: CCS, Type 2, CHAdeMO, NACS & GB/T

An EV connector is simply the plug that carries electricity from the charger into your car. There are only a handful in common use worldwide, and most modern cars use one AC connector for slower charging and one DC connector for fast charging. Knowing which two your car uses is the single most useful thing you can learn as a new EV driver — it stops you driving to a charger with the wrong plug.

Every plug above is one of two families. AC connectors (Type 2, Type 1) carry alternating current for slower home and destination charging. DC connectors (CCS, CHAdeMO, GB/T DC) carry direct current straight to the battery for rapid charging. Most cars have one of each — for example, a Type 2 socket for AC and a CCS2 socket for DC, combined into a single port.

The connectors in detail

• Type 2 (Mennekes) — the standard AC connector across Europe, the UK, India, Australia, the Middle East and Africa. Seven pins, up to about 22 kW on three-phase supply. Used by home wallboxes and public AC posts.
• Type 1 (SAE J1772) — the AC connector in North America and Japan. Five pins, up to about 19.2 kW. The older AC standard, still widely fitted.
• CCS Combo 2 (CCS2) — the dominant DC fast-charging plug across Europe, India and most markets. It adds two large DC pins beneath a Type 2 socket, so one port does both AC and DC. Up to 350 kW+ on the fastest chargers.
• CCS Combo 1 (CCS1) — the DC equivalent in North America (and South Korea), built on the Type 1 socket. Same idea, different top half.
• NACS (Tesla) — Tesla's compact connector, now adopted by most carmakers in North America for both AC and DC. Up to around 250 kW.
• CHAdeMO — an older DC fast-charging standard, associated with Japanese models such as the earlier Nissan Leaf. Declining on new cars but still worth filtering for if yours uses it.
• GB/T — China's national standard, with separate AC and DC connectors. GB/T AC is around 7 kW; GB/T DC reaches well over 200 kW.
• Domestic socket — a normal wall plug with a portable cable. Fine for e-scooters and emergency top-ups, but very slow (typically 2–3 kW) for a car.

Which connector by region

EV charging connectors in India

India follows the global connector standards for cars — a Type 2 socket for AC and CCS2 for DC fast charging, which is what recent models from Tata, MG, Hyundai, Mahindra and others use. What makes India distinctive is the enormous fleet of electric two- and three-wheelers: these mostly charge on AC, and older or lighter public infrastructure may use the home-grown Bharat AC-001 standard (and, historically, the low-power Bharat DC-001 for some vehicles). In practice, power ranges from ~3.3 kW slow AC points up to 60 kW and higher DC fast chargers, with rapid CCS2 charging expanding quickly on highways and in cities. Filter by CCS2 or Type 2 in ChargEV to match your car.

How to find the right plug for your car

Your car's manual states its AC and DC connectors, and the charging port itself is a giveaway — a two-part plug with a large lower section is CCS. Once you know your two connectors, filtering is the trick: in ChargEV you can filter the map by connector (CCS, Type 2, CHAdeMO) so you only ever see chargers your car can physically use.

Adapters exist (for example CHAdeMO-to-CCS, or NACS adapters), but they are the exception. For everyday planning, treat your car's native connectors as the rule and filter accordingly.