How to use a public EV charger in Pakistan, step by step

The first public charge is the one people worry about, and it is simpler than filling a car with petrol once you have done it. This is the whole process, in the order it happens, for the 110 public chargers listed on this site.

Before you leave

1. Check the plug. Your car's socket has to match a cable on the charger. Almost every new car sold here is CCS2 for fast charging; the connector guide covers the others. Every charger page lists its plugs.
2. Check the status. Open the charger in the Sarai app. Sarai chargers show live availability; on the rest, look at the latest reports from other drivers. A charger nobody has confirmed lately is worth a phone call first, and many charger pages carry the site's number.
3. Check the price. Each charger page shows the listed price per kWh, and the app shows the real price before you start a session.
4. Leave a margin. Arrive with 15 to 20 percent, not 2. If the charger is busy or down, you want enough to reach the next one. Every route page lists the DC chargers in order along the road.

At the charger

1. Park so the cable reaches. Most DC cables are short and heavy. Check which side your car's socket is on before you reverse in.
2. Open the car's charging flap. If there is a separate cover over the lower DC pins, open that too.
3. Start the session. How depends on who runs the charger: - Sarai chargers: scan the QR code on the charger in the app. The session runs against your PKR wallet, and you get a receipt. - Other networks: some use their own app or an RFID card, and at a petrol station or hotel an attendant often starts it for you. The charger page names the operator. On many DC chargers you plug in first and then start; on others it is the other way round. The screen will tell you which.
4. Plug in firmly, until the connector clicks. The car locks it in place while charging, which is why it will not come out until the session ends.
5. Watch the first minute. The screen should show power climbing and the car should show it is charging. If neither changes in a minute or two, see the section on problems below.

While it charges

On a DC fast charger, a 20 to 80 percent top-up takes roughly 30 to 60 minutes for most cars, depending on the car and the charger's power, because the power tapers as the battery fills. The charging time calculator works it out for your car at a given charger.

Stop at 80 percent on DC. Above that the car slows charging down sharply to protect the battery, so the last 20 percent can take about as long as the 60 before it. Unless you need it to reach the next stop, you are paying fast-charging prices for slow-charging speed and holding up the next driver.

On an AC point the car charges at the speed its own charger allows, often 6.6 to 11 kW, so a long stop is the point: an AC charger is for a night at a hotel or a few hours at work.

Finishing

1. End the session in the app, on the charger screen or with the card you started it with. Some cars also let you end it from inside the car.
2. Unplug and hang the cable back up. A cable left on the ground gets driven over, and a damaged connector is how a charger goes out of service.
3. Move the car. A charged car parked at a fast charger is a car someone else is waiting behind.
4. Check the receipt. You pay for the kWh delivered, plus any time-based fee the operator lists.

When it will not start

• Unplug, wait a few seconds, plug in again. The most common fix by far, because the car and charger did not finish talking the first time.
• Check you chose the right connector on chargers with more than one cable. Some ask you to select it on the screen.
• Check the car is unlocked and in Park, and that no charge limit or schedule in the car is set to delay charging. A schedule set for home will stop a public charge too.
• Try another bay if the site has one.
• Report it. In the Sarai app, open the charger and tap Report. Other drivers see it straight away, and the planner stops sending people there until it is confirmed working again.

DC chargers have an emergency stop button. It is for emergencies: pressing it usually takes the charger out of service until someone resets it.