Citroen e-C3 EV Charging Cable

The 30 kWh and 44 kWh cars are not the same on a rapid charger

The original e-C3 has a 44 kWh lithium iron phosphate pack, 43.8 kWh of it usable, quoted at 198 to 199 miles by Citroen UK. The Urban Range version that reached the UK in January 2026 has 30 kWh, 29.8 usable, for 127 to 134 miles. On a home charge point the two behave identically.

On a rapid charger they do not. The 44 kWh car takes 100 kW and adds twenty to eighty per cent in 26 minutes. The Urban Range is capped at 30 kW and takes 36 minutes for the same window on a much smaller battery. That is the biggest practical difference between the two and it is worth understanding before you choose, because it affects long journeys rather than daily use.

The home charging picture

Two chargers are offered: 7.4 kW single phase as standard, and 11 kW three phase at extra cost. The upgrade is worth having where three phase power exists and worth nothing at all where it does not, which on a driveway is almost always the case.

Citroen makes the point for us in the way it packs the car. The cable supplied as standard is described in the UK price list as a "Mode 3 charging cable - Monophase 7 kW - 5 metres", which is exactly the specification of lead this car wants. The 11 kW three phase charger appears on the same list as a 360 pound option, and at a British house it delivers the same 7.4 kW as the charger the car already has.

Citroen's own published times for the 44 kWh car are a useful sanity check: 21 hours 54 minutes from a 13 amp household socket, four hours ten minutes for twenty to eighty per cent on a 7.4 kW wall box, and 26 minutes on a 100 kW rapid. The gap between the first and second of those is the whole argument for owning a proper cable.

How long a full charge takes

Those times come from dividing the pack by the delivered power and adding 13 per cent for losses, then rounding to the quarter hour. The range column assumes 3.5 miles per kWh rather than a summer best case. Columns are the Urban Range at 29.8 kWh usable and the standard car at 43.8.

Neither of these is a long charge by the standards of a modern electric car. Five hours on the Urban Range and seven on the 44 kWh car means an overnight window covers a full fill, and daily topping up is a matter of a couple of hours.

Which length for an e-C3

The inlet is at the nearside rear, in the conventional filler position. Being on the kerb side is a small everyday advantage; being at the back means the length you need depends on whether you nose in or reverse.

The e-C3 is 4.01 metres, which is short enough that even a rear socket is not far from a wall box. Five metres suits a dedicated bay where the charge point is on the nearside or near the back of the space. Ten metres handles the offside wall box and the shared drive. Work it out from where the car genuinely sits, not where it could sit, and leave slack.

How these cables are built

The cable meets IEC 62196-2, carries the CE mark, is sealed to IP55 and is specified from -30C to +50C.

The three pin cable is built to IEC 62752, CE marked, sealed to IP67 and rated from -30C to +60C. Two year manufacturer's warranty, free next working day UK delivery and 30 days to send it back.

Related: Citroen C-Zero EV Charging Cable, and Citroen charging cables for every other model we cover. For a wall box or public post the lead is the Type 2 to Type 2 charging cable.

Citroen e-C3 charging cable questions

What cable does an e-C3 need?

A 32A single phase Type 2 to Type 2 cable. That is true of both the 44 kWh car and the 30 kWh Urban Range.

Is the optional 11 kW charger worth having?

Not at a British house. It needs three phases to do anything, and on one phase it gives the same 7.4 kW the standard charger already provides.

How long does an e-C3 take to charge at home?

About seven hours for the 44 kWh car and five for the 30 kWh Urban Range, from empty at 7.4 kW. Citroen quotes four hours ten minutes for twenty to eighty per cent on the larger battery.

What is the real difference between the two batteries?

Range, and rapid charging. The 44 kWh car takes 100 kW on DC and the 30 kWh Urban Range only 30 kW, which makes long journeys noticeably slower in the smaller car.

Where is the charge socket?

Nearside rear wing, in the fuel-filler position, on both versions.