Vauxhall Astra Electric EV Charging Cable

The British specification is better than the European one, and it changes nothing at home

The charger is an 11 kW three phase unit, standard on British cars rather than optional as it is elsewhere. What that buys you is speed at public AC posts. At home, where one phase is all there is, the car settles at 7.4 kW and a full charge takes the same time it would with the smaller charger.

Vauxhall states it in the price and specification guide: the Astra Electric is fitted with an 11 kW onboard charger and is also equipped with a Mode 3 cable as standard. The cable supplied is a three phase 22 kW rated one, which will do no harm on a single phase supply and simply carries 32 amps on one of its cores.

Vauxhall own charge table has an error worth knowing about

Both the price guide and the press release head a table "Charge time (20-80%)" and then list AC current, home or public charger at 7 kW, Type 2, eight hours. Twenty to eighty per cent of a 55.4 kWh usable pack is about 33 kWh, which at 7.4 kW is nearer four and a half hours.

Eight hours is the nought to one hundred per cent figure, correctly labelled as such in the older 54 kWh table and carried across without the heading being updated. Manufacturer brochures are not always self consistent, and this one is a case in point. Template driven specification tables carry rows across from other models in the range, so a figure can appear for a feature the car does not have. We have checked the numbers against the battery size and the charger rating rather than taking the table at face value.

Battery and range, and Vauxhall publishes both figures properly

The current car is 55.4 kWh usable of 58.3 kWh total, which Vauxhall prints in exactly those words. Earlier MY23 to MY25 cars were quoted as 54 kWh with around 50.8 usable. WLTP range is 274 to 281 miles on the newer pack against 252 to 260 on the older, with the Sports Tourer a few miles behind the hatch.

Rapid charging is claimed at 100 kW with twenty to eighty per cent in 32 minutes; EV Database measures a peak of 107 kW on the 54 kWh pack. From MY26 vehicle to load is standard for the first time.

How long a full charge takes

Hours are worked from battery size against power drawn, plus a 13 per cent allowance for what is lost as heat, rounded to fifteen minutes. Range added per hour assumes a year round 3.5 miles per kWh rather than a best case figure. The two figures cover the earlier 54 kWh pack and the current 58 kWh one.

Around eight hours from empty on a 7 kW home charge point, which is precisely one overnight window. That is a well matched car and supply.

Which length for an Astra Electric

The socket is on the offside rear quarter, which makes this car the odd one out in the Vauxhall electric range: the Corsa, Mokka, Frontera and Grandland all charge from the nearside. Worth knowing if you are replacing one Vauxhall with another and keeping the same charge point.

We should be straight that this one rests on aggregator data rather than a Vauxhall document, unlike the Corsa and Frontera where we found primary confirmation. Three independent listings agree on the offside rear, but they may share an upstream source. At 4.37 metres, ten metres removes the risk either way. Work it out from where the car genuinely sits, not where it could sit, and leave slack.

How these cables are built

It is a CE marked IEC 62196-2 cable, IP55 against the weather, rated to work between -30C and +50C.

The three pin cable is built to IEC 62752, CE marked, sealed to IP67 and rated from -30C to +60C. Two year warranty from the manufacturer, free next day delivery in the UK, 30 day returns.

Looking at another Vauxhall? Start with the Vauxhall Ampera EV Charging Cable, or browse every model in Vauxhall charging cables. For a wall box or public post the lead is the Type 2 to Type 2 charging cable.

Vauxhall Astra Electric charging cable questions

Does the 11 kW charger help at home?

No. It is a three phase unit and a British house has one phase, so the car takes 7.4 kW. The 11 kW only pays off at a three phase public post.

Is 11 kW standard or optional?

Standard on UK cars, along with a three phase Mode 3 cable. Mainland Europe makes 7.4 kW standard with 11 kW an option.

How long does a full charge take?

About eight hours from empty on a 7 kW home charge point. Note that Vauxhall table mislabels this as a 20 to 80 per cent time.

Where is the charge socket?

Offside rear quarter, which is the opposite flank to the Corsa, Mokka and Frontera.