A Comprehensive Review of EV Chargers: Topologies, Standards, Commercial Implementations, and Research Challenges

The rapid growth of electric vehicles (EVs) has significantly accelerated the demand for advanced charging technologies in both on-board and off-board chargers to support the global transition toward sustainable mobility. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of EV charger technologies, covering design architectures, configurations, and compliance with international charging standards. The study examines the major components including power semiconductors, and other circuits that govern charger efficiency, power density, and cost. Commercial examples of on-board chargers (OBCs) and off-board fast chargers are presented to highlight the state of industrial adoption. A detailed comparison of single-phase and three-phase charging topologies is provided, addressing both unidirectional and bidirectional capabilities, as well as isolated and non-isolated designs. Particular emphasis is placed on the evaluation and selection of converter topologies for power factor correction (PFC) and DC–DC stages, with respect to efficiency, harmonic performance, and scalability. Recent advancements such as wide-bandgap semiconductor integration, modular multilevel converters, and intelligent thermal management are critically analyzed alongside persistent challenges, including electromagnetic interference, and grid interoperability. Furthermore, emerging research opportunities in wireless charging, integrated charger–drive systems, vehicle-to-grid (V2G), vehicle-to-home (V2H), and vehicle-to-load (V2L) applications are discussed. By consolidating design considerations, standards, topological comparisons, and research challenges, this work aims to serve as a comprehensive reference for researchers, engineers, and policymakers to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation on-board and off-board EV charging solutions that enable efficient, reliable, and sustainable e-mobility.