The huge energy demand coming from the increasing diffusion of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) poses a significant challenge to electricity utilities and vehicle manufacturers in developing smart charging systems interacting in real time with distribution grids. These systems will have to implement smart charging strategies for PEV batteries on the basis of negotiation phases between the user and the electric utility regarding information about battery chemistries, tariffs, required energy and time available for completing the charging. Strategies which adapt the charging current to grid load conditions are very attractive. Indeed, they allow full exploitation of the grid capacity, with a consequent greater final state of charge and higher utility financial profits with respect to approaches based on a fixed charging rate. The paper demonstrates that the charging current should be chosen also taking into account the effect that different charging rates may have on the charging efficiency. To this aim, the performances of two smart variable-rate-based charging strategies, taken as examples, are compared by considering possible realistic relationships between the charging efficiency and the charging rate. The analysis gives useful guidelines for the development of smart charging strategies for PEVs as well as for next-generation battery charging and smart grid management systems. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.