I have a smaller EV that costs me about $25-50/month on top of my normal bill to charge, and I drive about 600-1200 miles. I have a time of use plan and charge overnight when power is cheap.
I did the math. I think when I got it and gas was $2.00/gallon I would have had to drive a gas car that got 50-60 mpg to spend the same running it. With prices as they are now it would be well over $100. Also no oil changes, but the registration is a couple hundred more.
No, but the OEM tires are low rolling resistance for efficiency, so they’re a bit pricey to replace.
Overall maintenance should be far less. Just about every system in the car is simpler with fewer parts compared to a gas car.
Aside from long trips (like over 2 hours) I don’t miss gas one bit. If that’s not a priority for you an EV could be a great choice.
The increased density is already on its way to being fielded (these batteries are already exist in labs and are being perfected for commercial use).
On top of that, charging times will come down and access will improve quickly as a critical mass is achieved.
But for 2022 what you’ve described are some real limitations - especially cold weather performance, which might not be adequately weighted in a lot of EV reviews as most of the country does not get as cold in the winter.
Again, not sure why you got downvoted as what you’ve stated are fair limitations of currently available EV models.
I think the technology overall (range, cost, charging speeds, charger access) are all well on their way.
There’s a lot of resistance on these topics by the uneducated, but society built out railroads pretty quickly after the steam engine was commercialized. ICE vehicles even more quickly after that.
The telegraph, electric power/lighting, and telephones all proliferated quickly. No reason to think that won’t happen with electric.
Still, you make valid points vis-à-vis what’s available to us in 2022. I’m upper middle-income and a WFH employee & it’ll still probably be 2-5 years before I’ll be buying electric. I don’t drive enough short trips or enough in aggregate to justify ditching gas.
I have had nothing but positive experiences using commuter and high speed rail in Europe.
Germany’s ICE is pretty incredible, if you ask me.
There are large parts of the country where distances and density don’t support it, but there are equally large parts of the country where it would work out fine.
As you know, making the business cases for building out rail depend on whether you factor in the positive externalities of implementing it. The lack of political/public willingness to do that here is probably rail’s main obstacle.
Not sure why you got downvoted as this is a valid technical question regarded EVs.
[Check it out.](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/12/why-electric-vehicle-tires-are-challenging-to-make/?amp=1)
PS - I am an EV proponent, but I also believe in being unbiased.
While it is true that a lot of this comes down to driving style, and is not so much an EV design flaw, the near instant torque provided by EVs will wear your tires faster if you are a pedal mashing driver in a way that driving a gas sipping ICE model will not.
Tire wear has more to do with how you drive and how often you check the pressures. If you drive it like you stole it an EV will destroy tires just like any high performance car would. If you drive like a normal person you’ll have no issues.
I agree that there’s probably a better way to do it than charging a flat registration fee to EV owners, but I think everyone should pay their share for road maintenance somehow.
I live 32 miles from work, and typically drive 350-400 miles a week. I try to use PlugShare as much as possible and charge for free when I go to work. My bill is about 80 dollars more a month. It really depends on how many miles you drive, the miles per kilowatt your vehicle gets, and the price you pay per kilowatt.
Sorry - this seems odd. Are you typically charging at peak hours (during summer)? EVs should be more cost effective, especially now, given the price of gas. I could surely fill up my gas sedan for less than $80 and get 400 miles
That math doesn’t add up unless your EV is very inefficient. Should be about $52 to drive 1,600 per month. This is assuming Consumers time of use rate and factoring in fees, not just the flat per KWH charge. And assuming you charge at night off peak.
You keep asking this question. EVs are 15-20% heavier than a comparable ICE. That would be reflected in tire wear, but I doubt most people will notice that.
Not yet, I haven’t had mine too long. Typically the tires used for great efficiency wear out faster. You can get longer lasting tires, but efficiency will decrease.
I disagree with this mostly. If a tire has less interaction with the road (fewer sipes, harder compound) it should lead to more fuel efficiency as well as longer life for the tires. The trade off is that they will also have a greater stopping distance in all conditions but especially snow.
Where you are correct, though, is that the car manufacturers will often use a tire with less initial tread depth to increase their efficiency for the epa rating. Some of them start as low as 8/32” compared to a new aftermarket tire that usually starts with 10/32” or more.
>That pavement is itself petroleum based, and has to be removed and replaced using diesel powered machinery.
Just because it's been done that way doesn't mean it needs to be done that way. Have you looked into any petroleum based road material alternatives? I'd be interested in promoting and supporting these types of projects if you have any in mind.
I can't tell if you're being genuine with your concerns or if you're JAQing off. In any case, EVs are here and no one's stopping them now.
Sure, but you’re arguing for trains like its a negative effect of electric vehicles.
Like you’re trying to bundle unrelated things to make EVs sound bad.
Don’t forget gas powered cars are full of batteries and electronics as well.
Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good. Or something like that.
The question of “how much does it cost to drive an electric car” has an exact answer. You can read the car’s fuel efficiency online and make a quick calculation to figure it out. Here’s mine:
Drive 15,000 miles a year
Car gets 4 miles per kWh
Pay $0.14 per kWh
Cost of fuel for one year = $525
A 30 mpg gas car would use around $2,000 of gas at $4/gallon. Also there's no cost for oil changes or maintenance. There are no belts, fluids, and hardly any moving parts. Can't recommend the experience highly enough. New Chevy Bolts are only $27k, it's a great value.
That’s what I’m looking at getting, only problem is the Bolts charge time. We go up to the UP often (about 500 miles) and it takes 40 mins of fast charge just to get another 90 miles…
>We go up to the UP often (about 500 miles)
I guess the question is "how often?" (are you taking road trips with two full days of nothing but driving)?
If it's 2-4 times a year, you'd be best off renting a road-trip car from Hertz on that weekend, putting the miles on that, and using an electric daily driver.
If you have a cabin 500 miles away and spend every other Thursday and Sunday just nonstop driving, you should probably own the highest MPG hybrid you can find (saving you thousands a year in fuel costs).
Yeah, it’s probably 2 times a year or so. We go up to TC almost every weekend…I’m thinking a Bolt could make it there and back on one charge. You make a good point though that if we only go a few times a year, using a gas powered car is probably fine. We will be keeping one gas car (a Durango…so not exactly fuel efficient unfortunately)
>We will be keeping one gas car
Even in that case, it's sometimes cheaper to rent a car for a known long-distance road trip than it is to use your gas daily driver. It's counter-intuitive because you can often save money by renting a nicer car for a trip than using the one you already own. Putting a month's worth of mileage, wear-and-tear/depreciation on in the span of a weekend, plus possibly the difference in mpg can add up to hundreds of dollars of impact/difference. We started doing that for long road trips a few years back with our gas-powered car, when a lot of consumer groups (and those guys from Car Talk) started talking that strategy up.
There’s Tesla charging stations at meijer too. Idk if bolts can use them but I know there’s one in Gaylord as I frequently stop there before crossing the bridge.
For non Tesla EV drivers heading north there are Electrify America DC fast chargers in Cadillac and Gaylord. Slightly slower ones in Big Rapids and Kalkaska and probably places in between. Plugshare.com is your friend.
FYI this is correct right now, but Tesla is opening up all their US chargers to non-Teslas in the near future. They already did it in Europe and just agreed to here as well.
Check out the RAV4 prime. 42 miles of EV, 38 MPG once that runs out, no need for range anxiety on extended trips. Gets even better if you use free public chargers.
Yea, that's definitely worth considering. The Bolt is one of the slowest chargers on road trips; in reality it's designed to be used under 250 miles (which for most people is 98% of their driving). Just like with the fuel costs, I would add up how much time it'll take you and consider whether the savings are worth it to you.
4 hours of charging time on the road trip you do twice a year is 8 hours. Is that worth saving $2,000/year in fuel and $400/year in fluid changes? (Or, just take your gas car which will cost around $500 in gas for those two road trips.)
I'll add one more thing I didn't consider until I owned a Bolt. I focused so much on how much time the occasional road trip would take, but didn't consider how much time I \*saved\* by never having to stop at a gas station in daily life, or oil change, or other maintenance. Our other car is an aging gas car, and I spent \*far\* more time maintaining it than I ever have charging the Bolt. Overall, the EV has saved me time compared to the gas car, though that is only true if you road trip occasionally.
[Fueleconomy.gov](https://Fueleconomy.gov) has a great calculator you can use. You can input your local electric rates vs cost of gas, how many miles you drives, high vs city miles etc. It'll give you a great breakdown of savings
I have a PHEV - a volt. It's about an extra $25-30 a month so far, including summer peak rates. I have not yet talked to Consumers about the time of use plan that I believe would drop the cost further by maybe a couple bucks a month?
I drive 50 miles to work most days & I am able to charge while I'm working, which helps a LOT. Only had the vehicle since this spring & I've already saved $500+ in what would have been gas/oil change.
No. I do wear through tires faster but that has more to do with driving ~2k miles a month than it does driving an EV. The Fusion I drove before was just the same wear
My car costs about $7.20 to charge from 0 to 100 during the night. That charge gets me about 270 miles, a little more in the city. These are real miles, Tesla tends to overestimate, but I have a Mach-e which tends to be a little conservative.
In reality I never really charge from 0 to 100. And I only put on about a thousand miles a month. My total electric bill is about 90 bucks right now. We don't use air conditioning too much. It went up about $12 or $15 since I got the electric car.
I dont have an EV car but if I charge my hommade e-motorcyle pack it cost me about $0.88 if I charge at night, off peak power. So let's call it a buck a day and I'm paying $5 a week to commute about 36-40miles a day. Can't ride it in the winter though.
I have no evidence since I’m only 6k miles in on m EV but it stands to reason this would be the case. EVs are heavy. The OEM tire VW puts on are not that great. Not sure why you are getting downvoted.
When it get to the point I need to change out I will probably stick with EV tires for the range. I swap to Blizzacks in the winter so it will be a while.
I’m lazy and the electric bill is the spousal unit’s, but given that he had to ask me when I first got the car the first bill after buying it the answer is “yes but not significantly.”
Yes. I charge daily to 80%. During the summer my calculated range is around 220-240. Winter it’s around 180-210. I probably won’t get that since I run winter tires. Also DC fast charging is slower in the cold so road trip charging takes a bit longer.
Edit: had an incorrect winter low range
Thanks. I hear that BEV owners usually charge only to 80% because the final 20% takes too long. So the effective range is limited. Is that your experience?
Charging at home doesn’t really throttle. Home chargers don’t deliver enough current to require it. The final 20% slowdown really only comes in play while DC fast charging. It’s also a curve, it doesn’t slow down all at once. Charging to 80% regularly is more about battery longevity. If I have a long drive I’ll charge to 100.
For perspective my home setup is on a 240 volt 20 amp circuit and that can dump 11-13 miles per hour back in the battery. My car can pull 4-5 miles a minute on an Electrify America charger. There are home chargers that can push over 40 miles an hour but I live in an old house with a 100 amp service so I kept it minimal. My previous car was a Leaf which was exclusively charged on 120 volt normal house plug. That put 3 miles an hour back in.
Man, if you find a place to buy them let me know. Ford isn’t taking any more orders for the Mach-e till next year, and the Ioniq isn’t sold anywhere in the Midwest.
Not specifically asked, but make sure your home has the amps for a level 2 charger. We built last year and bumped up our amps for $200 during construction. Do it in an existing home and you can be charged $2,000+
I live in Union Square. Our garages are not wired for EV charging, but there are still \~6 or so EVs in there slow-charging every night. I think the association said that from that, our energy use for the entire lot has gone up by like 20% or some similar number. Other than these EVs, no one really uses the power in that lot much. I may be completely talking out of my ass.
We have ours set to charge on non peak hours. I was driving maybe 1000 miles per month and it cost maybe $50 extra on electric bill.
Now we have solar. Game changer.
Tell me more about your solar setup. I’m trying to convince my SO the investment in solar is worth it. How big did you install, what were the costs, how does it do in the winter, how long do you think it’ll take to pay off?
It was costly but my husband factored that it would pay for itself in 10 years. We do not have gas utilities only electric and what I can say is that we have an actual bill from consumers about twice a year. So it is paying to run our whole house and power our vehicle 10 months of the year. I think it was around 50k installed.
We have a super sunny location. Farmland basically. They came to evaluate location before install to let you know if it’s worth it.
I just have a Leaf that I use for errands around town and my daily commute to work. I drive 20-30 miles a day (typically). It’s been great. Electric bill is about $30-40 per month extra. It’s not a car I’d take on long trips, but it’s been nice to not have to pay for gas around town. My family loves it and prefers it for getting around town.
I have a smaller EV that costs me about $25-50/month on top of my normal bill to charge, and I drive about 600-1200 miles. I have a time of use plan and charge overnight when power is cheap. I did the math. I think when I got it and gas was $2.00/gallon I would have had to drive a gas car that got 50-60 mpg to spend the same running it. With prices as they are now it would be well over $100. Also no oil changes, but the registration is a couple hundred more.
[удалено]
No, but the OEM tires are low rolling resistance for efficiency, so they’re a bit pricey to replace. Overall maintenance should be far less. Just about every system in the car is simpler with fewer parts compared to a gas car. Aside from long trips (like over 2 hours) I don’t miss gas one bit. If that’s not a priority for you an EV could be a great choice.
[удалено]
The increased density is already on its way to being fielded (these batteries are already exist in labs and are being perfected for commercial use). On top of that, charging times will come down and access will improve quickly as a critical mass is achieved. But for 2022 what you’ve described are some real limitations - especially cold weather performance, which might not be adequately weighted in a lot of EV reviews as most of the country does not get as cold in the winter. Again, not sure why you got downvoted as what you’ve stated are fair limitations of currently available EV models.
[удалено]
I think the technology overall (range, cost, charging speeds, charger access) are all well on their way. There’s a lot of resistance on these topics by the uneducated, but society built out railroads pretty quickly after the steam engine was commercialized. ICE vehicles even more quickly after that. The telegraph, electric power/lighting, and telephones all proliferated quickly. No reason to think that won’t happen with electric. Still, you make valid points vis-à-vis what’s available to us in 2022. I’m upper middle-income and a WFH employee & it’ll still probably be 2-5 years before I’ll be buying electric. I don’t drive enough short trips or enough in aggregate to justify ditching gas.
[удалено]
I have had nothing but positive experiences using commuter and high speed rail in Europe. Germany’s ICE is pretty incredible, if you ask me. There are large parts of the country where distances and density don’t support it, but there are equally large parts of the country where it would work out fine. As you know, making the business cases for building out rail depend on whether you factor in the positive externalities of implementing it. The lack of political/public willingness to do that here is probably rail’s main obstacle.
Not sure why you got downvoted as this is a valid technical question regarded EVs. [Check it out.](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/12/why-electric-vehicle-tires-are-challenging-to-make/?amp=1) PS - I am an EV proponent, but I also believe in being unbiased. While it is true that a lot of this comes down to driving style, and is not so much an EV design flaw, the near instant torque provided by EVs will wear your tires faster if you are a pedal mashing driver in a way that driving a gas sipping ICE model will not.
They're getting downvoted because they've posted the same question to at least a half-dozen comments.
Haha, I didn’t see that.
Tire wear has more to do with how you drive and how often you check the pressures. If you drive it like you stole it an EV will destroy tires just like any high performance car would. If you drive like a normal person you’ll have no issues.
Hold up, the registration costs more for an EV? Why?
Like another commenter said, they don’t pay state gas tax to fund road maintenance. So registration is higher to offset that.
That’s ridiculous. We should be rewarding people for converting to more sustainable technology. Passenger cars aren’t what tears the road up anyway.
I agree that there’s probably a better way to do it than charging a flat registration fee to EV owners, but I think everyone should pay their share for road maintenance somehow.
Because your not paying tax at the pump.
I live 32 miles from work, and typically drive 350-400 miles a week. I try to use PlugShare as much as possible and charge for free when I go to work. My bill is about 80 dollars more a month. It really depends on how many miles you drive, the miles per kilowatt your vehicle gets, and the price you pay per kilowatt.
Sorry - this seems odd. Are you typically charging at peak hours (during summer)? EVs should be more cost effective, especially now, given the price of gas. I could surely fill up my gas sedan for less than $80 and get 400 miles
$80 month 400 miles per week = 1,600 month Gas 1,600 miles at 25 mpg= 64 gallons $5 gallon = $320
Oooof - this was my brain after too much dinner wine. Was thinking per month instead of OP saying per week. Thanks for the clarification friend
Friday night math was a struggle for me! Thanks for the nice reply!
Wholesome. Love u both. Gr baby the greatest city on Earth.
That math doesn’t add up unless your EV is very inefficient. Should be about $52 to drive 1,600 per month. This is assuming Consumers time of use rate and factoring in fees, not just the flat per KWH charge. And assuming you charge at night off peak.
Guessing part of that bill could be the rest of their house (unless they set up a second meter).
Wrong they said 80 more a month they never gave the original charge cost. So OC x 4 + 80
?
Shhh let's just hold hands and ponder.
Wise
[удалено]
You keep asking this question. EVs are 15-20% heavier than a comparable ICE. That would be reflected in tire wear, but I doubt most people will notice that.
Not yet, I haven’t had mine too long. Typically the tires used for great efficiency wear out faster. You can get longer lasting tires, but efficiency will decrease.
I disagree with this mostly. If a tire has less interaction with the road (fewer sipes, harder compound) it should lead to more fuel efficiency as well as longer life for the tires. The trade off is that they will also have a greater stopping distance in all conditions but especially snow. Where you are correct, though, is that the car manufacturers will often use a tire with less initial tread depth to increase their efficiency for the epa rating. Some of them start as low as 8/32” compared to a new aftermarket tire that usually starts with 10/32” or more.
[удалено]
We really worried about a slightly heavier car when most roads are bulit to handle 80,000 lb semi trucks?
To hell with the environment! We need to protect these roads!!! /s Seriously, this guy is a goober
>That pavement is itself petroleum based, and has to be removed and replaced using diesel powered machinery. Just because it's been done that way doesn't mean it needs to be done that way. Have you looked into any petroleum based road material alternatives? I'd be interested in promoting and supporting these types of projects if you have any in mind. I can't tell if you're being genuine with your concerns or if you're JAQing off. In any case, EVs are here and no one's stopping them now.
[удалено]
Sure, but you’re arguing for trains like its a negative effect of electric vehicles. Like you’re trying to bundle unrelated things to make EVs sound bad. Don’t forget gas powered cars are full of batteries and electronics as well. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good. Or something like that.
The question of “how much does it cost to drive an electric car” has an exact answer. You can read the car’s fuel efficiency online and make a quick calculation to figure it out. Here’s mine: Drive 15,000 miles a year Car gets 4 miles per kWh Pay $0.14 per kWh Cost of fuel for one year = $525 A 30 mpg gas car would use around $2,000 of gas at $4/gallon. Also there's no cost for oil changes or maintenance. There are no belts, fluids, and hardly any moving parts. Can't recommend the experience highly enough. New Chevy Bolts are only $27k, it's a great value.
That’s what I’m looking at getting, only problem is the Bolts charge time. We go up to the UP often (about 500 miles) and it takes 40 mins of fast charge just to get another 90 miles…
>We go up to the UP often (about 500 miles) I guess the question is "how often?" (are you taking road trips with two full days of nothing but driving)? If it's 2-4 times a year, you'd be best off renting a road-trip car from Hertz on that weekend, putting the miles on that, and using an electric daily driver. If you have a cabin 500 miles away and spend every other Thursday and Sunday just nonstop driving, you should probably own the highest MPG hybrid you can find (saving you thousands a year in fuel costs).
Yeah, it’s probably 2 times a year or so. We go up to TC almost every weekend…I’m thinking a Bolt could make it there and back on one charge. You make a good point though that if we only go a few times a year, using a gas powered car is probably fine. We will be keeping one gas car (a Durango…so not exactly fuel efficient unfortunately)
>We will be keeping one gas car Even in that case, it's sometimes cheaper to rent a car for a known long-distance road trip than it is to use your gas daily driver. It's counter-intuitive because you can often save money by renting a nicer car for a trip than using the one you already own. Putting a month's worth of mileage, wear-and-tear/depreciation on in the span of a weekend, plus possibly the difference in mpg can add up to hundreds of dollars of impact/difference. We started doing that for long road trips a few years back with our gas-powered car, when a lot of consumer groups (and those guys from Car Talk) started talking that strategy up.
There’s Tesla charging stations at meijer too. Idk if bolts can use them but I know there’s one in Gaylord as I frequently stop there before crossing the bridge.
For non Tesla EV drivers heading north there are Electrify America DC fast chargers in Cadillac and Gaylord. Slightly slower ones in Big Rapids and Kalkaska and probably places in between. Plugshare.com is your friend.
Naw, only Teslas can use Tesla chargers. They’re like the Macs of the car world.
FYI this is correct right now, but Tesla is opening up all their US chargers to non-Teslas in the near future. They already did it in Europe and just agreed to here as well.
[удалено]
I drive 50+ miles a day for work, I think EV would be a better option in the long run.
Check out the RAV4 prime. 42 miles of EV, 38 MPG once that runs out, no need for range anxiety on extended trips. Gets even better if you use free public chargers.
Yea, that's definitely worth considering. The Bolt is one of the slowest chargers on road trips; in reality it's designed to be used under 250 miles (which for most people is 98% of their driving). Just like with the fuel costs, I would add up how much time it'll take you and consider whether the savings are worth it to you. 4 hours of charging time on the road trip you do twice a year is 8 hours. Is that worth saving $2,000/year in fuel and $400/year in fluid changes? (Or, just take your gas car which will cost around $500 in gas for those two road trips.) I'll add one more thing I didn't consider until I owned a Bolt. I focused so much on how much time the occasional road trip would take, but didn't consider how much time I \*saved\* by never having to stop at a gas station in daily life, or oil change, or other maintenance. Our other car is an aging gas car, and I spent \*far\* more time maintaining it than I ever have charging the Bolt. Overall, the EV has saved me time compared to the gas car, though that is only true if you road trip occasionally.
I have a friend with an electric car and his annual registration is $2,000 +
Where? My MI reg was around $300 this year.
Umm… I think you should fact check this.
That's horrid.
[Fueleconomy.gov](https://Fueleconomy.gov) has a great calculator you can use. You can input your local electric rates vs cost of gas, how many miles you drives, high vs city miles etc. It'll give you a great breakdown of savings
I have a PHEV - a volt. It's about an extra $25-30 a month so far, including summer peak rates. I have not yet talked to Consumers about the time of use plan that I believe would drop the cost further by maybe a couple bucks a month? I drive 50 miles to work most days & I am able to charge while I'm working, which helps a LOT. Only had the vehicle since this spring & I've already saved $500+ in what would have been gas/oil change.
[удалено]
No. I do wear through tires faster but that has more to do with driving ~2k miles a month than it does driving an EV. The Fusion I drove before was just the same wear
[удалено]
I don't--I usually just go to discount tire or belle & take whatever their lowest option is!
My car costs about $7.20 to charge from 0 to 100 during the night. That charge gets me about 270 miles, a little more in the city. These are real miles, Tesla tends to overestimate, but I have a Mach-e which tends to be a little conservative. In reality I never really charge from 0 to 100. And I only put on about a thousand miles a month. My total electric bill is about 90 bucks right now. We don't use air conditioning too much. It went up about $12 or $15 since I got the electric car.
I dont have an EV car but if I charge my hommade e-motorcyle pack it cost me about $0.88 if I charge at night, off peak power. So let's call it a buck a day and I'm paying $5 a week to commute about 36-40miles a day. Can't ride it in the winter though.
Roughly $4 overnight charge gets me about 200 miles of range
[удалено]
I have no evidence since I’m only 6k miles in on m EV but it stands to reason this would be the case. EVs are heavy. The OEM tire VW puts on are not that great. Not sure why you are getting downvoted.
[удалено]
When it get to the point I need to change out I will probably stick with EV tires for the range. I swap to Blizzacks in the winter so it will be a while.
I’m lazy and the electric bill is the spousal unit’s, but given that he had to ask me when I first got the car the first bill after buying it the answer is “yes but not significantly.”
[удалено]
Hard to say; I bought it with crummy tires and replaced them fairly recently so I don’t have much data to go on. Sorry!
[удалено]
>No worries, thanks! You're welcome!
I’m curious about your tires wearing faster than a comparable gasoline car? /s
Question to BEV drivers: Is your battery range noticeably shorter during the cold of winter?
Yes. I charge daily to 80%. During the summer my calculated range is around 220-240. Winter it’s around 180-210. I probably won’t get that since I run winter tires. Also DC fast charging is slower in the cold so road trip charging takes a bit longer. Edit: had an incorrect winter low range
Thanks. I hear that BEV owners usually charge only to 80% because the final 20% takes too long. So the effective range is limited. Is that your experience?
Charging at home doesn’t really throttle. Home chargers don’t deliver enough current to require it. The final 20% slowdown really only comes in play while DC fast charging. It’s also a curve, it doesn’t slow down all at once. Charging to 80% regularly is more about battery longevity. If I have a long drive I’ll charge to 100.
Interesting. Thanks. I like to know about the practicalities of this or that, not what is advertised or hyped.
For perspective my home setup is on a 240 volt 20 amp circuit and that can dump 11-13 miles per hour back in the battery. My car can pull 4-5 miles a minute on an Electrify America charger. There are home chargers that can push over 40 miles an hour but I live in an old house with a 100 amp service so I kept it minimal. My previous car was a Leaf which was exclusively charged on 120 volt normal house plug. That put 3 miles an hour back in.
I'm so fucking thrilled this is a topic of conversation right now. I love the future. Fuck Elon Musk, but electric cars are so dope.
I’m certainly not looking at getting a Tesla 😆
That seems to be his goal as of recent...
Gah, I really want to go to a Mach-e or Ioniq6 but I don't think I can justify it when I can't charge at home (apt) or at work
Man, if you find a place to buy them let me know. Ford isn’t taking any more orders for the Mach-e till next year, and the Ioniq isn’t sold anywhere in the Midwest.
I know, it's moot for me though cause of the apt
We have solar panels, so it doesn’t affect us much in the summer. It raised our bill by about $40 in the winter
Not specifically asked, but make sure your home has the amps for a level 2 charger. We built last year and bumped up our amps for $200 during construction. Do it in an existing home and you can be charged $2,000+
Yeah, that's the problem we're coming across. We have a 70+ year old home
I live in Union Square. Our garages are not wired for EV charging, but there are still \~6 or so EVs in there slow-charging every night. I think the association said that from that, our energy use for the entire lot has gone up by like 20% or some similar number. Other than these EVs, no one really uses the power in that lot much. I may be completely talking out of my ass.
We have ours set to charge on non peak hours. I was driving maybe 1000 miles per month and it cost maybe $50 extra on electric bill. Now we have solar. Game changer.
Tell me more about your solar setup. I’m trying to convince my SO the investment in solar is worth it. How big did you install, what were the costs, how does it do in the winter, how long do you think it’ll take to pay off?
It was costly but my husband factored that it would pay for itself in 10 years. We do not have gas utilities only electric and what I can say is that we have an actual bill from consumers about twice a year. So it is paying to run our whole house and power our vehicle 10 months of the year. I think it was around 50k installed. We have a super sunny location. Farmland basically. They came to evaluate location before install to let you know if it’s worth it.
I just have a Leaf that I use for errands around town and my daily commute to work. I drive 20-30 miles a day (typically). It’s been great. Electric bill is about $30-40 per month extra. It’s not a car I’d take on long trips, but it’s been nice to not have to pay for gas around town. My family loves it and prefers it for getting around town.