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From just the headline, I thought to myself, "aww, isn't that cute, someone got a new electric car. Let's read the insights they gathered that us old-timer EV o
by mikestew 7y ago
From just the headline, I thought to myself, "aww, isn't that cute, someone got a new electric car. Let's read the insights they gathered that us old-timer EV owners already know."
I've owned a Leaf for eight years, and it was worth a read. The first half, if you already own an EV, is blah, blah, blah. But there were some good insights in the second half, including that you might not need a Level 2 charger in your garage, a (US 120V) Level 1 might do. I will say that one might be capable of installing a 240V outlet oneself and save $2000.
But most insightful were the observations of how the whole system is "rigged" (for lack of a better word) for ICEs. A lot of the poo-pooing of EVs would go away if we didn't build a system that assumes one will plop their ass in a emissions-spewing two-ton wheelchair to go get a quart of milk.
- kingnothing 7y agoL2 chargers aren't that expensive to install. I paid an electrician $300 to run a line from my fuse box to garage and install the outlet. Then the actual charger, a Siemens VersiCharge, is $450. I still need to do a bit of drywall repair from where the electrician had to cut to run the line, but that's trivial.
- alasdair_ 7y ago>I will say that one might be capable of installing a 240V outlet oneself and save $2000. It took us fifteen minutes (excluding the run to home depot for the socket, breaker, wire and a steel pipe) to run a new 240v socket from our electrical panel in the garage to a few feet away from it. I can't imagine ever spending $2000 on the installation of a single 240V socket right next to the panel.
- erikpukinskis 7y agoWe don’t know it was next to the panel.
- hodr 7y agoIn my case the panel is in the basement and about 50 feet away. More importantly, I would need to be upgraded to 200 amp service which my older house doesn't have. So well over 2k.
- mikestew 7y agoI can't imagine ever spending $2000 on the installation of a single 240V socket right next to the panel You can’t? Here, I’ll throw you a softball: service panel upgrade because your 6Kw charger is way more than your 1960s house can handle. Most common case, of course, is run a piece of conduit from panel, some wiring and a plug, sorted in 30 minutes. But not everyone.
- tialaramex 7y agoIt's not clear to me from the description, I understand that in the US the wall sockets don't put out a lot of juice, (120 volts at 15 amps = 1.8kW) but is "Level 2" like my household wall sockets (240 volts at 13 amps = 3.1kW) or is it more (e.g. some of my friends installed 240 volts at 30 amps = 7.2kW to cut their charging time in half) ? [ Also, presumably Americans do have electric ovens right? So your ovens can't be 120 volts at 15 amps, that'd be like a kid's toy, there must be beefier power inside a typical American house already, albeit maybe not near the car? ]
- kcolford 7y agoElectric ovens generally run on level 2 sockets. They're usually 30 amps but some run as high as 80 for dual chargers and whatnot. You can also find really low ones too, it's all over the place.
- tartuffe78 7y agoMany Americans (including myself) have gas ovens.
- igrekel 7y agoI spent the first month and a half on a level 1 set up, basically an extension cord in my driveway and I was surprised that I only had to go to a faster charging station twice. One of these two times was just because I was curious to try it. You could argue the second time was just anxiety because my remaining charge never went lower than 20%. The only reason I still got a level 2 chargers at home was because I have doubts a level 1 will be enough to charge in the colder months of winter.