4 ms·

I was recently tasked with moving a chevy bolt what was parked on the street too long to save it from being impounded. It had sat there for quite a long time a

I was recently tasked with moving a chevy bolt what was parked on the street too long to save it from being impounded. It had sat there for quite a long time and wasn't anywhere near full when it was parked. When I got it the battery was in the orange where it stops telling you how much range is left and just says find a charger. I belive this kicks in at the 15-20 miles remaining range. I moved the car about 10 miles to a residential driveway that has a 120ac plug. When I left, the car was indicating it would be fully charged in 60 hours. That's two and a half days to do what a gas station can do in 5 minutes. Bottom line is relying on 120 to keep your car charged up is a fantasy unless your car usage is so low you might as well have a bicycle instead of a car.

mwint 4y ago
This is not true. Rule of thumb is 4-5mi per hour on 120AC. I drive a Leaf and charge exclusively at home on 120AC, zero problems keeping up with my non-bicycle-friendly commute. If I needed to I could put in a 220 charger for a couple hundred bucks and a few hours of time, but I just don’t.
- Fatnino 4y ago
  It is true, and your rule of thumb backs it up. The chevy bolt has a range of ~260 miles. Divide by 4mi per hour charging and get ~60 hours of charging. I'll allow that my bit about the bike was slightly hyperbolic.
  - wffurr 4y ago
    I was a little taken aback first time I charged my Bolt up with the 120V charger on an standard outdoor outlet. The time estimate said “9 AM” but I didn’t notice that it meant 9 AM two days from now. I still only use the 120V outdoor outlet charger, since my usage is infrequent and adequately served by the 0.9 kW/hr charging, but it helps to know that a full charge does take something like 55 hours. On the (hasn’t happened yet) occasion that I need more range than that, there’s a variety of level 2 and 3 chargers easily accessible in the area.
  - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
    Average commute is 40 mile round trip so 10 hours of charging. A top up fast(-ish) charge then becomes something you need to do about as often as visiting a gas station in an ICE. EVs generally shouldn't be run to 0 or charged to 100%, so this works out well if you have a suitable parking spot.
    - Fatnino 4y ago
      But that one fast charge takes 40 minutes, not the 5 minutes at a gas station. It's totally workable, you can uausaly find something to do during that time, but I maintain that we are still one or two charging tech generations behind parity with gasoline.

mwint 4y ago

This is not true. Rule of thumb is 4-5mi per hour on 120AC. I drive a Leaf and charge exclusively at home on 120AC, zero problems keeping up with my non-bicycle-friendly commute. If I needed to I could put in a 220 charger for a couple hundred bucks and a few hours of time, but I just don’t.

Fatnino 4y ago
It is true, and your rule of thumb backs it up. The chevy bolt has a range of ~260 miles. Divide by 4mi per hour charging and get ~60 hours of charging. I'll allow that my bit about the bike was slightly hyperbolic.
- wffurr 4y ago
  I was a little taken aback first time I charged my Bolt up with the 120V charger on an standard outdoor outlet. The time estimate said “9 AM” but I didn’t notice that it meant 9 AM two days from now. I still only use the 120V outdoor outlet charger, since my usage is infrequent and adequately served by the 0.9 kW/hr charging, but it helps to know that a full charge does take something like 55 hours. On the (hasn’t happened yet) occasion that I need more range than that, there’s a variety of level 2 and 3 chargers easily accessible in the area.
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  Average commute is 40 mile round trip so 10 hours of charging. A top up fast(-ish) charge then becomes something you need to do about as often as visiting a gas station in an ICE. EVs generally shouldn't be run to 0 or charged to 100%, so this works out well if you have a suitable parking spot.
  - Fatnino 4y ago
    But that one fast charge takes 40 minutes, not the 5 minutes at a gas station. It's totally workable, you can uausaly find something to do during that time, but I maintain that we are still one or two charging tech generations behind parity with gasoline.