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Which makes America perfect for EVs. Over half of Americans live in single family homes. Well, almost perfect. Being on 110V in residences is a downside.

by dangus 2y ago

lotsofpulp 2y ago
American gas (petrol) prices being pretty low makes it a questionable calculation for most people. Including the car’s depreciation, an EV does not always pencil out versus a gas hybrid unless you do a lot of driving. Plus a lot of states charge a much higher annual tax for EVs compared to gas hybrids.
- atonse 2y ago
  It's still way way way cheaper to "fill" an EV tank in the US because the corresponding electricity charges are also low (in many regions). It's something like $5-7 to fully charge an EV from 0 where I am (Washington DC suburbs), vs about $50 to fill a tank of gas. I recently spoke to a cabbie in Madrid that was driving a Tesla, and he said the economics were a no-brainer. He charges at home overnight and once mid-day and his monthly electricity bill was 130 euros. Before that, he was spending over 1,000 euros a month on gas. That more than makes up for the additional initial cost of having an EV.
  - lotsofpulp 2y ago
    >It's something like $5-7 to fully charge an EV from 0 where I am (Washington DC suburbs), vs about $50 to fill a tank of gas. If you drive 5k to 10k miles per year though, a hybrid Camry or Prius or equivalent is still going to be cheaper per mile over 20 years compared to an EV due to the huge depreciation in the EV due to battery replacement cost. Even a RAV4 Prime is probably cheaper.
  - jjav 2y ago
    > the corresponding electricity charges are also low (in many regions) Those of us lucky enough to have PG&E in California have a different calculation though. As of my latest bill they charge 88c/kWh and I heard they just approved yet another rate increase. We'll probably be paying $1/kWh pretty soon. It's a bit cheaper after midnight, but still more expensive than nearly everywhere.
rickydroll 2y ago
L1 charging is not horrible; if the battery is flat, I get a complete charge (volt, 50 mi) in 10 hours. If I had L1 destination chargers 80% of the time, I'd be okay. I believe we could use combo L1/L2 charging to reduce the grid load and service more cars if one could spread the energy among the sockets depending on usage. small number of cars, L2 speeds, large number of cars, L1 speeds.
tzs 2y ago
Note that most US homes actually have 240 V split phase service. Power is typically distributed to a neighborhood at 13.3 kV (but there is a lot of variation), and stepped down by a 240 V center tapped transformer outside your house. The center tap of that transformer is connected to ground and neutral. Normal residential outlets are connected between that neutral and one of the two hot outputs, giving 120 V. Connecting across the two hots instead of across one hot and neutral gives 240 V. Many houses have one or two 240 V outlets. Typically there is one where the builders expected you to put your washer and dryer, to support an electric dryer. Often there is also one in the garage. It's easy for an electrician to add more 240 V circuits4 and, assuming you don't need a new electrical panel, fairly reasonably priced. Googling is claiming typically $250-800.

Which makes America perfect for EVs. Over half of Americans live in single family homes. Well, almost perfect. Being on 110V in residences is a downside.

by dangus 2y ago

Which makes America perfect for EVs. Over half of Americans live in single family homes. Well, almost perfect. Being on 110V in residences is a downside.

lotsofpulp 2y ago

American gas (petrol) prices being pretty low makes it a questionable calculation for most people. Including the car’s depreciation, an EV does not always pencil out versus a gas hybrid unless you do a lot of driving. Plus a lot of states charge a much higher annual tax for EVs compared to gas hybrids.

atonse 2y ago
It's still way way way cheaper to "fill" an EV tank in the US because the corresponding electricity charges are also low (in many regions). It's something like $5-7 to fully charge an EV from 0 where I am (Washington DC suburbs), vs about $50 to fill a tank of gas. I recently spoke to a cabbie in Madrid that was driving a Tesla, and he said the economics were a no-brainer. He charges at home overnight and once mid-day and his monthly electricity bill was 130 euros. Before that, he was spending over 1,000 euros a month on gas. That more than makes up for the additional initial cost of having an EV.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  >It's something like $5-7 to fully charge an EV from 0 where I am (Washington DC suburbs), vs about $50 to fill a tank of gas. If you drive 5k to 10k miles per year though, a hybrid Camry or Prius or equivalent is still going to be cheaper per mile over 20 years compared to an EV due to the huge depreciation in the EV due to battery replacement cost. Even a RAV4 Prime is probably cheaper.
- jjav 2y ago
  > the corresponding electricity charges are also low (in many regions) Those of us lucky enough to have PG&E in California have a different calculation though. As of my latest bill they charge 88c/kWh and I heard they just approved yet another rate increase. We'll probably be paying $1/kWh pretty soon. It's a bit cheaper after midnight, but still more expensive than nearly everywhere.

rickydroll 2y ago

L1 charging is not horrible; if the battery is flat, I get a complete charge (volt, 50 mi) in 10 hours. If I had L1 destination chargers 80% of the time, I'd be okay. I believe we could use combo L1/L2 charging to reduce the grid load and service more cars if one could spread the energy among the sockets depending on usage. small number of cars, L2 speeds, large number of cars, L1 speeds.

tzs 2y ago

Note that most US homes actually have 240 V split phase service. Power is typically distributed to a neighborhood at 13.3 kV (but there is a lot of variation), and stepped down by a 240 V center tapped transformer outside your house. The center tap of that transformer is connected to ground and neutral. Normal residential outlets are connected between that neutral and one of the two hot outputs, giving 120 V. Connecting across the two hots instead of across one hot and neutral gives 240 V. Many houses have one or two 240 V outlets. Typically there is one where the builders expected you to put your washer and dryer, to support an electric dryer. Often there is also one in the garage. It's easy for an electrician to add more 240 V circuits4 and, assuming you don't need a new electrical panel, fairly reasonably priced. Googling is claiming typically $250-800.