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I know several people that charge their EV's from 120V outlets and do just fine. They planned on installing a faster charger, got an expensive quote for the i

I know several people that charge their EV's from 120V outlets and do just fine. They planned on installing a faster charger, got an expensive quote for the installation so delayed and then just realized that 120V was good enough for them.

coldpie 2y ago
We got our first EV last month (2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5) and we are currently doing this. It is just barely feasible if you don't drive much (< ~30mi / day?) and are home quite a lot (at least 10 contiguous hours daily, i.e. overnight). This describes us, and honestly probably a fair number of people. It also works if you are willing to stop by a fast charger for 20 minutes once or twice a month to top it back up. I was kind of expecting it to be more feasible, but after our experience, I think most people would be much happier with a L2 charger installed. We plan to have one installed once the weather warms up.
UltraSane 2y ago
120v is normally about 1 mile of range per hour which isn't great but is OK if you don't have to drive much. I have a 40 mile round trip commute to work.
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  You should be able to get 3-4 miles of range per hour out of 120V.
  - UltraSane 2y ago
    I have never seen anyone say they get more than 1.5 miles of range per hour.
    - bryanlarsen 2y ago
      We get 7km an hour of charging in the summer time at 120V. It's lower in the winter as some of the power goes to keeping the battery warm. It's not completely lost, though -- starting out with a warm battery results in much greater range than starting with a cold battery in the winter.
      - UltraSane 2y ago
        what car?
        bryanlarsen 2y ago
        Y
    - vel0city 2y ago
      Overall I average ~3.2mi/kWh on my Mach E. The charger that came with the car has a 120v 12A mode. That's ~1.4kW. Add some charging losses, at least 1.2kW probably makes it into the battery. 1.2 * 3.2 > 1.5. Even a Lightning averages about 2mi/kWh. The Mach E isn't even that impressive in efficiency.
    - Kirby64 2y ago
      Unless you live in a very cold environment, or drive a very inefficient/large EV, a standard 120V outlet is good for 3 miles of range per hour. If you can find a 20A outlet, usually that jumps to 5-6mph due to less overall fixed charging overhead.
    - jdeibele 2y ago
      For 14 months, I charged my 2023 Bolt EUV via the Chevy EVSE plugged into a wall outlet. I was getting about 2 miles of range per hour. There's a setting in the Bolt for a "home location" where you say you have a dedicated outlet and that increases the draw from 8A to 12A. That got me to 3 per hour. We knew we were moving and I have a 240V EVSE at the current house. I found the 120V worked for me with very rare DC fast charging necessary, mostly when I visited a family member downstate. This, though, was a stage of my life where 2 kids were in college and the other had his own car. Much different than when they were on 3 different soccer teams, different schools, etc.
- itishappy 2y ago
  50 miles is the commonly quoted range for overnight level 1 charging. You're exactly the target demographic.

coldpie 2y ago

We got our first EV last month (2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5) and we are currently doing this. It is just barely feasible if you don't drive much (< ~30mi / day?) and are home quite a lot (at least 10 contiguous hours daily, i.e. overnight). This describes us, and honestly probably a fair number of people. It also works if you are willing to stop by a fast charger for 20 minutes once or twice a month to top it back up. I was kind of expecting it to be more feasible, but after our experience, I think most people would be much happier with a L2 charger installed. We plan to have one installed once the weather warms up.

UltraSane 2y ago

120v is normally about 1 mile of range per hour which isn't great but is OK if you don't have to drive much. I have a 40 mile round trip commute to work.

bryanlarsen 2y ago
You should be able to get 3-4 miles of range per hour out of 120V.
- UltraSane 2y ago
  I have never seen anyone say they get more than 1.5 miles of range per hour.
  - bryanlarsen 2y ago
    We get 7km an hour of charging in the summer time at 120V. It's lower in the winter as some of the power goes to keeping the battery warm. It's not completely lost, though -- starting out with a warm battery results in much greater range than starting with a cold battery in the winter.
    - UltraSane 2y ago
      what car?
      - bryanlarsen 2y ago
        Y
  - vel0city 2y ago
    Overall I average ~3.2mi/kWh on my Mach E. The charger that came with the car has a 120v 12A mode. That's ~1.4kW. Add some charging losses, at least 1.2kW probably makes it into the battery. 1.2 * 3.2 > 1.5. Even a Lightning averages about 2mi/kWh. The Mach E isn't even that impressive in efficiency.
  - Kirby64 2y ago
    Unless you live in a very cold environment, or drive a very inefficient/large EV, a standard 120V outlet is good for 3 miles of range per hour. If you can find a 20A outlet, usually that jumps to 5-6mph due to less overall fixed charging overhead.
  - jdeibele 2y ago
    For 14 months, I charged my 2023 Bolt EUV via the Chevy EVSE plugged into a wall outlet. I was getting about 2 miles of range per hour. There's a setting in the Bolt for a "home location" where you say you have a dedicated outlet and that increases the draw from 8A to 12A. That got me to 3 per hour. We knew we were moving and I have a 240V EVSE at the current house. I found the 120V worked for me with very rare DC fast charging necessary, mostly when I visited a family member downstate. This, though, was a stage of my life where 2 kids were in college and the other had his own car. Much different than when they were on 3 different soccer teams, different schools, etc.
itishappy 2y ago
50 miles is the commonly quoted range for overnight level 1 charging. You're exactly the target demographic.