THERE HAS BEEN SOME NEWS. CCS is probably dead. I made a video which you can watch. th-cam.com/video/ZJOfyMCEzjQ/w-d-xo.html Most of the other info here is still relevant, but I may remake or re-edit this video at a later date.
CCS1, anyway. It's a real shame that the CCS2 connector wasn't adopted worldwide, and it's a shame that Tesla's NACS connector doesn't support three-phase AC charging. (There are plenty of commercial and multi-unit residential locations in the United States for which high-current DC charging is unaffordable but three-phase AC is readily available.)
What's wrong with freedom of choice. Hybrid diesel gasoline electric hydrogen. Idk why having freedom of choice is a bad thing. Don't really trust someone that seems to push for one over the other.
"Level 1 is good enough for many people who need 40-50 miles a day, unless it's really cold where you are." Has been my unpopular opinion forever, and I'm so glad to see you address it so well.
I'm a slightly obnoxious EV owner who talks about my car often and I can't tell you how many people have had their mind blown by the fact that they can charge a car off a regular wall outlet. Most seem to assume you need a bunch of dedicated/expensive equipment
I live in Finland and I've been driving an EV (VW ID.3) for 18 months now. I've charged it outside from the regular 1x230V outdoors wall plug the whole time, summer and winter, using the 8 amp charging cable that came with the car. So just 8A x 230V, 2 kilowatts. I did it basically because the internet says that you can't do it so and that you "must" have a dedicated charger, so I wanted to see if you really can or not. And you absolutely can just use the wall plug. At the dead of winter, at minus 25 degrees centigrade (-13 F), the charging speed drops from 7 km/h to 5 km/h but that's it. At about negative 15 to 20 degrees C it still charges just like in the summertime. I've driven about 14 000 km (9000 miles) per year. You get about 100 miles range per day, charging at off-work hours.
@@nathanwest2304 Level 1 is ~110V AC and Level 2 is ~220V AC. It's only really applicable in North America and Japan since other regions have ~220V at standard electrical receptacles.
I just realized that I haven't ever watched a single episode of TC that I didn't really enjoy. Like, I'm not planning on replacing my car for another 5 years at least, and I just spent nearly an hour learning about the realities of owning one, and enjoyed every minute of it. Just a damned good show.
I didn't plan on it either but this is a great time. I would not be surprised if we end up with gas/diesel rations due to global instability but I can charge my battery car with anything from nuclear, solar, gas, diesel, coal, even wood if things get really desperate.
@@randomvideosn0where I have a small gas generator, usually it only gets pulled out if a storm knocks out the power. We use it to keep the refrigerator alive, but in a pinch it could be used to recharge 1 of our cars over a long period of time.
Yup. TC is one of the few channels that when I notice a video has been released, I watch it as soon as I can find time to chill and learn a thing or two.
When I was in school, it felt like "it depends" was the answer to absolutely everything. Now that I'm an engineer I find myself answering almost every question with those great two words. Thanks for the very informative video, and the laugh!
On the dryer plug splitter option: There are more advanced splitters. (More like an actual large box than just a splitter.) They actually do load balancing so that power to your car is cut off if you turn the dryer on. Some also have a built in breaker switch in case too much power goes through it.
For safety I would prefer a dedicated circuit. Why compromise when one has already committed to the purchase price of an EV? Just parking one next to the house seems too risky for me. Of the 30+ ICE vehicles I've had, fire risk has proven to be ZERO.
I feel like in Europe, or at least in Poland, the current biggest obstacle for the adoption of EVs is that many people really have no way of charging them. That is, in many cities you want (or borderline need) to have a car, but you live in a flat and park your car outside. Even new buildings sometimes have outdoor parking only. And if the building is older than 15-20 years you'll be lucky to find even a street-side parking spot. When 45% of population lives in flats, most of them in older buildings, currently with no possiblity for a charging infrastructure, it's a huge obstacle.
The fact that majority of people in Europe lives in flats (hello from Czechia) mean we don't need EVs and should just invest in more frequent and mass public transport instead of playing with EVs. If one needs care from time to time, renting one for a day or two is almost always cheaper than owning one and leaving it parked 90% of the time.
I just want to add that the "kWh/100 miles" makes way much more sense for metric folks because we already use "L/100km" as our fuel consumption unit :p
Also, it's a whole lot more useful if you're trying to figure out your costs. Oh, sure, it's harder to determine range of a given battery pack, but that should be done by the manufacturer anyway (or, y'know, calculated real-time by the onboard computer). For example if I know that I have a 20.1 mile commute, I can multiply that by the kWh/100mi measurement, and do a decimal shift (divide by 100). With miles per kWh, you have to do division. Sure, 20.1/3.0 is pretty easy to do, but there are three downsides to it. 1. Division is always harder than multiplication 2. The simplicity of that division is a function of the simplicity of the numbers involved. What if it's 3.2? Or 2.7? And what if I have the median commute distance of 16 miles? All of a sudden you need to do long division to figure out how much it costs to get to work. 3. The measurements are inverted, and thus things get wonky. A difference of 2mi per kWh has VERY different meanings if it's between 2 and 4 per mi/kWh (100% more or 50% less, depending on which way you go) or between 4 and 6 mi/kWh (50% more or 33% less, depending), or, if we're looking at the Semi case, from 2.5 vs 0.5 (400% more or 80% less, depending). On the other hand, that difference is immediately and viscerally obvious when you're looking at 50 vs 25 kWh/100mi, or 25 vs 16.7 kWh/100mi, or 40 vs 200 kWh/100mi With all due respect to Alec, he's chiding the EPA for using numbers and metrics that people are more familiar with (MPGe) while at the same time rejecting a superior metric paradigm ...because he's more familiar with the old paradigm.
@@Londubh no it's not. Watt and Jule are SI units. Jule (N•m) is energy unit and Watt (J/s) is power unit. You can mix SI units and that's how we have power•time gives Watthour
No "we" don't. That unit is just as stupid, and here in the Netherlands we discuss fuel efficiency in km/l. ("Één op twintig" meaning twenty kilometers per liter, for instance.)
As an electrician in central Canada ( extreme cold winters ), I can say that a 40 amp circuit would be required here to accommodate the battery heating and charging of any car not kept in heated storage, given our winter temperatures.That said, it is still an option here for the right person. Great video, very informative !! Oh, BTW, that wiring you were showing needed proper support, looked horrible with the romex flapping in the wind. Sorry, but it really does.
We had an existing 240V outlet on a 50 amp circuit in the garage. It wasn’t in the most ideal location but it was good enough. We used an EVSE which could plug right into the outlet and provide 40 amps or 9.4 kw to the EV. Based upon my experience 30 amps would have been sufficient. We only plug into charge once a week to accomplish our typical driving. As to range, it is largely about speed as you so clearly said. We’ve had our Ioniq5 since February and have found everything you said to be true. Carry on!
I need to gas up my car about every week and a half to two weeks, so for a similar charging interval with *way* more convenience, you bet your buns I'm getting and EV once my gas car gives up on me
@@aech_two_oh Since I wrote that a year ago I found could plug in for free while we’re at the gym. That easily covers our regular daily driving. No waiting since the car is just sitting there anyway.
I started out thinking I’d need a 50A L2 circuit, and then I actually got the EV and found I only need to charge an average of 4 hrs on L1 per night to meet my needs. The biggest issue we’ve ran into is remote road trips, like visiting national parks. There are some DCFCs in unexpected places, but I definitely have range anxiety when we’re headed out camping. The pro-tip there is RV parks, if you’re willing to camp in one every few nights, because you can just bring your EVSE with you and charge at L2. I hope RV parks start catching on to this and advertising it better, there’s an untapped market of people who want to charge for a few hours but won’t eat an entire RV spot overnight.
how do RV parks charge for electricity? is it included in the price, or do they have a meter? because if it's a "flat rate" for RVs i'm sure they'll be losing money if they don't adjust their rates. and I'm also sure their infrastructure isn't likely to be able to charge dozens of EVs at once. it's one thing to run a RV with a fridge, some lights, and maybe an oven. but 100% rated current for hours at a time, it's a very different story?
@@dakoderii4221 I'm planning to get a plugin hybrid for this exact reason. My daily use will be covered by charging at home. I'll switch to EV once the infrastructure is there for longer trips.
@@dakoderii4221 Generators that can charge in decent times, say 240V/30A continuous are heavy and impractical. I'd only consider it to travel "off-grid" in Alaska / Northern Canada.
@@jonaboy3 Though to be honest if you're in a situation where you would consider bringing a generator with you to charge your electric car, you should probably just use a gasoline car.
I think what often gets lost in EV discussions, which you somewhat address here, is that EVs or any new technology doesn’t have to be perfect. It only has to be *better*. In my experience, people who are resistant to EVs focus on the unique aspects of operating an EV without actually comparing it to the effort of operating an ICE vehicle (getting gas, maintenance, longevity, etc).
The problem is some of the downfalls of ev vehicles would heavily impact me to the point it'd be financial suicide to get one. I made a longer post about it, but rural driving through the Aussie outback, Brisbane to Darwin and back, water crossings camping etc. Wont handle an impact with a kangaroo. Cost of power here and buying evs, and the charging infrastructure here. The add to the fact there are no real 4x4s that have ranges of around 1k km. And they are low to the ground. Not going deep into it but low cars and being disabled is humiliating, painful to get in and out of, and on that last not getting out, outright dangerous. But evs aren't the only ones with the issue about height
Getting gas takes 2 mins, charging takes hours, as in most busy locations there are queues to use the chargers. Plus around here, all the chargers are getting the cables stolen by scrappers.
@@azazeldeath yeah but not everyone lives in the Australian Outback. The things you cite aren’t downsides to EVs, they’re reasons an EV doesn’t work for you. Why should I, who lives in an urban area in the US that almost never sees snow, buy a car designed for the extreme remoteness of the Australian Outback?
@@MattyEngland in my area it is the reverse. There are always lines to get gas and it can take up to 20 minutes. Whenever I see public chargers, they are always empty. But I think most people charge at home, as is mentioned in the video. By the way I see a LOT of EVs, especially teslas. It feels like 5% of all cars on the road are teslas here (Seattle).
@@asmodiusjones9563 Like said earlier, most of the chargers here have their cables cut off by thieves. They even broke into a local car dealership, just to steal all the copper cables from the fast chargers.
Hello! There has been news. In May 2023, Ford signaled their intent to switch to Tesla's charging connector. I'm pinning this comment the day they announced it - assuming it happens, well then charging landscape will remain fractured but in a different way now. I'm disappointed with Ford but I can't really blame them given the CCS charging networks as of this writing. I can't predict whether other automakers makers will join them or not, nor do I want to - time will tell.
@@fsendventd In 2025 with their next gen EV platform, Ford will exclusively use the North American Charging Standard (Tesla Charger). In 2024 they will integrate the Tesla Charging API to their mobile app and distribute CCS to NACS adapters to allow existing Ford EV models to use the Tesla Charging Network.
@@EC18FEA30B just found out through getting a notification about your comment. CCS is finished in NA. This is a huge win for the electric vehicle market.
The one, extremely thin, silver lining of Australia's extreme lag on adopting EV policy is that by the time it was worth Tesla moving here in any substantial capacity there was already a standard in place that required Mennekes/CCS connectors on all EVs, so if you buy a Model 3 here it'll plug into exactly the same chargers as an Ioniq 5 or a Taycan, without an adaptor. Edit: said J1772 initially, have been corrected
@@KaldekBoch To be fair you can actually pretty easily get level 2 charging off of single phase here (a mere 15A circuit will yield 3.6kW, bottom end of level 2 charging but still) very cheaply. Angry pixies are definitely a lot easier to come by here.
This is good stuff. Have you considered doing a video about electric bicycles, and all the varieties that are available? Like you, the car dependence of this country is deeply frustrating to me, so it might be worthwhile to demystify the alternatives like e-cargo bikes and the like.
Yeah ones like the RAD Wagon would be a perfect bicycle for me to use as a summertime commuter and even a light grocery getter. I live 7 miles out of town so an e-bike would be easier on me.
Cheers from the lovely Netherlands, where we have the highest density of AC public charging stations on the street of the whole Europe. This video should become mandatory for everyone buying an EV. Complete, clear, to the point. Even if I already knew everything, I really enjoyed spending one hour watching it. Amazing job! Thank you for your help in making EV driving real and not the usual annoying chit chat.
The main thing to know is that Netherlands and most other European countries are not car addicted like the US and Canada. You can easlily walk or bike anywhere you want.
@@djlorenz11 I think your non-dependence of cars makes it a bit easier to implement that: less traffic conflicting with installation. Kinda difficult to install them when parked cars are in the way. Forming a case of installation based on demand might be tricky though, unless electrically assisted bikes can use them too.
This is my experience charging my EV. There are a lot of people who won't have the same experience, but I need to point out how GREAT it CAN be. I live in an apartment with a garage, my apartment doesn't charge for electricity on the garage so I plug in everyday and charge for free overnight (110v is enough). I don't have to plug it in everyday, I could probably get away with every 2 or maybe 3 days but it's now just a ~10s habit. Admittedly, my daily commute is definitely shorter than average. But that's not all, even if I didn't have the garage, my apartment has free unlimited level 2 charging. So I can charge from completely empty to full overnight also for free. Don't often do it because it's unnecessary. But that's still not all, my work has several level 2 chargers that I could charge at unlimited for free (admittedly there's a waitlist, but I could if I wanted to). I tried it once, but it was unnecessary for me. But that's STILL not all, my work actually pays for a charging plan that let's us charge unlimited anywhere in the city at a level 2 charger for free. I tried it twice in the year of having it, but both instances were again unnecessary. So I RARELY pay for charging AT ALL, I rarely think about it, and I rarely wait for it. About once every month or 2 I make a 600mi round trip to visit my family. The only inconvenience in doing so is from my own doing to save like $3 and 5 minutes. I'll set my charge limit to 100% from 80% (or more recently 70%) a day or two before leaving so my car definitely gets to 100% by the time I leave from my regular garage charging habits, or I'll plug in at my apartments level 2 charger overnight, either way it's free. Then I admittedly need to stop to charge for 10-15 minutes after driving ~2.5 hours straight at 70-75mph, which will cost me ~$10 (who doesn't want to take a break after driving for that long?). Then I charge overnight to full at my parent's for free (they joke it's the price to see me). I now use a 220v to charge overnight, but I could get enough charging over the weekend on 110v before heading back. Then after another 2.5hrs at 75mph I stop for 15min to charge for $10 to get home (where i charge to full for free either over a few days in my garage or overnight at the apt's charger). So I might spend on average $10-20 and 15-30minutes a month on charging. The calculator I have that tells me how much I'm saving based on how much I drive says I've saved over $130 vs driving with gas this month, and I drove more than usual. Any combination of factors could make up for the lack of the others, so for some people it may be FAR better, easier, and cheaper than you think.
Great info, thanks for sharing. Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation going around about electric vehicles but they can definitely be a viable replacement, oftentimes superior.
You have long ago convinced me that my next vehicle will be an EV, but this was a great refresher and reminded me to look into garage circuits when my family builds a new home in the next few years. I imagine it will take some convincing, but I'll make sure it happens. Thanks, Toaster Boy!
While the circuits are good, please, please, please don't put in a panel that is nearly full the day you move in. A larger load center is just a few bucks more, and costs basically no more in labor to install. But it's where so many folks run into problems and expense later when trying to expand or modify. Adding a circuit in a garage (where many can happily live with exposed conduit) is a cake walk in comparison.
@@BowlOfRed Great advice, it is much better to spend a tiny bit of money, literally like 50 to 100 extra, for a larger panel, than pay a few grand to have it replaced later. The Eaton PON BR series actually has bar neutrals for GFCI circuits and you do not have to run the wire, it is what I chose for my upgrade.
I‘d also suggest looking at tho possibility of no next vehicle, although that will probably not be a possibility for you (assuming you live in america)
I‘d also suggest looking at tho possibility of no next vehicle, although that will probably not be a possibility for you (assuming you live in america)
As a Volt owner since 2013, and driving 98% electric. I have always just used the "travel charger" that came with it for my 40 ish mile commute. I did adapt the gen 2 evse to 240v, but I have never actually needed the faster charging.
"What now, toaster boy??" 😂😂😂 This is a very good video. The best explanation on basically everything one would need to know. And trust me, I've watched a few. Congrats on the great content!
Fantastic video, as always. The Technology Connections standard: always exhaustive, never exhausting. Well, one quibble on exhaustive - a missing piece from the fast charging discussion, IMO. The narrative is often ‘look, you don’t drive more than 250 miles in a day all that often!’ And then jumping into ‘and when you do, here’s what continuous highway driving looks like - charge every x hours of driving for y charge time’. But for me, if I’m going more than 250 miles in a day, it’s rarely because I’m driving continuously to the Grand Canyon. It’s usually because I’m driving 300 miles in a day. So I leave full, go out for a hike or something, and 50-ish miles from home, stop to juice up. But I have the electrical grid in my garage; I’m only going to charge to like 25% to get home. That 25% charge is in the best part of the charge curve. So what this means is that if you want to road trip America, you need to think about 0-80% charging, but if you tend to fly when going 1000 miles, and just have some weekend destinations a little further than your range will allow, fast charging will be really, really fast
I drive in to DC for work, then directly to NE NY fairly often. This means 2 or more charging stops especially considering the large gaps in fast chargers (or lv 2 even) in central PA. I may not need the charge, but if a head wind pops up or it rains, I would be SUNK. At least installing level 2 chargers would give peace of mind and keep me from sweating it out on 7% battery by the time I get to the next place. Not to mention if that charger is broken, like the Southern Tier welcome center in NY where only 1 charger is left operational.
MPGe exists partially as a marketing ploy: Everyone in the US generally intrinsically understands MPG, including that a bigger number is better, and that 30+ is "good" to then see a number 3 times that must REALLY be good . Whereas m/kWh (which I agree is the better unit) is relatively small. To consumers that may not know better: small number may be seen as bad since we've been trained to see bigger numbers as better. They're comparing the number they see to the MPG numbers they already know, even though that's a case of apples to oranges. kWh/100 miles again creates a bigger number. (and ais nicely analogous with liters per 100 km which is the standard fuel efficiency rating in Europe)
I agree that this is true but it is intensely discouraging that consumers can’t be trusted to understand the fundamentals of the products they buy. It’s like how they used to (and still often do) label LED lightbulbs as like a “60 watt bulb”. Ok it uses 7 watts but let’s call it a 60 watt bulb?
@@asmodiusjones9563 at least in the case of MPGe, the original unit that it's referring back to meant something directly comprehensible to the user: it's a measure, essentially, of cost-effectiveness. With lamps, wattage was a bad unit in the first place, because people were mostly judging by light output (and we have the lumen for that) rather than by power draw, so when there started to be multiple lamp technologies that broke the link, it caused problems.
Additionally, if you're trying to convert a driver who already uses a gas-powered vehicle, it can help to establish in the consumer's mind how much more energy-efficient an electric car is. If you're not already using an EV and used to thinking in mi/kWh, this is useful for comparisons for a would-be adopter.
@@DaraelDraconis Thing is that the calculation for cost of driving is easier but calculation of remaining range based on battery pack state, or estimated total range for that matter, is easier with miles or km per kWh, and the happens to be the main thing most potential EV buyers are actually concerned with.
Fantastic video. My work supplies me with a 2013 model S and it has helped me see how easy it is. I charge with a dryer plug off-peak, I plug in only when needed and have even taken a few 800km+ trips in it with ease. It really is that simple. Getting over "range anxiety" was a huge hurdle.
I watched this video from start to finish. Thank you for making it. As someone who has been driving EVs exclusively for nearly 4 years, I think this video is actually much, much more than is actually necessary for most people. Aside from geeks who need to know all the details (like myself), you need to know little more than to plug it in every night. Aside from road trips, EVs are actually far easier to deal with day to day. Some thoughts: - Most people could just use a regular 120V power outlet for their charging needs as long as they don’t want to charge solely during off-peak times. That said, if you plan to do that, I’d highly recommend replacing the outlet you intend to charge from, and make sure the wires are attached to the screws on the outlet, not the part on the back of the outlet where you can just push the wires in. 12A for hours and hours is a lot for a standard outlet, and if the plug is loose or there is an iffy connection at the plug, it’s going to significantly decrease the life of the outlet. It’s probably not going to cause a fire unless you are using a “too cheap” charger from Amazon since any reputable charger will have a temp sensor in the plug, but still. - DC fast charging, for most, is almost an insignificant thing. I drive a lot, and at least 90% of my charging is done at home overnight. Having an Ioniq5 and a Bolt EUV myself, the difference in fast charging speeds is…substantial, but in actual use, that almost doesn’t matter. I’ve road tripped the Bolt plenty of times, it’s doable. I’ve road tripped (more than 500 miles) the Ioniq5 about 4 times since I got it in May, it’s very easy. For our daily use, both cars are great. The Bolt is actually slightly better for the daily commute since the efficiency is about 15% better than the Ioniq5 at highway speeds, and it’s WAY less expensive to buy. - Cold/wet weather affects all cars, we just notice it more in EVs. I used to quite regularly (every week) have to “commute” from Seattle down to my hometown of Salem, OR, about 250 miles one way. At the time, I had a 2016 Civic. On perfect weather days, it would get 40mpg consistently during that trip. However, if it was cold, I’d lose 3mpg. If it was cold and wet, I’d lose 6mpg. On a cold, wet and windy trip, I lost 10mpg, all at the same overall speed. Cold temperatures will cause a range reduction on any car, including ICEV and EV, even if you don’t use the heat, because the air is more dense. Air drag is by far the biggest thing slowing you down at highway speeds, so an increase in air density leading to an increase in drag will occur on every car. - Some cars come with dual-voltage chargers right out of the factory. The Bolt EUV, older Teslas (like 2021 and older), Polestar/Volvo are the ones that come to mind, though Fords may as well. That means that those chargers can charge from either 120V (at 12A) or from 240V (usually 32A). If your car comes with one of those chargers, you don’t need to buy any other EVSE. My partner and I, who both drive EVs and both commute 90mi/day EACH charge both of our EVs solely during off-peak times (from 10pm-6am here) using just the dual-voltage charger that came with our Bolt EUV (plugged into a NEMA 14-50 240V outlet). I think the highest our electricity bill has ever been, including the energy to charge both of our EVs AND power our 1750sq.ft. home has been is $250. We would spend double that just on gas if we were both driving ICEV.
Just had a charger installed in my UK house. It has a current clamp installed non-intrusively on the live wire coming into the house. The charger automatically balances it's load to charge as fast as possible without blowing the main fuse in the house. It's really neat.
@@stevesether 100A. Think we're nominally 230V single phase these days rather than the 240V often quoted. 3 phase is still uncommon in the home but becoming increasingly common with electric combi boilers etc. Though there's a government grant for heat pumps at the moment, which will also have shook things up. And solar is being installed on houses as fast as the companies can do it because of the current energy crisis in the EU. The grid here is currently running on ~50% non-fossil fuels (i.e. wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, burning waste, etc). Plans are moving quick to reduce reliance on Russian gas across the EU, so that balance will shift even more in the near future. So the green energy space is moving quick over here. One last thing. Or car charger also has a feature where the grid management can disable electric car chargers to dump load and maintain the integrity of the grid. Sure, would be annoying for individuals if they ever use it. But would be less annoying than a blackout.
I would like to add a small detail that can make a big difference in the winter : I drive a Hyundai Kona EV and I live in Montreal (so winters get pretty cold out here). Most EVs now have a feature that allows to heat up the car before you go. However, if your car is already plugged in to your charger, it draws the energy from the grid, which significantly helps with the range (getting from cold to hot is usually what consumes most of the energy). Other that that, great video! :)
This is very important even in wet and moderately warm autumn months, if you leave your car outdoors. The windows will be fogged up but a nice 10-20min pre-heating schedule will get rid of the moisture and the car doesn't need to warm up the fluids during driving.
Love the video! I switched to an EV 18 months ago (That Company, Model 3), and got the Tesla Charge installed in my garage before delivery of the vehicle. I knew I didn't need that much power, but I had a couple of reasons that may be worth sharing: 1. If your paying an electrician for labor and the wire needed is not that long, going from a 30A 240V connection to a 60A connection is a very small difference. So if your going to have it done, go big and be done with it. 2. Having the extra power means I can share among future vehicles with that one circuit if I care to. 3. Being able to top up in an hour or two and getting a usable amount of power can be handy for those who regularly have unexpected 50+ mile trips crop up from time to time. 4. I didn't want to use my mobile charger daily. That's the cable that comes with the car. I want to get home and plug in, then just unplug to leave. I REALLY like having a mobile charger in the car at all times for emergencies, and if I use it at home, I'd have to pullout and put away the mobile charger EVERY DAY. 5. So if you want to keep the included charger in the car, and your paying an electrician to run power anyway That all being said, 20-30A at 240V is more than enough for most people. In fact, I usually leave my charge rate at 30A at home even though it can draw 48A, as I just don't need the speed. Regarding Charging habits: 1. Most of the time, I only charge to 65% to 70% most days. I do plug in every 1 to 3 days to top it back up to this. Some research shows this may make Li-Ion last longer than charging up to 90% and waiting until 20% to charge it. However, it's probably so negligible, people can do what they want. But I have no problem keeping my battery in the 30% to 70% range about 99.9% of the time. 2. Note what type of battery the EV has, as they have different charging preferences. For example Li-Ion likes to be in the 20% to 80% most of the time thought 90% is fine for packs that don't use ALL of the pack in their nominal range. But LFP batteries love being charged to 100%, so might as well keep it maxed all the time. Last, some advice to most potential EV owners: EV's are MUCH easier to live with than gas cars. Yes, change is hard. Yes, you do have to give a little extra thought & time to a road trip. But unless you travel more than 200 miles on a very regular basis, EV's are fantastic to live with! Charging at home is way better than a weekly trip to the Boom Juice station. Yes, EV's still have some growing pains due to early designs/software versions of Cars, DC fast chargers, etc., but it's really a better experience for everyone overall.
Yes agree. Also the video side steps talking about Tesla which, after all, has sold the most EVs by far and has the largest charging network in the US. Yes I know non Tesla cars can't use Tesla superchargers in the US right now but that will change.
LFP IS lithium-ion, so maybe a better distinction would me LFP vs Lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt, or something like that. Some people call them "ternary" batteries, too.
We have a PHEV, and we just had an electrician run a 100A sub panel to the garage - it lets me run power tools on dedicated circuits, a dedicated circuit for a big Sonance amplifier for outside speakers, and have an RV plug for when my mother visits. Plus, in 10+ years when I replace my ST (I WFH so it's a fun practical car that doesn't get much driving) I can just hook up another charger. I agree, if you're paying somebody anyway, just get more than you think you'll need now so you don't have to do it twice.
I’m an electric vehicle enthusiast and I still found this video fascinating all the way through. Thanks for putting together a comprehensive and easy to understand guide! Will definitely be sending this to some people I know. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
+1 on the trickle charging (L1) being good enough. I got my Leaf over a year ago, and I keep intending to have an electrician install a 240v breaker/plug in my garage, but haven't gotten around to it yet. There's only been a few weekends where I wish I had it. Did quite a bit of driving, so ended up having to use the gas car in some cases.
I absolutely adore your videos. There is a special kind of passion that you put into your videos that is awesome. Thank you for all the content you create.
Another excellent video. I'm not a beginner to electric vehicles, but I still watched every minute. You do such a great job of making it easy to understand.
Thank you for this detailed video. It changes my perception on the overall "EV". My wife and I drive round trip 110 miles a day to work. Seems in a worse case scenario (winter months) we'd still be okay. With more and more public areas starting to adapt charging station this is definitely the future I think as long as the grid can handle it. As always keep the videos coming!
So worth the length; great call on consolidating this all into one video. I hope many, many people find this video and benefit from your clear, concise and always entertaining delivery. This video was loads of work I'm sure, many thanks for the dedication and detail you put into it.
I already have an EV and knew most of this already but man this just an excellently made video. I enjoyed every second watching it. Anyone thinking about getting an EV who finds this video is getting a real treat.
As much as I enjoy the thoroughly researched and carefully presented information on a world-saving technology, the real reason I tune into these videos is for the conversion to kcal/fathom you just dont get that on other youtube channels
I loved this video. I would recommend that instead of the splitter for dryer/ev level 2, that going with a smart switch for a few hundered bucks is worth it for safety and convenience. My new 23 Bolt EUV charges now with no worries of telling my better half to hold off drying the clothes.
I'm helping my elderly mother decide on an electric car. Currently she has serious range anxiety. I will definitely watch this with her. Though after doing the math, we found that she drives at least 108 miles a day. So maybe her range anxiety is somewhat warranted.
My mom had the same issue. I think focusing on how far they really drive is key. My mom has put 700 miles on her Tesla in 6 months. She now realizes that her range anxiety was absurd.
@@ouch1011 My mom drives at least 108 miles a day. So her anxiety is somewhat warranted. She definitely drives more than most people though. The paradox is that she would definitely benefit from being able to cover all her driving with an electric vehicle.
@@antoniomromo worst as far as what? I’ve seen original battery Priuses still trucking along with 190k miles getting exceptional MPG. I don’t own one myself but I would be be turned off from buying a new one. I love my 5 speed tacomas and Toyota knows how to build a reliable car. But what do I know I’m just a hillbilly from NY lol
As someone who works in the automotive industry and who constantly has to address misconceptions and disinformation about electric vehicles, their charging habits, and average operating experience….thank you for this video.
I bought my first EV, an Ioniq 5, about 4 months ago (Thanks in large part to your videos explaining it so clearly) My commute is 140 miles a day and the level 2 charger in my garage is more then enough to replace energy I use everyday. Going EV is saving me about $350/Month when compared to my Hybrid that gets about 40mpg. My wife drives my old Hybrid during the week and the EV on the weekends. She drives so infrequently that she only has to fill up once every 2 months or so. EVs are very practical and once the prices and availability start to become competitive it will really start making a lot of sense for most families.
I have a 120 mile commute and the math worked out about the same either electric or hybrid/gas even at $3.75/gallon. Free charging at work and my company EV allowance are the icing on the cake.
@@mowcowbell It's really not that bad, I able to shift my work schedule to commute with less traffic and I enjoy driving (Especially in the Ioniq 5). Not to mention I really like my job.
@@randomvideosn0where My math came out that gas would have to be $1.36/gallon to be cheaper then what I am paying for the electricity. It was costing me over $15/day to drive to and from work, NOT counting tolls, so we are talking real world savings. My savings are about 3/4 of the car payment. It boggles my mind when people try to tell me that I am wrong. I'm not some eco electric car guy. I needed a new car, I did the math, and an electric is much cheaper for me to operate with my commute. With the tax rebate my MSRP Ioniq 5 was pretty much the same price (a little cheaper in fact) then the hybrid I bought 6 years ago. Not to mention after 9k miles the only maintenance I have had to do is rotate the tires.
@@mowcowbell Neither can I. For about 17 years, I commuted 35 miles each way (70 miles/day) and I hated it. Now, my commute is literally 10 steps from my bedroom to the desk in my office.
54:17 To those of us who work retail at places that stay open in inclement weather, that is much less of a surprise. Have you ever tried to push a(n empty) shopping cart (or better yet, a strapped-together row of like 10 carts) through two inches of snow? It's not twice as hard (as pushing on dry asphalt), it's easily ten times as hard (though granted, if carts had bigger wheels it would likely be less of an issue). You may find it almost as difficult as trying to push it over a curb (as some customers do when they're parked far from a cart corral but close to the edge of the lot). If you aren't a particularly heavy person, it's very possible your shoes will lose traction before the carts move even if it's only two or three (or one cart with a full load of groceries).
For years I've said that my next vehicle will be an EV. And in my small Appalachian town, everyone always scoffs. (Maybe I can get them to watch this video. lol) My hurdle has always been lack of garage, renting, money stored up to actually afford (any) new car and irregular work/school schedule. But now that I'm a homeowner, working a well-paying and consistent job, I know that it is right around he corner. Good to know that there are many easy options for the home charging and that "average" charging speeds are more than enough for you. My commute is about 30 miles one way, and I bet I could even find a way to charge at work if I hassle them enough. (Though, I'm home enough that I probably won't need to.)
My commute is also 30 miles one-way here in NJ. I'm in a Tesla Model 3 RWD with 250ish miles and charge about every 3 or 4 days at home in the summer (assuming i'm just going to work and back). It's 1000% possible and definitely worth it!
You Do NOT need a GARAGE for a BEV to be convenient. Just just need a permanent parking space where you can run line to an outdoor EVSE "charger". Note how most Public Chargers are Outdoors.
Good luck. You do realize you can't pay cash to charge your car, and how big battery powered cars are that will need juice when there might be a blackout.
@@emilioincerto WTF that does not make sense. That is some absurd logically broken lies that have no semblance of reality. Big Battery long range cars won't care if there is blackout because you only have to charge it like twice a week. Just charge it later when the power comes back. Try you can't pay cash at DC Fast chargers but people very rarely use them. I very much can pay cash for my Electricity Bill to charge my car. I just bring my bill to the Post Office and hand over cash.
So as a high level auto tech who was a relatively early adopter of hybrids and is now an automotive teacher as well as living in an entirely off-grid house (no grid connection, everything DIY).. I have a FULL understanding of the challenge of relating all this and somehow NOT ending up with a 1hr+ lecture (yeah... here we are!). I know all of it, i watched it anyway, and i applaud your effort. As a teacher i'm always looking for a more effective way to relate a concept, so i get to file away this hour as 'partially work related/research'. I'm actually in charge (oh boy..) of developing a hybrid/EV curriculum for our program, which while needing to be catered to the service/repair side of the industry, will surely include a good bit of general 'familiarization' since there's no guarantee that the people working on EV's will actually be passionate or independently interested in them. Most of them will be 'grandfathered' in from being primarily ICE-car technicians that have been selected to now be EV techs on the basis of not being completely ignorant of Ohm's Law (like the rest of the shop..). So plenty of background and foundational concepts will need to be taught, and I'll probably refer back to this as i work on that to check for things I may have overlooked or taken (the understanding of) for granted. Nice work, keep it up!
2017 Volt using L1 charging has worked for the last 3 years getting me to and from work (48mile round trip). The gas has helped on long trips but for my daily I just charge overnight and it is enough. I actually went 6 almost 7 months this year not having to refill my gas tank.
Man this is an amazing youtube channel. I have learned about rare stuff to look out for while thrifting, a microwave I want to get my wife so she stops burning popcorn, and some reason I watched a video about water heaters. Thanks for making these videos, can't wait to hear what you have to say about EVs. They are the future for sure. I'm about 200k miles into EV ownership over the last 8 years.
Great content, as always. You made clear many of the points I've struggled to make when talking to EV skeptics. I recently found a way to explain how long charge duration is generally not an issue. When people cite that as a reason for not driving an EV, I ask them "if you had a gas pump in your garage, how often would you stop at a gas station?" You can just see the wheels spinning as they think about that. For the hard-core skeptics, I follow up with things like "my 'tank' is full every morning", "energy comes to me, I don't go to it", and "I don't stand at a pump when it's 20°F below zero". I don't bother with "electricity costs a fraction of the equivalent amount of gas" because math is hard.
It's kind of sad to realize that europe, with 220v by default and way less distances driven per person each day, would be perfect for EVs, but no one has a driveway.
@@Wyvernnnn Because.. cars are objectively a bad concept overall, also there's the fact that The public transportation systems in European countries are pretty adequate for people to get around with
@@TheFalseShepphard cars are not a bad concept, they are an amazing invention What is a bad concept is structuring modern life and city planning based on the idea everyone has a car and will constantly use it
@@DimT670 Allowing the storage of private vehicles on the public right-of-way is one of the original sins of 20th century development. Japan has the right idea in that regard.
Even though I've been driving an EV for 10 damn years, and charging via a 110v outlet from my apartment, I STILL learn so much from your EV videos. (and your other awesome videos too!) Keep being rad.
Thank you! I have a hard time explaining my Volt in simple terms. I’m sad that range extenders seem to have died. I bought it as “training wheels” for owning electric to see what my typical needs were but with the confidence that I could use gas if necessary. Currently I can only charge at work using an extension cord but I still go ~900 miles between gas fill ups. The number one thing that keeps me going all electric is that I drive to remote places where a charging station is much too far away for my comfort in even the longest range Tesla. We’ll see where infrastructure is in 5-10 years when I need a new car.
The only thing my high school physical science teacher taught me was that Jesus is coming back and the rapture is coming. So this channel has helped me more since graduating than my high school teacher 6 years ago
I fall into one of those, "but sometimes" conditions for which getting 48A chargers made a lot of sense. My commute is 140 miles round trip, my spouse's is around 100 miles. We both switched to EVs. Our breaker box was already undersized and didn't have any space for a new circuit to be run. Additionally, the room with the breaker, the garage, and the meter were all so close that the additional cost of bigger cable wasn't that much. We ended up having a new service added and a new 125A breaker so we could each access 48A chargers on 60A breakers. I new it was overkill, but the additional cost was negligible. I understand our case is fringe.
It's not really that odd over here in Euroland. In my country having 3 phase power at home is basically the norm. Single phase hook ups are being phased out by the utility companies. So when I got my BMW C-Evolution, I got a "level 1" charger with it that has a button to switch between 1500W and 3kW. But because I didn't want to have to unpack and re-pack the thing all the time, I bought a charge point to install in the shed where the bike charges. Not wanting to deal with tripping breakers I wanted a charger with a Dynamic Load Balancer. Turned out in my case that the single phase charge point is just a 3 phase internally, you just connect only the one phase. So I ended up with a 11.2kW charge point (3*240V*16A). Yes it's total overkill, but it was just the cheapest convenient option. Heck my BMW can't even charge that fast, it'll take 3.2kW max. So it still takes a good 4 hours for a full charge. On the flip side my brother's Energica and my friends HD Livewire can do a full charge in just over an hour in the shed and because of the dynamic load balancer no one in the house needs to even think about what they're doing concerning electricity use, as the charger will just slow down to prevent the main 25A breakers from tripping.
Perfect timing! This video comes out after I have just convinced myself that a 20 amp circuit was enough for my usage and I have an 80 mile commute. I’ll get about 120 miles in my Kona electric (3.5 mi/kWh average) overnight at that speed. I am sharing power with my laundry equipment and will setup load balancing with home assistant and a smart charger so I can charge at 16amps when possible. Nice to see my thinking validated by someone else!
You gave an important detail. Constant power draw (like that of an EV) you need to de-rate the limit of the outlet, breaker, and cable to just 80%. So in the case of your 20amp example, 16 amps is all you can draw. Tesla limits that down even further (12amp) because it just knows a 15R/15P setup is in use when using their portable charger and does not know if the outlet is a 15R or 20R (15 amp or 20amp receptacle). Not to mention they probably only rate their 15P (plug) as 15amp meaning *.80=12amp.
This is fantastic and hugely informative - thank you. A great resource to send to people with questions. I didn’t know the exact math on L1 and L2 chargers and it’s cool to see how capable they are, especially from the perspective of home energy use. It’s crazy that an efficient car uses the same power as 20 microwaves on the highway. And yet a decent gas car uses the gasoline equivalent of 4 times that. I love that you’re pushing so strongly for more home charging infrastructure because that really is the answer for most people and most driving situations. I can’t wait to get a mostly atomic fission powered car and soon after upgrade to collecting nuclear fusion power to charge it. We really live in the future in some ways, don’t we? I know this was mostly about charging, but when advocating for EVs, I think it’s worth mentioning how relaxing and comfortable EVs are compared to most cars. The lower noise floor, lack of vibration, smooth power output, and often standard autonomous driver assist makes for a very sedate driving experience with lower stress than the older cars I’m used to. Sure, compared to a late model luxury car with low NVH, smooth engine and transmission, ADAS, and ACC, it’s not that big a jump, but I think a lot of people getting into mid level EVs are coming from 10 year old mass market cars with rattling 4 cylinders, poor NVH, and last gen transmissions with few autonomous driver assistive features. I knew all the tech specs and objective metrics of EVs, but driving my parents’ model 3P was still a revelation for how calm it could be. Even with the fucking 20” Überturbine wheels and harsh Tesla suspension. Just getting in it is so different from having to start up a car and idle, although the contractor clunk was a satisfying surprise… I still like having a lightweight manual RWD gasoline roadster for fun driving so I’m excited to get a quiet, practical, and soft daily EV for the boring trips. Yesterday’s announcement of the equinox EV is potentially game changing in the way the “35k” model 3 or the cheap and cheerful bolt hatchback weren’t. Or maybe I’ll stretch my budget for a lyriq, i4 e40, or ID Aero wagon…
A friend of mine recently got an electric version of a car his wife had in the classic dinosaur-burning configuration. He said the biggest surprise is how much better the handling is in the electric, thanks to the better-distributed weight.
Specifically, I also think it is also interesting how switching to electric is providing a chance to rethink human - car interaction. Eg. the fact that Tesla has completely gotten rid of the idea of starting your car or anything related to that because why not always have the ac/heat on the moment you open the door is amazing. I have been driving my parents' model 3P too and enjoy it a ton and all of the little things they rethought. I have been using Scan My Tesla to learn more about how the car actually manages thermal controls since that is now a major differentiator in EVs and their efficiency. I think that the octovalve is really an amazing piece of engineering. The control algorithms to use the battery as a thermal storage system as well as electrical are very well thought out. I personally like counting the power usage of EVs in toaster ovens rather than microwaves, but it doesn't really matter lol.
I feel that daily driving my Ioniq enhances the experience when I go to the hardware store or such in my 86 F150. The car is mooth, quiet, and almost drives itself vs the huge rumbling manual transmission single cab with vague steering and no AC. Another thing I like is that I don't feel bad short cycling my car which happens a lot in tight construction sites where you are inevitably parked in the way of someone.
I've been driving a 2012 Mitsubishi iMiev for 4 years now. Other than the few times I've forgotten to plug it in overnight, I've never had any issues with it. I can easily make round trip to work and back. As someone who dabbled in car mechanics, I know little to nothing about my EV actually works. I've been watching your channel for awhile now. This was a great video. Thanks.
Great video. One small thing I wish he would have mentioned is that speed and windy conditions are also factors in the range of combustion vehicles as well, and can also be easily be plotted. I know from first hand experience with a 660 mile trip I've had to take multiple times several years ago. There's a sizable efficiency drop from 55 mph to 75 mph in a gas powered vehicle.
@@lev_e3201 He did, but it was too much of a passing mentioning. Not directly calling it out. Remember we are dealing with the lowest common factor of mental abilities with people that think EVs are the devil, and barely - if any - actually understand the physics that affect vehicles in general. You gotta spell it out to these people.
@@scott-h9l Or people who call people smarter than them childish names, because those people understand things that those calling the childish names can't remotely understand.
I don't have an EV, live in the UK, and even if I could afford an EV, I only have on street parking. I watched all this video enthralled. Alec is an evil genius and must be protected.
I live in Sweden, but I used to drive an EV when I lived in the US, and one thing I've noticed is that the investment into public charging stations in Sweden is astounding compared to the US. They just installed 5 new L1 charging points right outside of my old flat (so for on street parking use) and they just keep adding more and more of them all over the place. It's really rather impressive. For contrast, while I never suffered difficulty in keep my car topped up in the US because my apartment complex provided a spot and plug for EVs, it was practically impossible to find any public charging stations. I had to set a destination like a botanical garden or a shopping mall to find them. Hopefully this changes over time.
@@neosdark19 it's already in progress. I don't know when/where in the US that was, but here in Albany, NY, just the last year I've begun seeing Teslas everywhere I go. there have been charging stations at the malls for quite some time, last year the office building across the street from the one where I work just installed 3 charging stations where the executives park 🙄. very clearly it's because at least one of those executives bought a Tesla or it wouldn't have been installed... but that's always the next step, right? I was just mentioning in another comment that the step after that is landlords putting in charging stations for their tenants so they can use it as an attractant same way that off street parking is. clearly your landlord or municipality is already ahead of that game. I also predict that metered parking spaces will eventually incorporate EV charging as well. I've been looking into EUCs recently... are they popular in Switzerland? or are they illegal? I've heard some countries have made them illegal.
In my mind there is no reason not to install chargers along the side of streets where overnight parking is definite. We had parking meters for the longest time, these could be both a charging station and a parking meter.
Your videos are such a delight! It’s just weirdly nice to listen to someone so consistently thoughtful and earnest (while getting to learn something about all that goes into the conveniences around me)
I like how Carl and Brenda are becoming regular example characters on this channel. I hope Carl can figure out why Brenda refuses to use the dishwasher. Come to think of it, Carl needs to go pick up some more of those magic detergent packets!
Technology Connections: *uploads a video about lanterns* Me (broke) : *buys lanterns* Technology Connections: *uploads video about electric cars* Me (still broke): .....damnit.....
If you have a hard time visualizing a kilowatt, there's an easy and very channel-applicable way to think about it: a lot of electric kettles pull about 1kw. So if you can imagine running some electric kettles in your home, that's what the chargers draw.
A reason that I like the teakettle analogy is that you can directly see the output; it's directly dumping 1kw into water and you can usually watch that water boil through the little window.
This is random, but I really wish you would do a video on the cord winding mechanisms inside of vacuum cleaners! You're the only person I could think could do it. What are they? Why don't they ever work? Why do they roll up 60 percent of the way and just stop and refuse to go anymore until you pull it out again!? Why can't they be improved? Only YOU can do this and make it interesting. I NEED you to do this. The world needs you to do this.
This video was one of the main things that kicked me into the EV mindset. I drove my new to me Model 3 home yesterday, and I am already loving it even before I have the adapter to plug it into the Nema 6-50!
I'm not talking sh!t, honestly curious. Did you notice and panel misalignment? My buddy has 1 and his is pretty bad. Idk the details of why he didn't notice at time of purchase or if he was too excited at the time. He says it is common for some misalignment. Safe driving to u.
Hope it's been treating you well! I watched this video a year ago and decided to go down memory lane today. I've had my M3 SR for nearly 2 years and I love it. Taken a few road trips and maybe 1 or 2 charging inconveniences, but none have been deal breakers. Also, because I use regen well, and I'm light on the pedal, I'm getting 5 m/kWh which is pretty dang good in my opinion.
@@builder1113 I’m starting to get tired of the updates changing my settings every few weeks, but besides that I’m still loving not having to stop at the gas station.
Fantastic, and simplistic advice. As a newbie to the EV World, this is sound advice and one that KIA Inc and their dealers simply have no idea of. The salesman I bought our new EV from had no idea (despite having an EV Trained certificate framed near his desk on the wall) he was vague, and really had little advice on this subject.
Thanks for the video. I was just arguing with someone as he said that because he got 3 cars at home (his car, his wife's and his son's) that he'd need 2-3 supercharger installed and a complete service upgrade 😅 Its incredible how some people overthink the charging of EVs.
"Through the magic of having two of them" immediately followed by "toaster boy". You're freakin' awesome. I love the cut of your jib. And thank you for your rightful promotion of EVs. This transformation needs to happen yesterday.
I was glad to hear you mention that just because you have an EV doesn’t mean you keep the thing plugged in all the time. I switched to an EV earlier this year and I probably plug it in at most once a week. EV only seems complicated until you actually get one and realize how easy it really is.
I live in a condo, and I’ve had two EV cars for about 5 years in total. I still watched this whole video. It was really informative as your videos usually are.
I didn't read all of the comments but think there are 3 more things you need to consider? Based on my road trip from Kansas to Seattle and back last summer, the distance to the next charging station is the starting point for calculating how many kwh you need to pump into your vehicle. But, since not all road are flat, significant elevation changes can have as much of a negative effect as speed or driving into a headwind! And then if it happens to be 102° and you are driving uphill - the air conditioner can also reduce your mileage significantly! But the worst 2 words that a roadtripper wants to hear are "Unplanned detour" . On my last day on the return trip, a planned 90 mile leg turned into a 150 mile senic tour uphill thru Aspen when a rock slide took out I-70 for several days. Lots of white knuckle range anxiety and 2 lane (sometime 1 lane) goat trails over Independence Pass later I arrived in Frisco, CO and filled up before heading to Denver. Fortunately, I added a lot of "just to be safe" miles to the car while I enjoyed coffee while charging up and there was just about as much downhill road as there was uphill. Of course, I didn't know that when I was directed off my intended and well thought out route onto an "Unplanned Detour" 😵💫
Fantastic video. I've got a standard Model 3 (62kwh) and charge at 32Amps. I drive about 150km a day on the average day. It takes about 5 hours to recoup. In fact, the car is smart enough to know how long it'll take the charge and starts it to finish right as I'm about to leave, so the battery and car are all nice and warm/conditioned to get optimal efficiency/comfrort for my drive to work in the winter. The thought that has gone into EV's is mind boggling.
It's 2024, I'm seeing more and more folks buying an EV and I remembered this video. It actually answered many of my questions, thank you very much for sharing 🙂🙏
I watched this video when it first came out, and it was great. Now, though, I am watching it as we prepare to buy our first EV, and it is fabulous. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all of the details!!!! I feel much more empowered to make the right decision for us!
Holy smokes, this is exactly the video I needed right now. We'll be migrating daily drivers to an EV and a PHEV within the next year or so, delayed only because of you know, 'supply line issues.' This really helped.
Very informative video, well done. Something I think would be interesting for another video is a deep dive into battery degradation and battery servicing/replacements.
The only reason I put in a big service to my garage was for EV charging, I don't have an EV yet, but I had to run a new service out to my garage anyway. So instead of running another 20 amp out there I ran a 100 amp and put in a sub panel. The whole reason is because I think that most EVs will support backflow into the house at first it will probably be to assist with power outages and such, but in the future they will probably be used to help balance loads on the power grid.
Thanks for putting this together! I had a Leaf when they first came out. Even with its limited range, I knew I'd never go back to an ICE vehicle. I've had a Model 3 (ducks for cover) for nearly five years now and I'm curious to see how long it lasts!
Your videos have convinced me to go electric! I’m hoping to get an electric car later this year, and because of your videos I know exactly what I need to do for it, thanks for this video it’s extremely informative!
Costs a fuckload to buy a new vehicle and replace batteries every ≈10 years, even with subsidies. It's really a privileged person's vehicle, not a low income person's.
@@AndrooUK Well, I’m not gonna be able to live on my own cause of rent costs, so if I ever need to live in a car I might as well have a nice one that won’t cost me gas.
For 7 years, we've had 0 issue charging 2 EV's (generally both Model 3s, then a Model 3 and Y, and now a Model 3 and Rivian R1T) from one wall unit on a 30a circuit.
So, I'm 1 second into the video and I already know that I will listen to my favorite nerd for one hour talking (or maybe ranting?) about a topic I'm not actually into and that's not really relevant to me. And I know I will enjoy it because you made the weirdest and most obscure things interesting to me in the past. Keep up the good work, Alec!
As someone who loves the feel of driving a manual-transmission internal combustion engine too much to tlreally consider buying an ev anytime soon, this video is still incredibly interesting and informative
I have 900 watts of off grid solar. When Putin starts growing mushrooms I'll still be able to drive 😁. Seriously I feel better knowing the fuel for my car is not dependent on someone else.
I've found my EV to be a fantastic commuter vehicle and work truck! Road trips and the public charging infrastructure are a COMPLETELY different story though. While I know this is generally an edge case, it is something people take into account when making a purchase decision. I understand you had a separate video on this, but feel you probably should have said a bit more in this video to fully inform people who are prospective first time EV buyers. I have taken multiple road trips totalling several thousand miles, and have had the following issues: If the outside temperature ever hits 90f, DC fast charger speeds start to drop. If it's above 100f outside, DC fast chargers generally limit charging speeds to 35kw, which makes them basically useless (given their intended purpose). Differing pay schemes for different charging networks (pay per minute vs pay per kw) and how pay per minute is generally a huge ripoff. When planning a trip, I have started always planning for the worst possible scenario (the next one or two chargers are either broken, or charging at 35kw instead of 350kw). It just feels like a lot of unnecessary stress when you already have the normal stress a road trip can bring. Be prepared to spend a whole lot of time in Walmart parking lots. This is super convenient at first, but can get kind of old on an extended road trip. I expect my experience has been somewhat different compared to yours because I live in California (which I thought was supposed to be a good thing), but I have had these challenges consistently while travelling through every state west of Texas, as well as in western Canada. This isn't to say EVs are bad, these aren't even issues with EVs themselves. These issues are specifically due to the immature infrastructure, and I'm sure companies will resolved this as new infrastructure it added after this especially hot year. For this reason I (somewhat reluctantly) tell anyone I talk to while at a fast charger to wait a couple years before buying an EV if they're ever going to use their car for something other than their daily commute.
I bought mine for daily commute but have been using it on longer trips while working on my gas car. Driving 500 miles in it sure is a hassle, with chargers being broken or needing to wait for a spot, let alone that my car can charge at about 40kW max. I really do sweat it when I get near my house or in central PA though because the chargers are few and far between with huge mountains, like the one I live on taking 3% just to climb.
I'm very lucky that I love in California when I go on short road trips, but where I am is a bit of a "charging desert" that also happens to be incredibly hilly and with significant wind activity. I haven't gotten stranded yet, but I've had to deal with broken chargers on the last leg to home, and I've gotten pretty close.
I'm gonna be honest, even with over 100 degree weather, I have not noticed the output drop as drastically as in your case. I wonder if it was the weather or just those chargers having unreported issues like they randomly have.
@@CodeAllos I can't say for sure, but when I was visiting Las Vegas, there was only a single charger in the city even capable of 350kw, and after trying several, none of them were getting over 70kw (even in the initial few minutes before the charger slowed to 35kw) as I recall. Granted it was over 100 degrees, but that was my experience. I have heard from others that a charger that is shaded will give a full 150kw, but unshaded chargers will generally be limited to 35kw.
Loved my long distance journey in an EV until it was time to charge. Was supposed to be a few hours drive there, and then after a while there, a few hours drive back. Until we went to charge, and the DC CCS charge port on the vehicle had an issue and would not lock. No lock? No charge. Had to wait 11 hours on a level 2, to get enough range to get home. A rare instance, sure, but it happened.
Was the locking clip missing on the CCS1 connector? I've discovered my Bolt would not engage its lock (that silver metal that swivels to hold the locking clip in place) if the locking clip was damaged/missing. The fix was to press something into the car's silver lock mechanism just long enough to trick it into thinking a locking tab was pressed into it. A pen, screwdriver, or even a folded up business card does the trick into getting the charge going. 👌
They recently replaced the charge port on my car for a similar issue. But whenever I did have the issue (which was rare), all I needed to do was give a good pull on the emergency release cable to make the mechanism come to live again.
@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 funny enough I've never had trouble putting portable energy into my ice car (gasoline) . It's never left me stranded either. In fact, none of the cars I've owned have. I'm not down on EVs. I'd have one if it met my use case at this time.
When I bought my current car EVs weren't really an option yet as they were A: Too expensive and B: I didn't (and still don't) have a means to charge at home (Condo/Apartment). I did do the math at that time and found that if I could have gotten an EV a Level 1 charger would have easily covered me and been way cheaper than gas (which was only half the cost it is now). Since my current car is only a few years old I'm not really planning to buy anything new anytime soon but once we find a house (market is terrible to put it lightly), if these gas prices keep going up it may just be worth it to trade in for an EV. My mother would probably need a hybrid though, she runs a cleaning business which means a ton of driving.
I need you to know how jealous I am of how big a fan the Green brothers are of your work lol I have heard them mention you multiple times on multiple platforms. I keep expecting this big influx of nerd fighters, but either way, happy that people are seeing your work :)
I was a TC fan before I discovered nerdfighteria! I love that these worlds intersect :D (and Alec is wearing a pizza John shirt in at least one old video, love that the fandom goes both ways!)
This video is focused mainly on charging. Charging is not my main concern. If I ever get an EV, I plan to use it for commutes and errands only. I'd still stick with gas for long road trips. My main concern is cost of ownership. Most EVs have cost premiums of $15K-$20K over their gas equivalents. I just don't see how these EVs can even break even in cost savings within first 6 years of ownership to justify owning one.
Not Just Bikes will make you realize just how car-centric our world is. However, adding EV capacity around the world won't hurt, but it would help if people had other transportation options.
I'm currently entering the world of two-wheeled EVs. The motorcycle I ordered can officially drive 80 miles on 4,34 kWh of energy, so I offer 18,5 mi/kWh instead of 3 :D Even with half range (1. what I experienced this winter, 2. they always calculate too high), 9 mi/kWh is still amazing. Thanks for helping me through the math in different units, and greetings from the realm of the amber turn signals ;)
Alec, your new Ioniq 5 most likely does not come with amber rear turn indicators unlike it’s European and probably Asian model counterparts. Remembering your episode on turning lights color which I totally agree with, how do you put up with it?
One of the few TC vids I disagree with. I mean I think amber signals look better, but it makes no difference to safety. The worst case thing that could happen having just red lights is that you see a red tail light light and slow down thinking someone is braking when in reality they are just changing lanes. If you were driving close enough behind them that you need to brake instantly to avoid hitting someone where you don't have time to see if it is steady or a flash, you're driving too close in the first place. There's no case where responding to a turn signal light as if it were a brake light puts you in any danger, so the color of signal lights doesn't matter. On the other hand, the location of them does. Getting real tired of cars today with signals so low they can not be seen by other drivers.
@@dbclass4075 the supposed issue, is that in the US, cars can use the same lights for brake and turn signals. They have to be red as brake lights. Most/many European cars have separate lights for turn and brake, so the turn lights can be amber. The combination costs less without any change in safety, and most people think it looks better, so it is most common where it is allowed.
Another excellent video as always! And jumping off from one of your last comments, is there any potential for a video on E-bikes? There's a lot of nuance that could be covered there, and a (presumably shorter) video educating people on those could also be pretty neat! I use mine to commute to work everyday, so they can definitely be a viable option for local distances! Now let's see if I can keep that up through the Chicago winter...
I'm running an ebike I converted myself, 1000w bafang mid with a 52v 14ah battery, on sunny days I ride it to work, which is a 7.5mile trip, depending on how much I use the throttle, which mainly depends on whether I'm being chased by dogs, I can get 3 days on a charge, normally keep it in pa2 and cruise at 18-20mph pedaling as much as I can, with it I've went from gasing up once a week to every 3 weeks, (have errands that the car is unavoidable) while I won't give the car up, the bike has been a great addition to my commute, and this month alone has saved me about 170$, 90 of which being from me reducing the insurance on the car, still a substantial saving considering my monthly income
Notes from an electrician should anyone be interested. TC I have a note for you at the bottom. I'm a member of the IBEW in Local 26, lots of good information in here. One of the last things we did in my apprenticeship was get certified as EVSE charger installers. Ranging from household to large commercial charging stations. Also because of my DC, VA, MD location my normal work commute can rage from 100-200mi a day round tip, so the average amount listed here wouldn't work for myself and quite a few tradespeople. Considering the US average miles driven per day, according to KBB, is 35 miles; I wholeheartedly agree that 7.3kw is overkill and plenty for 90% of drivers. TC brought up many things that I would have commented about had he not done so, excellent research as usual, especially the service upgrade and overloading a circuit. Service upgrade I agree, I can't say someone wouldn't need it, many 50 amp main panels still exist in the wild, but its largely unlikely this would need to be done. As TC mentioned, its very unlikely that one would have their heaviest loads all running at the same time. In that vein of thought, there are adapters for dryers like TC mentioned that let one have the dryer and 'car charger' plugged in at the same time. I'd personally recommend spending the extra money on the ones that are 'smart.' They have an internal switch that won't let you try and charge your car and turn the dryer on at the same time. Just extra piece of mind for a small price, on the off chance that your dryer breaker doesn't trip if one had both loads going at the same time. Breakers fail all the time, breakers fail in the ON position all the time. Sadly, this mostly only gets noticed when it really matters that the breaker works as intended. *Edit: If anyone, anywhere, has a panel and it says FPE or Federal Pacific on the face have it replaced by an electrician immediately. Major fire hazard.* Bog standard 120v outlet, I'll provide a use case. TC mentioned as well, how much power that EVSE is going to pull on a regular outlet. Its just about equivalent to a space heater in draw. Lets say one is charging their car in their garage from said outlet. A very common thing is also in the garage for a lot of people. A spare fridge or chest freezer. A household outlet on a 15a circuit with 80% rule is just about tapped out with that charger plugged in. Add in a freezer or fridge kicking on and the likelihood of that circuit being tripped is very high. And a condition that might not get noticed until you went to get in your car in the morning; since fridges / freezers don't run all the time. Its worth noting that even if the charger and the fridge / freezer are technically below the breakers amp rating, the inrush from the compressor starting will be what trips the breaker. Since that short amount of time of inrush is going to slam the breaker for its rated capacity. This is partially why the 80% rule exists. Now, if one has a 20amp circuit in their garage, all of the above is less of an issue. But that's still only two devices for the entire garage. If this particular example applies to you, its likely you have more than one thing plugged into your garages circuit. Such as a garage door opener. Just something to keep in mind, should one use the 120v route. To add to the very long paragraph above, if you have 120v outlets on the outside of your house 9 times out of 10, that outlet is being powered by whatever circuit is running the room on the interior side of that outlet. So a EVSE plugged into these could very easily overload the circuit. I'm sure there's more I wanted to mention, but this is plenty long enough. TC since you did the install for your EVSE yourself, and used a metal J-box, it needs a ground tail installed to protect the box from getting energized by accident. That's what that little bubble in the box with a screw hole is for, if you have enough slack on your feed wire its an easy fix. I must say though, that's probably the cleanest resi panel interior I've seen in a long while. MC or armored cable is fine, Chicago is either lucky or unlucky as all of their wiring needs are required to be in conduit. Including residential. Makes any EVSE install that more expensive sadly.
All good points. Plus I'm in Cook County and have the added conduit issue. BTW a couple years ago kept houding a friend until she got rid of the Federal Pacific panel in her condo. Surprisingly her condo HOA didn't care.
![เจ็บที่ยังฮัก - ม่อน วรวิทย์ [ Official Mv ] จอนนี่มิวสิค](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KALIGSRSjFs/mqdefault.jpg)
THERE HAS BEEN SOME NEWS. CCS is probably dead. I made a video which you can watch.
th-cam.com/video/ZJOfyMCEzjQ/w-d-xo.html
Most of the other info here is still relevant, but I may remake or re-edit this video at a later date.
Whoa one day ago but I'm here again just because
dont scare the rest of the world! he just means in north america. everywhere else we are happily using ccs2 and type2
CCS1, anyway.
It's a real shame that the CCS2 connector wasn't adopted worldwide, and it's a shame that Tesla's NACS connector doesn't support three-phase AC charging. (There are plenty of commercial and multi-unit residential locations in the United States for which high-current DC charging is unaffordable but three-phase AC is readily available.)
Control burn not explosions learn what you're talking about
What's wrong with freedom of choice. Hybrid diesel gasoline electric hydrogen. Idk why having freedom of choice is a bad thing. Don't really trust someone that seems to push for one over the other.
"Level 1 is good enough for many people who need 40-50 miles a day, unless it's really cold where you are." Has been my unpopular opinion forever, and I'm so glad to see you address it so well.
I'm a slightly obnoxious EV owner who talks about my car often and I can't tell you how many people have had their mind blown by the fact that they can charge a car off a regular wall outlet. Most seem to assume you need a bunch of dedicated/expensive equipment
Preheating your car (and good heated seats) can save you some miles in the winter 😁. At least that’s what i do here in Europe 👋😄
is the wallpower in europe still level 1 or level 2?
I live in Finland and I've been driving an EV (VW ID.3) for 18 months now. I've charged it outside from the regular 1x230V outdoors wall plug the whole time, summer and winter, using the 8 amp charging cable that came with the car. So just 8A x 230V, 2 kilowatts. I did it basically because the internet says that you can't do it so and that you "must" have a dedicated charger, so I wanted to see if you really can or not. And you absolutely can just use the wall plug. At the dead of winter, at minus 25 degrees centigrade (-13 F), the charging speed drops from 7 km/h to 5 km/h but that's it. At about negative 15 to 20 degrees C it still charges just like in the summertime. I've driven about 14 000 km (9000 miles) per year. You get about 100 miles range per day, charging at off-work hours.
@@nathanwest2304 Level 1 is ~110V AC and Level 2 is ~220V AC. It's only really applicable in North America and Japan since other regions have ~220V at standard electrical receptacles.
I just realized that I haven't ever watched a single episode of TC that I didn't really enjoy. Like, I'm not planning on replacing my car for another 5 years at least, and I just spent nearly an hour learning about the realities of owning one, and enjoyed every minute of it.
Just a damned good show.
I didn't plan on it either but this is a great time. I would not be surprised if we end up with gas/diesel rations due to global instability but I can charge my battery car with anything from nuclear, solar, gas, diesel, coal, even wood if things get really desperate.
@@randomvideosn0where I have a small gas generator, usually it only gets pulled out if a storm knocks out the power. We use it to keep the refrigerator alive, but in a pinch it could be used to recharge 1 of our cars over a long period of time.
Yup. TC is one of the few channels that when I notice a video has been released, I watch it as soon as I can find time to chill and learn a thing or two.
Couldnt agree more, this show is amazing
The year is 2024. Your electric car won't start for 48 hours because your status on social media was deemed too offensive.
When I was in school, it felt like "it depends" was the answer to absolutely everything. Now that I'm an engineer I find myself answering almost every question with those great two words. Thanks for the very informative video, and the laugh!
It’s like watching Legal Eagle.
“Is xyz illegal? Well that depends.” 😅
Real life is almost always more complicated than a yes or no answer.
Having studied undergraduate science at Uni, I too also use 'it depends' a lot.
Nuance can be fun.
The same thing applies to history with "It's complicated"
On the dryer plug splitter option:
There are more advanced splitters. (More like an actual large box than just a splitter.) They actually do load balancing so that power to your car is cut off if you turn the dryer on. Some also have a built in breaker switch in case too much power goes through it.
For safety I would prefer a dedicated circuit. Why compromise when one has already committed to the purchase price of an EV? Just parking one next to the house seems too risky for me. Of the 30+ ICE vehicles I've had, fire risk has proven to be ZERO.
@@rdmineer1 actually based on the data we have ICE cars are bigger fire hazards than EVs
@@blakebrockhaus347 I've had at least 25, some new some well over used. Not one ever posed the threat of catching fire.
@@rdmineer1 If you don't like the thought of an electric car catching fire, just don't buy a Chinese one
@@pootispiker2866 How? Volvo and BMW EVs use Chinese technology.
I feel like in Europe, or at least in Poland, the current biggest obstacle for the adoption of EVs is that many people really have no way of charging them. That is, in many cities you want (or borderline need) to have a car, but you live in a flat and park your car outside. Even new buildings sometimes have outdoor parking only. And if the building is older than 15-20 years you'll be lucky to find even a street-side parking spot. When 45% of population lives in flats, most of them in older buildings, currently with no possiblity for a charging infrastructure, it's a huge obstacle.
NIO will be selling cars in Poland soon. They use battery swap stations.
honestly europe should be either already in or moving toward less car-centric city planning
@@chinglamyung Europe have being building non-car-centric cities for centuries. I don't even have a car.
Wake up depressed
Am not European
Day improves considerably
The fact that majority of people in Europe lives in flats (hello from Czechia) mean we don't need EVs and should just invest in more frequent and mass public transport instead of playing with EVs. If one needs care from time to time, renting one for a day or two is almost always cheaper than owning one and leaving it parked 90% of the time.
I just want to add that the "kWh/100 miles" makes way much more sense for metric folks because we already use "L/100km" as our fuel consumption unit :p
Also, it's a whole lot more useful if you're trying to figure out your costs. Oh, sure, it's harder to determine range of a given battery pack, but that should be done by the manufacturer anyway (or, y'know, calculated real-time by the onboard computer).
For example if I know that I have a 20.1 mile commute, I can multiply that by the kWh/100mi measurement, and do a decimal shift (divide by 100).
With miles per kWh, you have to do division. Sure, 20.1/3.0 is pretty easy to do, but there are three downsides to it.
1. Division is always harder than multiplication
2. The simplicity of that division is a function of the simplicity of the numbers involved. What if it's 3.2? Or 2.7? And what if I have the median commute distance of 16 miles? All of a sudden you need to do long division to figure out how much it costs to get to work.
3. The measurements are inverted, and thus things get wonky. A difference of 2mi per kWh has VERY different meanings if it's between 2 and 4 per mi/kWh (100% more or 50% less, depending on which way you go) or between 4 and 6 mi/kWh (50% more or 33% less, depending), or, if we're looking at the Semi case, from 2.5 vs 0.5 (400% more or 80% less, depending). On the other hand, that difference is immediately and viscerally obvious when you're looking at 50 vs 25 kWh/100mi, or 25 vs 16.7 kWh/100mi, or 40 vs 200 kWh/100mi
With all due respect to Alec, he's chiding the EPA for using numbers and metrics that people are more familiar with (MPGe) while at the same time rejecting a superior metric paradigm ...because he's more familiar with the old paradigm.
Interesting that Americans didn't invent their own freedom unit of kilowatt hours. Like they do with every single other unit.
@@MrMayex that's just it. Watt-hours ARE the freedom units for energy. Joules are the SI unit
@@Londubh no it's not. Watt and Jule are SI units. Jule (N•m) is energy unit and Watt (J/s) is power unit.
You can mix SI units and that's how we have power•time gives Watthour
No "we" don't. That unit is just as stupid, and here in the Netherlands we discuss fuel efficiency in km/l. ("Één op twintig" meaning twenty kilometers per liter, for instance.)
As an electrician in central Canada ( extreme cold winters ), I can say that a 40 amp circuit would be required here to accommodate the battery heating and charging of any car not kept in heated storage, given our winter temperatures.That said, it is still an option here for the right person. Great video, very informative !! Oh, BTW, that wiring you were showing needed proper support, looked horrible with the romex flapping in the wind. Sorry, but it really does.
i wonder if using a minisplit in the garage would be good, used for heating
@@awesomestuff9715 Alec already has that. Check out his videos.
@@norlockv nah I mean in Canada
I am not an electrician, but my OCD was triggered by the way that “clothesline” was “installed”.
@@kt3401 functionally, it's fine
aesthetic wise, it doesnt look like a finished basement, so it's also probably "fine"
We had an existing 240V outlet on a 50 amp circuit in the garage. It wasn’t in the most ideal location but it was good enough. We used an EVSE which could plug right into the outlet and provide 40 amps or 9.4 kw to the EV. Based upon my experience 30 amps would have been sufficient. We only plug into charge once a week to accomplish our typical driving. As to range, it is largely about speed as you so clearly said. We’ve had our Ioniq5 since February and have found everything you said to be true. Carry on!
I need to gas up my car about every week and a half to two weeks, so for a similar charging interval with *way* more convenience, you bet your buns I'm getting and EV once my gas car gives up on me
@@aech_two_oh Since I wrote that a year ago I found could plug in for free while we’re at the gym. That easily covers our regular daily driving. No waiting since the car is just sitting there anyway.
@@COSolar6419thats cool😅
I started out thinking I’d need a 50A L2 circuit, and then I actually got the EV and found I only need to charge an average of 4 hrs on L1 per night to meet my needs.
The biggest issue we’ve ran into is remote road trips, like visiting national parks. There are some DCFCs in unexpected places, but I definitely have range anxiety when we’re headed out camping. The pro-tip there is RV parks, if you’re willing to camp in one every few nights, because you can just bring your EVSE with you and charge at L2. I hope RV parks start catching on to this and advertising it better, there’s an untapped market of people who want to charge for a few hours but won’t eat an entire RV spot overnight.
On long trips carry a generator, just in case.
how do RV parks charge for electricity? is it included in the price, or do they have a meter? because if it's a "flat rate" for RVs i'm sure they'll be losing money if they don't adjust their rates. and I'm also sure their infrastructure isn't likely to be able to charge dozens of EVs at once. it's one thing to run a RV with a fridge, some lights, and maybe an oven. but 100% rated current for hours at a time, it's a very different story?
@@dakoderii4221 I'm planning to get a plugin hybrid for this exact reason. My daily use will be covered by charging at home. I'll switch to EV once the infrastructure is there for longer trips.
@@dakoderii4221 Generators that can charge in decent times, say 240V/30A continuous are heavy and impractical. I'd only consider it to travel "off-grid" in Alaska / Northern Canada.
@@jonaboy3 Though to be honest if you're in a situation where you would consider bringing a generator with you to charge your electric car, you should probably just use a gasoline car.
I absolutely love how you strive to get people value out of any product. This channel is one of my favourite things. c:
same🥵🥵🥵
@@uiopuiop3472 lmao
@@ChemEDan lean on way. i trade not lean no change. it dye when 230 km on frache in day. knead for charge. nothin for
@veryslyfox i eed more energy to do same distanss. in hungary or in franche. u dont knoew unless yore in the hungaris
I think what often gets lost in EV discussions, which you somewhat address here, is that EVs or any new technology doesn’t have to be perfect. It only has to be *better*. In my experience, people who are resistant to EVs focus on the unique aspects of operating an EV without actually comparing it to the effort of operating an ICE vehicle (getting gas, maintenance, longevity, etc).
The problem is some of the downfalls of ev vehicles would heavily impact me to the point it'd be financial suicide to get one. I made a longer post about it, but rural driving through the Aussie outback, Brisbane to Darwin and back, water crossings camping etc. Wont handle an impact with a kangaroo. Cost of power here and buying evs, and the charging infrastructure here.
The add to the fact there are no real 4x4s that have ranges of around 1k km. And they are low to the ground. Not going deep into it but low cars and being disabled is humiliating, painful to get in and out of, and on that last not getting out, outright dangerous. But evs aren't the only ones with the issue about height
Getting gas takes 2 mins, charging takes hours, as in most busy locations there are queues to use the chargers. Plus around here, all the chargers are getting the cables stolen by scrappers.
@@azazeldeath yeah but not everyone lives in the Australian Outback. The things you cite aren’t downsides to EVs, they’re reasons an EV doesn’t work for you. Why should I, who lives in an urban area in the US that almost never sees snow, buy a car designed for the extreme remoteness of the Australian Outback?
@@MattyEngland in my area it is the reverse. There are always lines to get gas and it can take up to 20 minutes. Whenever I see public chargers, they are always empty.
But I think most people charge at home, as is mentioned in the video. By the way I see a LOT of EVs, especially teslas. It feels like 5% of all cars on the road are teslas here (Seattle).
@@asmodiusjones9563 Like said earlier, most of the chargers here have their cables cut off by thieves. They even broke into a local car dealership, just to steal all the copper cables from the fast chargers.
Hello! There has been news. In May 2023, Ford signaled their intent to switch to Tesla's charging connector. I'm pinning this comment the day they announced it - assuming it happens, well then charging landscape will remain fractured but in a different way now. I'm disappointed with Ford but I can't really blame them given the CCS charging networks as of this writing.
I can't predict whether other automakers makers will join them or not, nor do I want to - time will tell.
Wasn't the plan to add it on and have both options? It's still an odd choice either way, but I didn't think they were entirely switching.
@@fsendventd In 2025 with their next gen EV platform, Ford will exclusively use the North American Charging Standard (Tesla Charger). In 2024 they will integrate the Tesla Charging API to their mobile app and distribute CCS to NACS adapters to allow existing Ford EV models to use the Tesla Charging Network.
You forgot about battery longevity and replacement.
You can add GM to the list now too. Glad to see more and more car makers making the sensible choice.
@@EC18FEA30B just found out through getting a notification about your comment. CCS is finished in NA. This is a huge win for the electric vehicle market.
The one, extremely thin, silver lining of Australia's extreme lag on adopting EV policy is that by the time it was worth Tesla moving here in any substantial capacity there was already a standard in place that required Mennekes/CCS connectors on all EVs, so if you buy a Model 3 here it'll plug into exactly the same chargers as an Ioniq 5 or a Taycan, without an adaptor.
Edit: said J1772 initially, have been corrected
Same here in Europe. Only recently charged my non-Tesla at a supercharger without needing an adapter. So comfy!
The other benefit of Australia is 3 phase (if you pay for it or already have it) can charge at 22kw.
@@KaldekBoch To be fair you can actually pretty easily get level 2 charging off of single phase here (a mere 15A circuit will yield 3.6kW, bottom end of level 2 charging but still) very cheaply. Angry pixies are definitely a lot easier to come by here.
Deeply entringed legislators only concern is keeping the menial job instead of entertaining charging knowledge
was kinda funny because tesla made all that noise about the battery in SA.
This is good stuff. Have you considered doing a video about electric bicycles, and all the varieties that are available? Like you, the car dependence of this country is deeply frustrating to me, so it might be worthwhile to demystify the alternatives like e-cargo bikes and the like.
I recently got a cargo ebike, haven't driven since I got it. Clocked hundreds of miles on it, and its just so much more efficient.
Would love to see TC + NotJustBikes collab on a video like that 👌🏻
I have an ebike and a cargo trailer.
With a bit more effort I could basically leave my car behind for anything other than road trips.
Yeah ones like the RAD Wagon would be a perfect bicycle for me to use as a summertime commuter and even a light grocery getter. I live 7 miles out of town so an e-bike would be easier on me.
I don't really think cargo bikes are that great. Normal e-bikes however are great for moving around in cities
Cheers from the lovely Netherlands, where we have the highest density of AC public charging stations on the street of the whole Europe.
This video should become mandatory for everyone buying an EV. Complete, clear, to the point. Even if I already knew everything, I really enjoyed spending one hour watching it.
Amazing job! Thank you for your help in making EV driving real and not the usual annoying chit chat.
The main thing to know is that Netherlands and most other European countries are not car addicted like the US and Canada. You can easlily walk or bike anywhere you want.
@@mernok2001 very true, but you can also see it on the opposite side, they don't have to install a charging pole in every street but they do :)
@@djlorenz11 I think your non-dependence of cars makes it a bit easier to implement that: less traffic conflicting with installation. Kinda difficult to install them when parked cars are in the way. Forming a case of installation based on demand might be tricky though, unless electrically assisted bikes can use them too.
bit of a shame they mostly get used by taxis though LOL
This is my experience charging my EV. There are a lot of people who won't have the same experience, but I need to point out how GREAT it CAN be.
I live in an apartment with a garage, my apartment doesn't charge for electricity on the garage so I plug in everyday and charge for free overnight (110v is enough). I don't have to plug it in everyday, I could probably get away with every 2 or maybe 3 days but it's now just a ~10s habit. Admittedly, my daily commute is definitely shorter than average.
But that's not all, even if I didn't have the garage, my apartment has free unlimited level 2 charging. So I can charge from completely empty to full overnight also for free. Don't often do it because it's unnecessary.
But that's still not all, my work has several level 2 chargers that I could charge at unlimited for free (admittedly there's a waitlist, but I could if I wanted to). I tried it once, but it was unnecessary for me.
But that's STILL not all, my work actually pays for a charging plan that let's us charge unlimited anywhere in the city at a level 2 charger for free. I tried it twice in the year of having it, but both instances were again unnecessary.
So I RARELY pay for charging AT ALL, I rarely think about it, and I rarely wait for it. About once every month or 2 I make a 600mi round trip to visit my family. The only inconvenience in doing so is from my own doing to save like $3 and 5 minutes. I'll set my charge limit to 100% from 80% (or more recently 70%) a day or two before leaving so my car definitely gets to 100% by the time I leave from my regular garage charging habits, or I'll plug in at my apartments level 2 charger overnight, either way it's free. Then I admittedly need to stop to charge for 10-15 minutes after driving ~2.5 hours straight at 70-75mph, which will cost me ~$10 (who doesn't want to take a break after driving for that long?). Then I charge overnight to full at my parent's for free (they joke it's the price to see me). I now use a 220v to charge overnight, but I could get enough charging over the weekend on 110v before heading back. Then after another 2.5hrs at 75mph I stop for 15min to charge for $10 to get home (where i charge to full for free either over a few days in my garage or overnight at the apt's charger). So I might spend on average $10-20 and 15-30minutes a month on charging. The calculator I have that tells me how much I'm saving based on how much I drive says I've saved over $130 vs driving with gas this month, and I drove more than usual.
Any combination of factors could make up for the lack of the others, so for some people it may be FAR better, easier, and cheaper than you think.
Great info, thanks for sharing. Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation going around about electric vehicles but they can definitely be a viable replacement, oftentimes superior.
Your home charging isn't free, it's spread out over the collective of residents. As more people opt in everyone pays more
@@rodgerfruin or just becomes enough of an issue that they start charging individuals. Take advantage of the free charging while it lasts.
You have long ago convinced me that my next vehicle will be an EV, but this was a great refresher and reminded me to look into garage circuits when my family builds a new home in the next few years. I imagine it will take some convincing, but I'll make sure it happens. Thanks, Toaster Boy!
While the circuits are good, please, please, please don't put in a panel that is nearly full the day you move in. A larger load center is just a few bucks more, and costs basically no more in labor to install. But it's where so many folks run into problems and expense later when trying to expand or modify. Adding a circuit in a garage (where many can happily live with exposed conduit) is a cake walk in comparison.
TOOSTER
@@BowlOfRed Great advice, it is much better to spend a tiny bit of money, literally like 50 to 100 extra, for a larger panel, than pay a few grand to have it replaced later.
The Eaton PON BR series actually has bar neutrals for GFCI circuits and you do not have to run the wire, it is what I chose for my upgrade.
I‘d also suggest looking at tho possibility of no next vehicle, although that will probably not be a possibility for you (assuming you live in america)
I‘d also suggest looking at tho possibility of no next vehicle, although that will probably not be a possibility for you (assuming you live in america)
Your video essays are among the best in the world. Comprehensive, in-depth, well organised and full of anecdotes/ examples. Brilliant!
Click click indeed
As a Volt owner since 2013, and driving 98% electric. I have always just used the "travel charger" that came with it for my 40 ish mile commute. I did adapt the gen 2 evse to 240v, but I have never actually needed the faster charging.
"What now, toaster boy??" 😂😂😂
This is a very good video. The best explanation on basically everything one would need to know. And trust me, I've watched a few. Congrats on the great content!
Fantastic video, as always. The Technology Connections standard: always exhaustive, never exhausting.
Well, one quibble on exhaustive - a missing piece from the fast charging discussion, IMO. The narrative is often ‘look, you don’t drive more than 250 miles in a day all that often!’ And then jumping into ‘and when you do, here’s what continuous highway driving looks like - charge every x hours of driving for y charge time’.
But for me, if I’m going more than 250 miles in a day, it’s rarely because I’m driving continuously to the Grand Canyon. It’s usually because I’m driving 300 miles in a day.
So I leave full, go out for a hike or something, and 50-ish miles from home, stop to juice up. But I have the electrical grid in my garage; I’m only going to charge to like 25% to get home.
That 25% charge is in the best part of the charge curve. So what this means is that if you want to road trip America, you need to think about 0-80% charging, but if you tend to fly when going 1000 miles, and just have some weekend destinations a little further than your range will allow, fast charging will be really, really fast
I drive in to DC for work, then directly to NE NY fairly often. This means 2 or more charging stops especially considering the large gaps in fast chargers (or lv 2 even) in central PA. I may not need the charge, but if a head wind pops up or it rains, I would be SUNK. At least installing level 2 chargers would give peace of mind and keep me from sweating it out on 7% battery by the time I get to the next place. Not to mention if that charger is broken, like the Southern Tier welcome center in NY where only 1 charger is left operational.
MPGe exists partially as a marketing ploy: Everyone in the US generally intrinsically understands MPG, including that a bigger number is better, and that 30+ is "good" to then see a number 3 times that must REALLY be good .
Whereas m/kWh (which I agree is the better unit) is relatively small. To consumers that may not know better: small number may be seen as bad since we've been trained to see bigger numbers as better. They're comparing the number they see to the MPG numbers they already know, even though that's a case of apples to oranges.
kWh/100 miles again creates a bigger number. (and ais nicely analogous with liters per 100 km which is the standard fuel efficiency rating in Europe)
kWh/100mi (and l/100km) also has the advantage of making cost-of-driving easier to calculate in your head, which is nice.
I agree that this is true but it is intensely discouraging that consumers can’t be trusted to understand the fundamentals of the products they buy.
It’s like how they used to (and still often do) label LED lightbulbs as like a “60 watt bulb”. Ok it uses 7 watts but let’s call it a 60 watt bulb?
@@asmodiusjones9563 at least in the case of MPGe, the original unit that it's referring back to meant something directly comprehensible to the user: it's a measure, essentially, of cost-effectiveness. With lamps, wattage was a bad unit in the first place, because people were mostly judging by light output (and we have the lumen for that) rather than by power draw, so when there started to be multiple lamp technologies that broke the link, it caused problems.
Additionally, if you're trying to convert a driver who already uses a gas-powered vehicle, it can help to establish in the consumer's mind how much more energy-efficient an electric car is. If you're not already using an EV and used to thinking in mi/kWh, this is useful for comparisons for a would-be adopter.
@@DaraelDraconis Thing is that the calculation for cost of driving is easier but calculation of remaining range based on battery pack state, or estimated total range for that matter, is easier with miles or km per kWh, and the happens to be the main thing most potential EV buyers are actually concerned with.
Fantastic video. My work supplies me with a 2013 model S and it has helped me see how easy it is. I charge with a dryer plug off-peak, I plug in only when needed and have even taken a few 800km+ trips in it with ease. It really is that simple. Getting over "range anxiety" was a huge hurdle.
I watched this video from start to finish. Thank you for making it. As someone who has been driving EVs exclusively for nearly 4 years, I think this video is actually much, much more than is actually necessary for most people. Aside from geeks who need to know all the details (like myself), you need to know little more than to plug it in every night. Aside from road trips, EVs are actually far easier to deal with day to day.
Some thoughts:
- Most people could just use a regular 120V power outlet for their charging needs as long as they don’t want to charge solely during off-peak times. That said, if you plan to do that, I’d highly recommend replacing the outlet you intend to charge from, and make sure the wires are attached to the screws on the outlet, not the part on the back of the outlet where you can just push the wires in. 12A for hours and hours is a lot for a standard outlet, and if the plug is loose or there is an iffy connection at the plug, it’s going to significantly decrease the life of the outlet. It’s probably not going to cause a fire unless you are using a “too cheap” charger from Amazon since any reputable charger will have a temp sensor in the plug, but still.
- DC fast charging, for most, is almost an insignificant thing. I drive a lot, and at least 90% of my charging is done at home overnight. Having an Ioniq5 and a Bolt EUV myself, the difference in fast charging speeds is…substantial, but in actual use, that almost doesn’t matter. I’ve road tripped the Bolt plenty of times, it’s doable. I’ve road tripped (more than 500 miles) the Ioniq5 about 4 times since I got it in May, it’s very easy. For our daily use, both cars are great. The Bolt is actually slightly better for the daily commute since the efficiency is about 15% better than the Ioniq5 at highway speeds, and it’s WAY less expensive to buy.
- Cold/wet weather affects all cars, we just notice it more in EVs. I used to quite regularly (every week) have to “commute” from Seattle down to my hometown of Salem, OR, about 250 miles one way. At the time, I had a 2016 Civic. On perfect weather days, it would get 40mpg consistently during that trip. However, if it was cold, I’d lose 3mpg. If it was cold and wet, I’d lose 6mpg. On a cold, wet and windy trip, I lost 10mpg, all at the same overall speed. Cold temperatures will cause a range reduction on any car, including ICEV and EV, even if you don’t use the heat, because the air is more dense. Air drag is by far the biggest thing slowing you down at highway speeds, so an increase in air density leading to an increase in drag will occur on every car.
- Some cars come with dual-voltage chargers right out of the factory. The Bolt EUV, older Teslas (like 2021 and older), Polestar/Volvo are the ones that come to mind, though Fords may as well. That means that those chargers can charge from either 120V (at 12A) or from 240V (usually 32A). If your car comes with one of those chargers, you don’t need to buy any other EVSE. My partner and I, who both drive EVs and both commute 90mi/day EACH charge both of our EVs solely during off-peak times (from 10pm-6am here) using just the dual-voltage charger that came with our Bolt EUV (plugged into a NEMA 14-50 240V outlet). I think the highest our electricity bill has ever been, including the energy to charge both of our EVs AND power our 1750sq.ft. home has been is $250. We would spend double that just on gas if we were both driving ICEV.
Just had a charger installed in my UK house. It has a current clamp installed non-intrusively on the live wire coming into the house. The charger automatically balances it's load to charge as fast as possible without blowing the main fuse in the house. It's really neat.
Whoa that’s actually really cool!
How many amps of service does a typical house have in the UK?
@@stevesether 100A. Think we're nominally 230V single phase these days rather than the 240V often quoted. 3 phase is still uncommon in the home but becoming increasingly common with electric combi boilers etc. Though there's a government grant for heat pumps at the moment, which will also have shook things up. And solar is being installed on houses as fast as the companies can do it because of the current energy crisis in the EU. The grid here is currently running on ~50% non-fossil fuels (i.e. wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, burning waste, etc). Plans are moving quick to reduce reliance on Russian gas across the EU, so that balance will shift even more in the near future. So the green energy space is moving quick over here. One last thing. Or car charger also has a feature where the grid management can disable electric car chargers to dump load and maintain the integrity of the grid. Sure, would be annoying for individuals if they ever use it. But would be less annoying than a blackout.
I would like to add a small detail that can make a big difference in the winter : I drive a Hyundai Kona EV and I live in Montreal (so winters get pretty cold out here). Most EVs now have a feature that allows to heat up the car before you go. However, if your car is already plugged in to your charger, it draws the energy from the grid, which significantly helps with the range (getting from cold to hot is usually what consumes most of the energy). Other that that, great video! :)
Pre Heat on Charger is an important tool in making BEVs working perfectly fine in Sub Zero weather.
This is very important even in wet and moderately warm autumn months, if you leave your car outdoors. The windows will be fogged up but a nice 10-20min pre-heating schedule will get rid of the moisture and the car doesn't need to warm up the fluids during driving.
What happens when Trudeau cuts your credit card? Enjoy dear leader ruining what used to be la belle province.
Thank you so much for untangling all of the various facts and figures on this topic. 🔌🚗
Stay out of elevators Deviant!!!
The Keymaster! All hail!
@@finickybits8055 👋😊
@@criostasis you can't tell me what to do, you're not my real building manager 😉
The important question is, can we embed Hyundai 'petnet' keys in our hand?
The transition at 18:49 from the plug to your shirt is beautiful.
I really appreciate your ongoing updates over the years on the ever-changing situation of electric cars.
Love the video!
I switched to an EV 18 months ago (That Company, Model 3), and got the Tesla Charge installed in my garage before delivery of the vehicle. I knew I didn't need that much power, but I had a couple of reasons that may be worth sharing:
1. If your paying an electrician for labor and the wire needed is not that long, going from a 30A 240V connection to a 60A connection is a very small difference. So if your going to have it done, go big and be done with it.
2. Having the extra power means I can share among future vehicles with that one circuit if I care to.
3. Being able to top up in an hour or two and getting a usable amount of power can be handy for those who regularly have unexpected 50+ mile trips crop up from time to time.
4. I didn't want to use my mobile charger daily. That's the cable that comes with the car. I want to get home and plug in, then just unplug to leave. I REALLY like having a mobile charger in the car at all times for emergencies, and if I use it at home, I'd have to pullout and put away the mobile charger EVERY DAY.
5. So if you want to keep the included charger in the car, and your paying an electrician to run power anyway
That all being said, 20-30A at 240V is more than enough for most people. In fact, I usually leave my charge rate at 30A at home even though it can draw 48A, as I just don't need the speed.
Regarding Charging habits:
1. Most of the time, I only charge to 65% to 70% most days. I do plug in every 1 to 3 days to top it back up to this. Some research shows this may make Li-Ion last longer than charging up to 90% and waiting until 20% to charge it. However, it's probably so negligible, people can do what they want. But I have no problem keeping my battery in the 30% to 70% range about 99.9% of the time.
2. Note what type of battery the EV has, as they have different charging preferences. For example Li-Ion likes to be in the 20% to 80% most of the time thought 90% is fine for packs that don't use ALL of the pack in their nominal range. But LFP batteries love being charged to 100%, so might as well keep it maxed all the time.
Last, some advice to most potential EV owners: EV's are MUCH easier to live with than gas cars. Yes, change is hard. Yes, you do have to give a little extra thought & time to a road trip. But unless you travel more than 200 miles on a very regular basis, EV's are fantastic to live with! Charging at home is way better than a weekly trip to the Boom Juice station. Yes, EV's still have some growing pains due to early designs/software versions of Cars, DC fast chargers, etc., but it's really a better experience for everyone overall.
Yes agree. Also the video side steps talking about Tesla which, after all, has sold the most EVs by far and has the largest charging network in the US. Yes I know non Tesla cars can't use Tesla superchargers in the US right now but that will change.
History book writer?
thats not an "EV" thats an electric wheelchair
LFP IS lithium-ion, so maybe a better distinction would me LFP vs Lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt, or something like that. Some people call them "ternary" batteries, too.
We have a PHEV, and we just had an electrician run a 100A sub panel to the garage - it lets me run power tools on dedicated circuits, a dedicated circuit for a big Sonance amplifier for outside speakers, and have an RV plug for when my mother visits. Plus, in 10+ years when I replace my ST (I WFH so it's a fun practical car that doesn't get much driving) I can just hook up another charger. I agree, if you're paying somebody anyway, just get more than you think you'll need now so you don't have to do it twice.
I’m an electric vehicle enthusiast and I still found this video fascinating all the way through. Thanks for putting together a comprehensive and easy to understand guide! Will definitely be sending this to some people I know. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
+1 on the trickle charging (L1) being good enough. I got my Leaf over a year ago, and I keep intending to have an electrician install a 240v breaker/plug in my garage, but haven't gotten around to it yet. There's only been a few weekends where I wish I had it. Did quite a bit of driving, so ended up having to use the gas car in some cases.
"It depends" has been my go to answer about how long it takes to charge an EV ever since I got one, so glad to see it getting centre stage here.
I think he’s been watching to much attorney Tom
My usual answer is 10 seconds. That's more than enough time for me to plug, and unplug. The rest is of little practical concern.
I absolutely adore your videos. There is a special kind of passion that you put into your videos that is awesome. Thank you for all the content you create.
Another excellent video. I'm not a beginner to electric vehicles, but I still watched every minute. You do such a great job of making it easy to understand.
Thank you for this detailed video. It changes my perception on the overall "EV". My wife and I drive round trip 110 miles a day to work. Seems in a worse case scenario (winter months) we'd still be okay. With more and more public areas starting to adapt charging station this is definitely the future I think as long as the grid can handle it. As always keep the videos coming!
Our chevy bolt will do that easily in the winter in Minnesota (very cold), so you'd be fine.
So worth the length; great call on consolidating this all into one video. I hope many, many people find this video and benefit from your clear, concise and always entertaining delivery. This video was loads of work I'm sure, many thanks for the dedication and detail you put into it.
And time stamps for each chapter, for easier reference.
I already have an EV and knew most of this already but man this just an excellently made video. I enjoyed every second watching it. Anyone thinking about getting an EV who finds this video is getting a real treat.
As much as I enjoy the thoroughly researched and carefully presented information on a world-saving technology, the real reason I tune into these videos is for the conversion to kcal/fathom you just dont get that on other youtube channels
I wholeheartedly recommend Chyrosran22's keyboard channel :D
@@Ralesk keyboard like fur elise keyboard or keyboard like cherry mx keyboard 🤨
@@tompov227 computer keyboard
I was really hoping he'd give the efficiency readings in coulombs per parsec. Or at LEAST BTUs per furlong.
I feel like this is one is those subtitle in-jokes
I loved this video. I would recommend that instead of the splitter for dryer/ev level 2, that going with a smart switch for a few hundered bucks is worth it for safety and convenience. My new 23 Bolt EUV charges now with no worries of telling my better half to hold off drying the clothes.
I'm helping my elderly mother decide on an electric car. Currently she has serious range anxiety. I will definitely watch this with her. Though after doing the math, we found that she drives at least 108 miles a day. So maybe her range anxiety is somewhat warranted.
My mom had the same issue. I think focusing on how far they really drive is key. My mom has put 700 miles on her Tesla in 6 months. She now realizes that her range anxiety was absurd.
@@ouch1011 My mom drives at least 108 miles a day. So her anxiety is somewhat warranted. She definitely drives more than most people though. The paradox is that she would definitely benefit from being able to cover all her driving with an electric vehicle.
Get her a hybrid Toyota!
@@tacomas9602 interestingly enough, all the recent lifecycle assessments I have read using Hybrids vs ICE, and electric, Hybrids were the worst.
@@antoniomromo worst as far as what? I’ve seen original battery Priuses still trucking along with 190k miles getting exceptional MPG. I don’t own one myself but I would be be turned off from buying a new one. I love my 5 speed tacomas and Toyota knows how to build a reliable car. But what do I know I’m just a hillbilly from NY lol
As someone who works in the automotive industry and who constantly has to address misconceptions and disinformation about electric vehicles, their charging habits, and average operating experience….thank you for this video.
I bought my first EV, an Ioniq 5, about 4 months ago (Thanks in large part to your videos explaining it so clearly) My commute is 140 miles a day and the level 2 charger in my garage is more then enough to replace energy I use everyday.
Going EV is saving me about $350/Month when compared to my Hybrid that gets about 40mpg. My wife drives my old Hybrid during the week and the EV on the weekends. She drives so infrequently that she only has to fill up once every 2 months or so. EVs are very practical and once the prices and availability start to become competitive it will really start making a lot of sense for most families.
I have a 120 mile commute and the math worked out about the same either electric or hybrid/gas even at $3.75/gallon. Free charging at work and my company EV allowance are the icing on the cake.
I can't fathom spending 2+ HOURS a day just behind the wheel. Makes me appreciate my 16 mile round trip commute. I spend 30 mins a day commuting.
@@mowcowbell It's really not that bad, I able to shift my work schedule to commute with less traffic and I enjoy driving (Especially in the Ioniq 5). Not to mention I really like my job.
@@randomvideosn0where My math came out that gas would have to be $1.36/gallon to be cheaper then what I am paying for the electricity. It was costing me over $15/day to drive to and from work, NOT counting tolls, so we are talking real world savings. My savings are about 3/4 of the car payment. It boggles my mind when people try to tell me that I am wrong. I'm not some eco electric car guy. I needed a new car, I did the math, and an electric is much cheaper for me to operate with my commute. With the tax rebate my MSRP Ioniq 5 was pretty much the same price (a little cheaper in fact) then the hybrid I bought 6 years ago. Not to mention after 9k miles the only maintenance I have had to do is rotate the tires.
@@mowcowbell Neither can I. For about 17 years, I commuted 35 miles each way (70 miles/day) and I hated it. Now, my commute is literally 10 steps from my bedroom to the desk in my office.
54:17 To those of us who work retail at places that stay open in inclement weather, that is much less of a surprise. Have you ever tried to push a(n empty) shopping cart (or better yet, a strapped-together row of like 10 carts) through two inches of snow? It's not twice as hard (as pushing on dry asphalt), it's easily ten times as hard (though granted, if carts had bigger wheels it would likely be less of an issue). You may find it almost as difficult as trying to push it over a curb (as some customers do when they're parked far from a cart corral but close to the edge of the lot). If you aren't a particularly heavy person, it's very possible your shoes will lose traction before the carts move even if it's only two or three (or one cart with a full load of groceries).
What does this have to do with electric cars? Gas cars suck in snow too.
For years I've said that my next vehicle will be an EV. And in my small Appalachian town, everyone always scoffs. (Maybe I can get them to watch this video. lol)
My hurdle has always been lack of garage, renting, money stored up to actually afford (any) new car and irregular work/school schedule.
But now that I'm a homeowner, working a well-paying and consistent job, I know that it is right around he corner.
Good to know that there are many easy options for the home charging and that "average" charging speeds are more than enough for you.
My commute is about 30 miles one way, and I bet I could even find a way to charge at work if I hassle them enough. (Though, I'm home enough that I probably won't need to.)
My commute is also 30 miles one-way here in NJ. I'm in a Tesla Model 3 RWD with 250ish miles and charge about every 3 or 4 days at home in the summer (assuming i'm just going to work and back). It's 1000% possible and definitely worth it!
You Do NOT need a GARAGE for a BEV to be convenient. Just just need a permanent parking space where you can run line to an outdoor EVSE "charger". Note how most Public Chargers are Outdoors.
@@Neojhun Lol. Yes. Thank you. \s
I did watch (both) the videos btw.
Good luck. You do realize you can't pay cash to charge your car, and how big battery powered cars are that will need juice when there might be a blackout.
@@emilioincerto WTF that does not make sense. That is some absurd logically broken lies that have no semblance of reality. Big Battery long range cars won't care if there is blackout because you only have to charge it like twice a week. Just charge it later when the power comes back. Try you can't pay cash at DC Fast chargers but people very rarely use them. I very much can pay cash for my Electricity Bill to charge my car. I just bring my bill to the Post Office and hand over cash.
So as a high level auto tech who was a relatively early adopter of hybrids and is now an automotive teacher as well as living in an entirely off-grid house (no grid connection, everything DIY).. I have a FULL understanding of the challenge of relating all this and somehow NOT ending up with a 1hr+ lecture (yeah... here we are!). I know all of it, i watched it anyway, and i applaud your effort. As a teacher i'm always looking for a more effective way to relate a concept, so i get to file away this hour as 'partially work related/research'. I'm actually in charge (oh boy..) of developing a hybrid/EV curriculum for our program, which while needing to be catered to the service/repair side of the industry, will surely include a good bit of general 'familiarization' since there's no guarantee that the people working on EV's will actually be passionate or independently interested in them. Most of them will be 'grandfathered' in from being primarily ICE-car technicians that have been selected to now be EV techs on the basis of not being completely ignorant of Ohm's Law (like the rest of the shop..). So plenty of background and foundational concepts will need to be taught, and I'll probably refer back to this as i work on that to check for things I may have overlooked or taken (the understanding of) for granted.
Nice work, keep it up!
2017 Volt using L1 charging has worked for the last 3 years getting me to and from work (48mile round trip). The gas has helped on long trips but for my daily I just charge overnight and it is enough. I actually went 6 almost 7 months this year not having to refill my gas tank.
Man this is an amazing youtube channel. I have learned about rare stuff to look out for while thrifting, a microwave I want to get my wife so she stops burning popcorn, and some reason I watched a video about water heaters.
Thanks for making these videos, can't wait to hear what you have to say about EVs. They are the future for sure. I'm about 200k miles into EV ownership over the last 8 years.
Great content, as always. You made clear many of the points I've struggled to make when talking to EV skeptics.
I recently found a way to explain how long charge duration is generally not an issue. When people cite that as a reason for not driving an EV, I ask them "if you had a gas pump in your garage, how often would you stop at a gas station?" You can just see the wheels spinning as they think about that.
For the hard-core skeptics, I follow up with things like "my 'tank' is full every morning", "energy comes to me, I don't go to it", and "I don't stand at a pump when it's 20°F below zero". I don't bother with "electricity costs a fraction of the equivalent amount of gas" because math is hard.
It's kind of sad to realize that europe, with 220v by default and way less distances driven per person each day, would be perfect for EVs, but no one has a driveway.
@@Wyvernnnn Because.. cars are objectively a bad concept overall, also there's the fact that The public transportation systems in European countries are pretty adequate for people to get around with
"if you had a miniature gas pump drizzling gas in your car in your garage, how often would you stop at a gas station?" FIFY
@@TheFalseShepphard cars are not a bad concept, they are an amazing invention
What is a bad concept is structuring modern life and city planning based on the idea everyone has a car and will constantly use it
@@DimT670 Allowing the storage of private vehicles on the public right-of-way is one of the original sins of 20th century development. Japan has the right idea in that regard.
Even though I've been driving an EV for 10 damn years, and charging via a 110v outlet from my apartment, I STILL learn so much from your EV videos. (and your other awesome videos too!) Keep being rad.
10 years how many mils ? what car ?
@@SnakZ 2012 Ford Focus Electric. About... 83,000 miles on it, I think.
Thank you! I have a hard time explaining my Volt in simple terms. I’m sad that range extenders seem to have died. I bought it as “training wheels” for owning electric to see what my typical needs were but with the confidence that I could use gas if necessary. Currently I can only charge at work using an extension cord but I still go ~900 miles between gas fill ups. The number one thing that keeps me going all electric is that I drive to remote places where a charging station is much too far away for my comfort in even the longest range Tesla. We’ll see where infrastructure is in 5-10 years when I need a new car.
The only thing my high school physical science teacher taught me was that Jesus is coming back and the rapture is coming. So this channel has helped me more since graduating than my high school teacher 6 years ago
I fall into one of those,
"but sometimes" conditions for which getting 48A chargers made a lot of sense.
My commute is 140 miles round trip, my spouse's is around 100 miles. We both switched to EVs. Our breaker box was already undersized and didn't have any space for a new circuit to be run. Additionally, the room with the breaker, the garage, and the meter were all so close that the additional cost of bigger cable wasn't that much. We ended up having a new service added and a new 125A breaker so we could each access 48A chargers on 60A breakers. I new it was overkill, but the additional cost was negligible.
I understand our case is fringe.
It's not really that odd over here in Euroland. In my country having 3 phase power at home is basically the norm. Single phase hook ups are being phased out by the utility companies. So when I got my BMW C-Evolution, I got a "level 1" charger with it that has a button to switch between 1500W and 3kW. But because I didn't want to have to unpack and re-pack the thing all the time, I bought a charge point to install in the shed where the bike charges.
Not wanting to deal with tripping breakers I wanted a charger with a Dynamic Load Balancer. Turned out in my case that the single phase charge point is just a 3 phase internally, you just connect only the one phase. So I ended up with a 11.2kW charge point (3*240V*16A). Yes it's total overkill, but it was just the cheapest convenient option.
Heck my BMW can't even charge that fast, it'll take 3.2kW max. So it still takes a good 4 hours for a full charge. On the flip side my brother's Energica and my friends HD Livewire can do a full charge in just over an hour in the shed and because of the dynamic load balancer no one in the house needs to even think about what they're doing concerning electricity use, as the charger will just slow down to prevent the main 25A breakers from tripping.
Having huge capacity means you can charge only during super off Peak hours
Perfect timing! This video comes out after I have just convinced myself that a 20 amp circuit was enough for my usage and I have an 80 mile commute. I’ll get about 120 miles in my Kona electric (3.5 mi/kWh average) overnight at that speed. I am sharing power with my laundry equipment and will setup load balancing with home assistant and a smart charger so I can charge at 16amps when possible.
Nice to see my thinking validated by someone else!
You gave an important detail. Constant power draw (like that of an EV) you need to de-rate the limit of the outlet, breaker, and cable to just 80%. So in the case of your 20amp example, 16 amps is all you can draw. Tesla limits that down even further (12amp) because it just knows a 15R/15P setup is in use when using their portable charger and does not know if the outlet is a 15R or 20R (15 amp or 20amp receptacle). Not to mention they probably only rate their 15P (plug) as 15amp meaning *.80=12amp.
This is fantastic and hugely informative - thank you. A great resource to send to people with questions.
I didn’t know the exact math on L1 and L2 chargers and it’s cool to see how capable they are, especially from the perspective of home energy use. It’s crazy that an efficient car uses the same power as 20 microwaves on the highway. And yet a decent gas car uses the gasoline equivalent of 4 times that.
I love that you’re pushing so strongly for more home charging infrastructure because that really is the answer for most people and most driving situations.
I can’t wait to get a mostly atomic fission powered car and soon after upgrade to collecting nuclear fusion power to charge it. We really live in the future in some ways, don’t we?
I know this was mostly about charging, but when advocating for EVs, I think it’s worth mentioning how relaxing and comfortable EVs are compared to most cars. The lower noise floor, lack of vibration, smooth power output, and often standard autonomous driver assist makes for a very sedate driving experience with lower stress than the older cars I’m used to. Sure, compared to a late model luxury car with low NVH, smooth engine and transmission, ADAS, and ACC, it’s not that big a jump, but I think a lot of people getting into mid level EVs are coming from 10 year old mass market cars with rattling 4 cylinders, poor NVH, and last gen transmissions with few autonomous driver assistive features.
I knew all the tech specs and objective metrics of EVs, but driving my parents’ model 3P was still a revelation for how calm it could be. Even with the fucking 20” Überturbine wheels and harsh Tesla suspension. Just getting in it is so different from having to start up a car and idle, although the contractor clunk was a satisfying surprise… I still like having a lightweight manual RWD gasoline roadster for fun driving so I’m excited to get a quiet, practical, and soft daily EV for the boring trips. Yesterday’s announcement of the equinox EV is potentially game changing in the way the “35k” model 3 or the cheap and cheerful bolt hatchback weren’t. Or maybe I’ll stretch my budget for a lyriq, i4 e40, or ID Aero wagon…
A friend of mine recently got an electric version of a car his wife had in the classic dinosaur-burning configuration. He said the biggest surprise is how much better the handling is in the electric, thanks to the better-distributed weight.
Specifically, I also think it is also interesting how switching to electric is providing a chance to rethink human - car interaction. Eg. the fact that Tesla has completely gotten rid of the idea of starting your car or anything related to that because why not always have the ac/heat on the moment you open the door is amazing. I have been driving my parents' model 3P too and enjoy it a ton and all of the little things they rethought.
I have been using Scan My Tesla to learn more about how the car actually manages thermal controls since that is now a major differentiator in EVs and their efficiency. I think that the octovalve is really an amazing piece of engineering. The control algorithms to use the battery as a thermal storage system as well as electrical are very well thought out. I personally like counting the power usage of EVs in toaster ovens rather than microwaves, but it doesn't really matter lol.
I feel that daily driving my Ioniq enhances the experience when I go to the hardware store or such in my 86 F150. The car is mooth, quiet, and almost drives itself vs the huge rumbling manual transmission single cab with vague steering and no AC. Another thing I like is that I don't feel bad short cycling my car which happens a lot in tight construction sites where you are inevitably parked in the way of someone.
I've been driving a 2012 Mitsubishi iMiev for 4 years now. Other than the few times I've forgotten to plug it in overnight, I've never had any issues with it. I can easily make round trip to work and back. As someone who dabbled in car mechanics, I know little to nothing about my EV actually works. I've been watching your channel for awhile now. This was a great video. Thanks.
Great video. One small thing I wish he would have mentioned is that speed and windy conditions are also factors in the range of combustion vehicles as well, and can also be easily be plotted. I know from first hand experience with a 660 mile trip I've had to take multiple times several years ago. There's a sizable efficiency drop from 55 mph to 75 mph in a gas powered vehicle.
He did mention it affects all vehicles, when he had the drag equation on screen
@@lev_e3201 He did, but it was too much of a passing mentioning. Not directly calling it out. Remember we are dealing with the lowest common factor of mental abilities with people that think EVs are the devil, and barely - if any - actually understand the physics that affect vehicles in general. You gotta spell it out to these people.
@@scott-h9l Or people who call people smarter than them childish names, because those people understand things that those calling the childish names can't remotely understand.
I don't have an EV, live in the UK, and even if I could afford an EV, I only have on street parking.
I watched all this video enthralled.
Alec is an evil genius and must be protected.
I live in Sweden, but I used to drive an EV when I lived in the US, and one thing I've noticed is that the investment into public charging stations in Sweden is astounding compared to the US. They just installed 5 new L1 charging points right outside of my old flat (so for on street parking use) and they just keep adding more and more of them all over the place. It's really rather impressive.
For contrast, while I never suffered difficulty in keep my car topped up in the US because my apartment complex provided a spot and plug for EVs, it was practically impossible to find any public charging stations. I had to set a destination like a botanical garden or a shopping mall to find them. Hopefully this changes over time.
@@neosdark19 it's already in progress. I don't know when/where in the US that was, but here in Albany, NY, just the last year I've begun seeing Teslas everywhere I go. there have been charging stations at the malls for quite some time, last year the office building across the street from the one where I work just installed 3 charging stations where the executives park 🙄. very clearly it's because at least one of those executives bought a Tesla or it wouldn't have been installed... but that's always the next step, right? I was just mentioning in another comment that the step after that is landlords putting in charging stations for their tenants so they can use it as an attractant same way that off street parking is. clearly your landlord or municipality is already ahead of that game. I also predict that metered parking spaces will eventually incorporate EV charging as well. I've been looking into EUCs recently... are they popular in Switzerland? or are they illegal? I've heard some countries have made them illegal.
@@neosdark19 You must live in the south, cause here in the north they're still extremely rare. There's a couple at the big ICA and that's it.
In my mind there is no reason not to install chargers along the side of streets where overnight parking is definite. We had parking meters for the longest time, these could be both a charging station and a parking meter.
Your videos are such a delight! It’s just weirdly nice to listen to someone so consistently thoughtful and earnest (while getting to learn something about all that goes into the conveniences around me)
Rewatching this to get caught up before I get my EV tomorrow. I'm so excited.
What make and model?
@@CC86CA 2020 Ioniq Limited!
I like how Carl and Brenda are becoming regular example characters on this channel. I hope Carl can figure out why Brenda refuses to use the dishwasher. Come to think of it, Carl needs to go pick up some more of those magic detergent packets!
Like Alice and Bob in Computerphile :D
@@SmackMyKeyboard Computerphile, and Cryptography in general
I wish Carl and Brenda could find a way to take their dogs to the yard one at a time, so they don't fight.
@@alvaros.
I liked Carl better before he went to rehab......now, Brenda is becoming difficult to deal with.
watch Carl and Brenda be his parents' names
Technology Connections: *uploads a video about lanterns*
Me (broke) : *buys lanterns*
Technology Connections: *uploads video about electric cars*
Me (still broke): .....damnit.....
Maybe trade in the lanterns?
You can buy the charger, it's a start. Or the plug for decoration?
This is how I felt when he uploaded a video about a toaster that's been discontinued for two generations.
@@sparqqling Or even just the outlet in preparation for a future BEV purchase, plugging it with something else for the meantime such as dryer.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 or the microwave he loves
If you have a hard time visualizing a kilowatt, there's an easy and very channel-applicable way to think about it: a lot of electric kettles pull about 1kw. So if you can imagine running some electric kettles in your home, that's what the chargers draw.
For the Americans in the Audience .. Think of an Average Coffee machine takes around that much power too.
@@jonjohns8145 Yes, I use the example of someone running their vacuum cleaner (many advertise being 12 amps).
Pretty much everything that is designed to pull as much power as it can in the US pulls about a kW. Vacuum cleaners, etc...
Or a microwave, most of them are in the vicinity of a kilowatt. Every microwave I've seen has been in the range of 800-1200 watts.
A reason that I like the teakettle analogy is that you can directly see the output; it's directly dumping 1kw into water and you can usually watch that water boil through the little window.
This is random, but I really wish you would do a video on the cord winding mechanisms inside of vacuum cleaners! You're the only person I could think could do it. What are they? Why don't they ever work? Why do they roll up 60 percent of the way and just stop and refuse to go anymore until you pull it out again!? Why can't they be improved? Only YOU can do this and make it interesting. I NEED you to do this. The world needs you to do this.
I have looked at many tech channels and this is clearly the best one. His explanations are excellent and so well presented.
This video was one of the main things that kicked me into the EV mindset. I drove my new to me Model 3 home yesterday, and I am already loving it even before I have the adapter to plug it into the Nema 6-50!
I'm not talking sh!t, honestly curious.
Did you notice and panel misalignment? My buddy has 1 and his is pretty bad. Idk the details of why he didn't notice at time of purchase or if he was too excited at the time. He says it is common for some misalignment. Safe driving to u.
Hope it's been treating you well! I watched this video a year ago and decided to go down memory lane today.
I've had my M3 SR for nearly 2 years and I love it. Taken a few road trips and maybe 1 or 2 charging inconveniences, but none have been deal breakers. Also, because I use regen well, and I'm light on the pedal, I'm getting 5 m/kWh which is pretty dang good in my opinion.
@@builder1113 I’m starting to get tired of the updates changing my settings every few weeks, but besides that I’m still loving not having to stop at the gas station.
Fantastic, and simplistic advice. As a newbie to the EV World, this is sound advice and one that KIA Inc and their dealers simply have no idea of. The salesman I bought our new EV from had no idea (despite having an EV Trained certificate framed near his desk on the wall) he was vague, and really had little advice on this subject.
Thanks for the video. I was just arguing with someone as he said that because he got 3 cars at home (his car, his wife's and his son's) that he'd need 2-3 supercharger installed and a complete service upgrade 😅 Its incredible how some people overthink the charging of EVs.
"Through the magic of having two of them" immediately followed by "toaster boy". You're freakin' awesome. I love the cut of your jib. And thank you for your rightful promotion of EVs. This transformation needs to happen yesterday.
I was glad to hear you mention that just because you have an EV doesn’t mean you keep the thing plugged in all the time. I switched to an EV earlier this year and I probably plug it in at most once a week. EV only seems complicated until you actually get one and realize how easy it really is.
I live in a condo, and I’ve had two EV cars for about 5 years in total. I still watched this whole video. It was really informative as your videos usually are.
I didn't read all of the comments but think there are 3 more things you need to consider? Based on my road trip from Kansas to Seattle and back last summer, the distance to the next charging station is the starting point for calculating how many kwh you need to pump into your vehicle. But, since not all road are flat, significant elevation changes can have as much of a negative effect as speed or driving into a headwind! And then if it happens to be 102° and you are driving uphill - the air conditioner can also reduce your mileage significantly!
But the worst 2 words that a roadtripper wants to hear are "Unplanned detour" . On my last day on the return trip, a planned 90 mile leg turned into a 150 mile senic tour uphill thru Aspen when a rock slide took out I-70 for several days. Lots of white knuckle range anxiety and 2 lane (sometime 1 lane) goat trails over Independence Pass later I arrived in Frisco, CO and filled up before heading to Denver. Fortunately, I added a lot of "just to be safe" miles to the car while I enjoyed coffee while charging up and there was just about as much downhill road as there was uphill. Of course, I didn't know that when I was directed off my intended and well thought out route onto an "Unplanned Detour" 😵💫
Fantastic video. I've got a standard Model 3 (62kwh) and charge at 32Amps. I drive about 150km a day on the average day. It takes about 5 hours to recoup. In fact, the car is smart enough to know how long it'll take the charge and starts it to finish right as I'm about to leave, so the battery and car are all nice and warm/conditioned to get optimal efficiency/comfrort for my drive to work in the winter.
The thought that has gone into EV's is mind boggling.
Damn, that's a lot of daily driving. Stay safe out there.
I fully expect half this video to talk about how important heat pumps are in EVs
I was too xD Glad he got there
It's 2024, I'm seeing more and more folks buying an EV and I remembered this video. It actually answered many of my questions, thank you very much for sharing 🙂🙏
I watched this video when it first came out, and it was great. Now, though, I am watching it as we prepare to buy our first EV, and it is fabulous. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all of the details!!!! I feel much more empowered to make the right decision for us!
enjoy your queermobile
Holy smokes, this is exactly the video I needed right now. We'll be migrating daily drivers to an EV and a PHEV within the next year or so, delayed only because of you know, 'supply line issues.' This really helped.
Very informative video, well done. Something I think would be interesting for another video is a deep dive into battery degradation and battery servicing/replacements.
The only reason I put in a big service to my garage was for EV charging, I don't have an EV yet, but I had to run a new service out to my garage anyway. So instead of running another 20 amp out there I ran a 100 amp and put in a sub panel. The whole reason is because I think that most EVs will support backflow into the house at first it will probably be to assist with power outages and such, but in the future they will probably be used to help balance loads on the power grid.
Thank you! This was fantastic.
My wife just got an Ioniq 6. Our first EV. It’s really a joy to drive.
Thanks for putting this together! I had a Leaf when they first came out. Even with its limited range, I knew I'd never go back to an ICE vehicle. I've had a Model 3 (ducks for cover) for nearly five years now and I'm curious to see how long it lasts!
Your videos have convinced me to go electric! I’m hoping to get an electric car later this year, and because of your videos I know exactly what I need to do for it, thanks for this video it’s extremely informative!
Costs a fuckload to buy a new vehicle and replace batteries every ≈10 years, even with subsidies.
It's really a privileged person's vehicle, not a low income person's.
@@AndrooUK Well, I’m not gonna be able to live on my own cause of rent costs, so if I ever need to live in a car I might as well have a nice one that won’t cost me gas.
@@AndrooUKWorking person's vehicle
Is there a cradle to grave environmental impact study that compares gasoline power versus electric?
@rusefoxghost good luck living out of a car. Better get that van option instead 😂
For 7 years, we've had 0 issue charging 2 EV's (generally both Model 3s, then a Model 3 and Y, and now a Model 3 and Rivian R1T) from one wall unit on a 30a circuit.
You belong on public access tv. This is exactly the type of laid back neat shit i crave. Bob Ross meets How It's Made.
So, I'm 1 second into the video and I already know that I will listen to my favorite nerd for one hour talking (or maybe ranting?) about a topic I'm not actually into and that's not really relevant to me. And I know I will enjoy it because you made the weirdest and most obscure things interesting to me in the past. Keep up the good work, Alec!
As someone who loves the feel of driving a manual-transmission internal combustion engine too much to tlreally consider buying an ev anytime soon, this video is still incredibly interesting and informative
I have 900 watts of off grid solar. When Putin starts growing mushrooms I'll still be able to drive 😁. Seriously I feel better knowing the fuel for my car is not dependent on someone else.
Toyota has a pantent on a simulated manual transmission for evs but they have yet to do anything yet
Have you tried an EV? You are likely to find it a better driving experience.
Ev car buyers are mind children,
Mind children are easily led - and easily misled.
I've found my EV to be a fantastic commuter vehicle and work truck! Road trips and the public charging infrastructure are a COMPLETELY different story though.
While I know this is generally an edge case, it is something people take into account when making a purchase decision. I understand you had a separate video on this, but feel you probably should have said a bit more in this video to fully inform people who are prospective first time EV buyers. I have taken multiple road trips totalling several thousand miles, and have had the following issues:
If the outside temperature ever hits 90f, DC fast charger speeds start to drop. If it's above 100f outside, DC fast chargers generally limit charging speeds to 35kw, which makes them basically useless (given their intended purpose).
Differing pay schemes for different charging networks (pay per minute vs pay per kw) and how pay per minute is generally a huge ripoff.
When planning a trip, I have started always planning for the worst possible scenario (the next one or two chargers are either broken, or charging at 35kw instead of 350kw). It just feels like a lot of unnecessary stress when you already have the normal stress a road trip can bring.
Be prepared to spend a whole lot of time in Walmart parking lots. This is super convenient at first, but can get kind of old on an extended road trip.
I expect my experience has been somewhat different compared to yours because I live in California (which I thought was supposed to be a good thing), but I have had these challenges consistently while travelling through every state west of Texas, as well as in western Canada.
This isn't to say EVs are bad, these aren't even issues with EVs themselves. These issues are specifically due to the immature infrastructure, and I'm sure companies will resolved this as new infrastructure it added after this especially hot year. For this reason I (somewhat reluctantly) tell anyone I talk to while at a fast charger to wait a couple years before buying an EV if they're ever going to use their car for something other than their daily commute.
I bought mine for daily commute but have been using it on longer trips while working on my gas car. Driving 500 miles in it sure is a hassle, with chargers being broken or needing to wait for a spot, let alone that my car can charge at about 40kW max. I really do sweat it when I get near my house or in central PA though because the chargers are few and far between with huge mountains, like the one I live on taking 3% just to climb.
I'm very lucky that I love in California when I go on short road trips, but where I am is a bit of a "charging desert" that also happens to be incredibly hilly and with significant wind activity. I haven't gotten stranded yet, but I've had to deal with broken chargers on the last leg to home, and I've gotten pretty close.
I'm gonna be honest, even with over 100 degree weather, I have not noticed the output drop as drastically as in your case. I wonder if it was the weather or just those chargers having unreported issues like they randomly have.
@@CodeAllos I can't say for sure, but when I was visiting Las Vegas, there was only a single charger in the city even capable of 350kw, and after trying several, none of them were getting over 70kw (even in the initial few minutes before the charger slowed to 35kw) as I recall. Granted it was over 100 degrees, but that was my experience. I have heard from others that a charger that is shaded will give a full 150kw, but unshaded chargers will generally be limited to 35kw.
Its really cool you put out a video to help people through this transition from ice to ev. It's like a public service announcement. Thank you.
Loved my long distance journey in an EV until it was time to charge. Was supposed to be a few hours drive there, and then after a while there, a few hours drive back. Until we went to charge, and the DC CCS charge port on the vehicle had an issue and would not lock. No lock? No charge. Had to wait 11 hours on a level 2, to get enough range to get home. A rare instance, sure, but it happened.
Was the locking clip missing on the CCS1 connector? I've discovered my Bolt would not engage its lock (that silver metal that swivels to hold the locking clip in place) if the locking clip was damaged/missing. The fix was to press something into the car's silver lock mechanism just long enough to trick it into thinking a locking tab was pressed into it. A pen, screwdriver, or even a folded up business card does the trick into getting the charge going. 👌
They recently replaced the charge port on my car for a similar issue. But whenever I did have the issue (which was rare), all I needed to do was give a good pull on the emergency release cable to make the mechanism come to live again.
Rare, Yeah ok sure. Real rare. Liar
If your regular car breaks for any reason you have the same issue. And ice cars are far less reliable.
@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 funny enough I've never had trouble putting portable energy into my ice car (gasoline) . It's never left me stranded either. In fact, none of the cars I've owned have. I'm not down on EVs. I'd have one if it met my use case at this time.
I'm not even in the market for an EV, but this video was fascinating and well done. Thanks!
When I bought my current car EVs weren't really an option yet as they were A: Too expensive and B: I didn't (and still don't) have a means to charge at home (Condo/Apartment). I did do the math at that time and found that if I could have gotten an EV a Level 1 charger would have easily covered me and been way cheaper than gas (which was only half the cost it is now). Since my current car is only a few years old I'm not really planning to buy anything new anytime soon but once we find a house (market is terrible to put it lightly), if these gas prices keep going up it may just be worth it to trade in for an EV. My mother would probably need a hybrid though, she runs a cleaning business which means a ton of driving.
I need you to know how jealous I am of how big a fan the Green brothers are of your work lol
I have heard them mention you multiple times on multiple platforms.
I keep expecting this big influx of nerd fighters, but either way, happy that people are seeing your work :)
I was a TC fan before I discovered nerdfighteria! I love that these worlds intersect :D (and Alec is wearing a pizza John shirt in at least one old video, love that the fandom goes both ways!)
Thank you so much for this video. For me, someone who is new to EV’s, such clear and concise information makes all the difference.
This video is focused mainly on charging. Charging is not my main concern. If I ever get an EV, I plan to use it for commutes and errands only. I'd still stick with gas for long road trips.
My main concern is cost of ownership. Most EVs have cost premiums of $15K-$20K over their gas equivalents. I just don't see how these EVs can even break even in cost savings within first 6 years of ownership to justify owning one.
Not Just Bikes will make you realize just how car-centric our world is.
However, adding EV capacity around the world won't hurt, but it would help if people had other transportation options.
Imagine how many e-bikes you could charge on a single type 2 charger!
A note on the dryer splitters, you can actually get smart ones that interlock the two so only one can be on at a time, with the dryer having priority
I'm currently entering the world of two-wheeled EVs.
The motorcycle I ordered can officially drive 80 miles on 4,34 kWh of energy, so I offer 18,5 mi/kWh instead of 3 :D
Even with half range (1. what I experienced this winter, 2. they always calculate too high), 9 mi/kWh is still amazing.
Thanks for helping me through the math in different units, and greetings from the realm of the amber turn signals ;)
Alec, your new Ioniq 5 most likely does not come with amber rear turn indicators unlike it’s European and probably Asian model counterparts. Remembering your episode on turning lights color which I totally agree with, how do you put up with it?
Maybe he modified it with European parts ;-p
One of the few TC vids I disagree with. I mean I think amber signals look better, but it makes no difference to safety. The worst case thing that could happen having just red lights is that you see a red tail light light and slow down thinking someone is braking when in reality they are just changing lanes. If you were driving close enough behind them that you need to brake instantly to avoid hitting someone where you don't have time to see if it is steady or a flash, you're driving too close in the first place. There's no case where responding to a turn signal light as if it were a brake light puts you in any danger, so the color of signal lights doesn't matter.
On the other hand, the location of them does. Getting real tired of cars today with signals so low they can not be seen by other drivers.
If he's inside the car he doesn't see them
May put a tint on the lights to change its colour?
@@dbclass4075 the supposed issue, is that in the US, cars can use the same lights for brake and turn signals. They have to be red as brake lights. Most/many European cars have separate lights for turn and brake, so the turn lights can be amber. The combination costs less without any change in safety, and most people think it looks better, so it is most common where it is allowed.
Another excellent video as always! And jumping off from one of your last comments, is there any potential for a video on E-bikes? There's a lot of nuance that could be covered there, and a (presumably shorter) video educating people on those could also be pretty neat! I use mine to commute to work everyday, so they can definitely be a viable option for local distances! Now let's see if I can keep that up through the Chicago winter...
I'm running an ebike I converted myself, 1000w bafang mid with a 52v 14ah battery, on sunny days I ride it to work, which is a 7.5mile trip, depending on how much I use the throttle, which mainly depends on whether I'm being chased by dogs, I can get 3 days on a charge, normally keep it in pa2 and cruise at 18-20mph pedaling as much as I can, with it I've went from gasing up once a week to every 3 weeks, (have errands that the car is unavoidable) while I won't give the car up, the bike has been a great addition to my commute, and this month alone has saved me about 170$, 90 of which being from me reducing the insurance on the car, still a substantial saving considering my monthly income
Notes from an electrician should anyone be interested. TC I have a note for you at the bottom.
I'm a member of the IBEW in Local 26, lots of good information in here. One of the last things we did in my apprenticeship was get certified as EVSE charger installers. Ranging from household to large commercial charging stations. Also because of my DC, VA, MD location my normal work commute can rage from 100-200mi a day round tip, so the average amount listed here wouldn't work for myself and quite a few tradespeople. Considering the US average miles driven per day, according to KBB, is 35 miles; I wholeheartedly agree that 7.3kw is overkill and plenty for 90% of drivers. TC brought up many things that I would have commented about had he not done so, excellent research as usual, especially the service upgrade and overloading a circuit.
Service upgrade I agree, I can't say someone wouldn't need it, many 50 amp main panels still exist in the wild, but its largely unlikely this would need to be done. As TC mentioned, its very unlikely that one would have their heaviest loads all running at the same time. In that vein of thought, there are adapters for dryers like TC mentioned that let one have the dryer and 'car charger' plugged in at the same time. I'd personally recommend spending the extra money on the ones that are 'smart.' They have an internal switch that won't let you try and charge your car and turn the dryer on at the same time. Just extra piece of mind for a small price, on the off chance that your dryer breaker doesn't trip if one had both loads going at the same time. Breakers fail all the time, breakers fail in the ON position all the time. Sadly, this mostly only gets noticed when it really matters that the breaker works as intended. *Edit: If anyone, anywhere, has a panel and it says FPE or Federal Pacific on the face have it replaced by an electrician immediately. Major fire hazard.*
Bog standard 120v outlet, I'll provide a use case. TC mentioned as well, how much power that EVSE is going to pull on a regular outlet. Its just about equivalent to a space heater in draw. Lets say one is charging their car in their garage from said outlet. A very common thing is also in the garage for a lot of people. A spare fridge or chest freezer. A household outlet on a 15a circuit with 80% rule is just about tapped out with that charger plugged in. Add in a freezer or fridge kicking on and the likelihood of that circuit being tripped is very high. And a condition that might not get noticed until you went to get in your car in the morning; since fridges / freezers don't run all the time. Its worth noting that even if the charger and the fridge / freezer are technically below the breakers amp rating, the inrush from the compressor starting will be what trips the breaker. Since that short amount of time of inrush is going to slam the breaker for its rated capacity. This is partially why the 80% rule exists. Now, if one has a 20amp circuit in their garage, all of the above is less of an issue. But that's still only two devices for the entire garage. If this particular example applies to you, its likely you have more than one thing plugged into your garages circuit. Such as a garage door opener. Just something to keep in mind, should one use the 120v route.
To add to the very long paragraph above, if you have 120v outlets on the outside of your house 9 times out of 10, that outlet is being powered by whatever circuit is running the room on the interior side of that outlet. So a EVSE plugged into these could very easily overload the circuit.
I'm sure there's more I wanted to mention, but this is plenty long enough. TC since you did the install for your EVSE yourself, and used a metal J-box, it needs a ground tail installed to protect the box from getting energized by accident. That's what that little bubble in the box with a screw hole is for, if you have enough slack on your feed wire its an easy fix. I must say though, that's probably the cleanest resi panel interior I've seen in a long while. MC or armored cable is fine, Chicago is either lucky or unlucky as all of their wiring needs are required to be in conduit. Including residential. Makes any EVSE install that more expensive sadly.
All good points. Plus I'm in Cook County and have the added conduit issue. BTW a couple years ago kept houding a friend until she got rid of the Federal Pacific panel in her condo. Surprisingly her condo HOA didn't care.