Who has or is planning to get an electric car / EV Talk

[jerryk]

For anyone considering 120v charging - this is what I’ve been doing and it’s perfect for my needs. I have my Model Y plugged into an outdoor outlet and it pulls 12 Amps without issue. I park it outside and keep the inside cool whenever it’s sunny (every day these days).

But I do wfh and only go out a few times per week. If you commute everyday, installing a 240v outlet is recommended.

I always keep it topped off at 75%. Yesterday, I took a spontaneous drive down to the beach and back. Total drive time 2.5hrs, got back home at 45%, plugged it in. Today I’m already back to 70%.

I was skeptical about 120v charging at first, but now I’m totally comfortable. 👍

Definitely agree with the 240V.

We did the 120 V charging for our first X and it was slow, almost too slow. Then some nice person used my Tesla referral code and I received a free Wall mounted Tesla-branded charger, with Elon signature! We now have that installed and charge at 240V/40A. This will charge an X in 7 hours or so from 20% to 90%, and the M3 in about 5 hours.

 

[4sallypat]

Yeah regular wall outlets here are 15 amps 110v (about 1500w). With the Tesla cable, that means we charge at a rate of 12 amps 110v or 1-1.2kwhr. Which equates to about 5 miles per hour. We got a 3rd party cable on Amazon that allows us to pull 16 amps from a 20 amp outlet at work - for 6.7 mi/hr charging and so we can leave the Tesla cable plugged into the wall at home.

Definitely recommend installing faster charging if possible. My wife drives 110-115 miles every other day and we've been living off of a 15 amp / 20 amp outlet for over a year now. Works. But doesn't leave a lot of room for other trips.

We'll be moving to a new place in a few months and EV charging is the first thing we look for now when scouting for places to move to.

Sounds like what we did when we were in a rental home years ago - used 120V to charge the PHEV.
I upgraded the electrical to 20A circuit and plugged in a Duosida dual voltage, 16A 120V charger which cut down the charge time overnight.

Glad to hear you will be moving - look for the newer electrical w/ 20A circuit - 5-20R pictured below.
Or better yet, look for a 240V dryer outlet!

 

[culo77]

So we've been living off of charging on a 20 amp outlet at work and 20 amp outlet at home. Works for us. lol. Probably doesn't hurt the health of the battery either (we've seen almost no range loss in 40k miles).

For anyone considering 120v charging - this is what I’ve been doing and it’s perfect for my needs. I have my Model Y plugged into an outdoor outlet and it pulls 12 Amps without issue.

I was skeptical about 120v charging at first, but now I’m totally comfortable. 👍

I am 97% on a 120v 20 amp charger. I even have it set on Low so it only pulls about 8-12 amps. Really only commute and errands about 30 miles per day so it works for me. The other 3% Every once in a while I will hit a level 3 charger if I need to do 2 back to back big mile days.

That said I have a detached garage, so running underground wire for a level 2 is expensive and not worth it for my use.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

We charged overnight last night and it only cost £9.69 for pretty much a full charge. Not bad considering our ICE car costs £90 to fill up.

 

[BigMcGuire]

We charged overnight last night and it only cost £9.69 for pretty much a full charge. Not bad considering our ICE car costs £90 to fill up.

Yeah my wife and I went to the Hollywood Bowl last night, and of course, we didn't get near home till almost 1am. Local supercharging rates are $.21/kwhr from midnight to 4am (house is $.26/kwhr non-peak) so .... we filled up from 30% to full for about $6.72, lol. Not bad at all.

The supercharger was completely packed - we got one of the last spots. lol.

Of course it is 8:27am as a type this, so, lol.

 

[Apple fanboy]

We charged overnight last night and it only cost £9.69 for pretty much a full charge. Not bad considering our ICE car costs £90 to fill up.

Great isn’t it? How are you liking the car?

 

[BigMcGuire]

Sounds like what we did when we were in a rental home years ago - used 120V to charge the PHEV.
I upgraded the electrical to 20A circuit and plugged in a Duosida dual voltage, 16A 120V charger which cut down the charge time overnight.

Glad to hear you will be moving - look for the newer electrical w/ 20A circuit - 5-20R pictured below.
Or better yet, look for a 240V dryer outlet!

Yep yep, UCLA has 20 amp outlets in their parking structure. So we definitely enjoy the slightly faster 16amp rate when charging there. Where we live now, our garage is on a 20 amp circuit that has 2 outlets (15 amp) - for the garage door opener, tankless water heater, and for 1 outlet near car. The outlet gets too hot when we use the 16amp cord so we use the 12 amp Tesla cable for the garage outlet (been doing fine for the last year).

Heading up to Stanford for 3 years (wife's work) then we'll be back to Southern CA (maybe - can barely afford to live here).

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Great isn’t it? How are you liking the car?

Yeah it’s a nice car to drive but looking forward to Monday when we pick up the Q4. The Kia is dull in terms of appearance but build quality is very good I have to say, much better than the Sportage I owned about 8 years ago. We haven’t gone on any long journeys in it but it’s held it’s charge pretty well. Got a drive down to Southampton in a couple of weeks in the new car and that will be interesting.

 

[4sallypat]

Yeah my wife and I went to the Hollywood Bowl last night, and of course, we didn't get near home till almost 1am. Local supercharging rates are $.21/kwhr from midnight to 4am (house is $.26/kwhr non-peak) so .... we filled up from 30% to full for about $6.72, lol. Not bad at all.

The supercharger was completely packed - we got one of the last spots. lol.

View attachment 2229809
Of course it is 8:27am as a type this, so, lol.

Was this Tesla SC at the Ontario City parking structure near me ?

 

[BigMcGuire]

Was this Tesla SC at the Ontario City parking structure near me ?

Yep. I don’t go there very often but when I do I keep an eye out for ya. Heh.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Our car has been delayed a few days. Audi phoned this morning to say when the car was taken out of shipping mode, it flagged up a recall code for the heat pump. They said there is big demand for the parts at the moment but ours has been prioritised and was shipped from Germany today. Hopefully get it now on Thursday or Friday. They did say ‘if’ something goes very wrong in the process, they’ll loan us a Q8 E-Tron for our holiday next week. So we have the Kia Niro a few more days it seems, not the end of the world.

 

[JT2002TJ]

Our car has been delayed a few days. Audi phoned this morning to say when the car was taken out of shipping mode, it flagged up a recall code for the heat pump. They said there is big demand for the parts at the moment but ours has been prioritised and was shipped from Germany today. Hopefully get it now on Thursday or Friday. They did say ‘if’ something goes very wrong in the process, they’ll loan us a Q8 E-Tron for our holiday next week. So we have the Kia Niro a few more days it seems, not the end of the world.

It will be worth the wait!!

 

[phillytim]

I am convinced that 100% electric cars will end up being either a fad or a niche market.

Due to living in a city high-rise, where my car is parked amongst hundreds of others in a garage, and needing to go 400-mile roundtrips here in both extreme cold/hot Pennsylvania - electric is not my use-case. And I certainly do not see electric chargers lining up along the streets of tens of thousands of Philly row homes (let alone millions of similiar homes in other cities).

I'll wait in a line for a few-minute air pump of my tires, but I am not waiting in a line of people sitting for hours to recharge their cars. Screw that.

We need a better, more instant-refuel option than electric for the masses - no doubt.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I am convinced that 100% electric cars will end up being either a fad or a niche market.

Due to living in a city high-rise, where my car is parked amongst hundreds of others in a garage, and needing to go 400-mile roundtrips here in both extreme cold/hot Pennsylvania - electric is not my use-case. And I certainly do not see electric chargers lining up along the streets of tens of thousands of Philly row homes (let alone millions of similiar homes in other cities).

I'll wait in a line for a few-minute air pump of my tires, but I am not waiting in a line of people sitting for hours to recharge their cars. Screw that.

We need a better, more instant-refuel option than electric for the masses - no doubt.

I’m 100% convinced that you are right where you live. For the rest of us, it’s working very well.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I’m 100% convinced that you are right where you live. For the rest of us, it’s working very well.

Was going to say... according to my Tesla app, I've saved over $2166 in fuel for the last year (helps we have free 20amp 118v charging at work (but we don't always get a spot)). Working for us really well. But we are in California.

Work and Other = free.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I am convinced that 100% electric cars will end up being either a fad or a niche market.

Due to living in a city high-rise, where my car is parked amongst hundreds of others in a garage, and needing to go 400-mile roundtrips here in both extreme cold/hot Pennsylvania - electric is not my use-case. And I certainly do not see electric chargers lining up along the streets of tens of thousands of Philly row homes (let alone millions of similiar homes in other cities).

I'll wait in a line for a few-minute air pump of my tires, but I am not waiting in a line of people sitting for hours to recharge their cars. Screw that.

We need a better, more instant-refuel option than electric for the masses - no doubt.

It is going to be a hell of a challenge to ensure every motorist is able to adapt and the amount of money needed for the infrastructure needed is enormous. Right now in some respects it feels like more and more people are switching to EV's but in reality its still a slow transition in the UK at least. In countries where there are huge expanses of land and extreme weather, I can't see EV's being viable in the next 10 years, but battery technology does seem to be improving quickly. Smaller countries with denser populations will ultimately transition much more easily and Europe will undoubtedly cope better than places like the US and Australia for example.

Where I live in Wales, I'd say the vast majority of houses in the town are terraced (old miners homes) and this is the case throughout South Wales. There are already stories popping up on the news about people charging on the streets and cables becoming an issue for pedestrians. In fact its becoming a legal issue for homeowners in these situations. It will be interesting over the next few years to see how things evolve I think.

 

[phillytim]

I believe the current estimate is 6% of on-road vehicles are EV; not sure if that includes hybrids or not.

 

[BigMcGuire]

It is going to be a hell of a challenge to ensure every motorist is able to adapt and the amount of money needed for the infrastructure needed is enormous. Right now in some respects it feels like more and more people are switching to EV's but in reality its still a slow transition in the UK at least. In countries where there are huge expanses of land and extreme weather, I can't see EV's being viable in the next 10 years, but battery technology does seem to be improving quickly. Smaller countries with denser populations will ultimately transition much more easily and Europe will undoubtedly cope better than places like the US and Australia for example.

Where I live in Wales, I'd say the vast majority of houses in the town are terraced (old miners homes) and this is the case throughout South Wales. There are already stories popping up on the news about people charging on the streets and cables becoming an issue for pedestrians. In fact its becoming a legal issue for homeowners in these situations. It will be interesting over the next few years to see how things evolve I think.

This will be our second California summer with an EV. Last year we had several days where Tesla and Socal Edison were begging us not to charge our EV. Well, how the heck are we supposed to do that when we need to to go to work? lol. We've already had one AC shutoff day this month and this week we're looking at 100F+ several days. Going to be an interesting year .

But yeah, people don't realize how much of a change this is going to be. Just look at us - my wife goes to work M W F - 52-56 miles one way + a few road trips, we're guzzling 6.6 MW in under a year (600-900kW a month) - ONE EV. According to https://www.statista.com/statistics...of-registered-automobiles-in-the-us-by-state/ there are 14+ million cars in California. The electric grid can't even keep the lights on in the summer time with us running AC... And the cost of electricity has skyrocketed.

 

[kp98077]

Hate Eletric cars . Just sold mine! Audi A4-eTron was Cheap build quality, road noise, range limitations.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Hate Eletric cars. Just sold me! Cheap build quality, road noise, range limitations. No thanks!

That’s a massive generalisation. Cheap build quality I’m sure affects all sorts of cars. Depends which one you buy. No different with an ICE car.

Also road noise? What an earth were you driving? Can’t imagine any EV being loaded than a petrol or diesel.

 

[Apple fanboy]

This will be our second California summer with an EV. Last year we had several days where Tesla and Socal Edison were begging us not to charge our EV. Well, how the heck are we supposed to do that when we need to to go to work? lol. We've already had one AC shutoff day this month and this week we're looking at 100F+ several days. Going to be an interesting year .

But yeah, people don't realize how much of a change this is going to be. Just look at us - my wife goes to work M W F - 52-56 miles one way + a few road trips, we're guzzling 6.6 MW in under a year (600-900kW a month) - ONE EV. According to https://www.statista.com/statistics...of-registered-automobiles-in-the-us-by-state/ there are 14+ million cars in California. The electric grid can't even keep the lights on in the summer time with us running AC... And the cost of electricity has skyrocketed.

So where we don’t run AC all night (mist of the world), the general idea is you charge at night when the grid is quiet. Obviously it might be a bit different in CA.

Just met up with my Dad. Stopped at the services. By the time I’d had a quick comfort break and stretched my legs I’d gone from 52% to 92%. That was plenty to get me home. No queue. No drama. Happy days.

 

[kp98077]

That’s a massive generalisation. Cheap build quality I’m sure affects all sorts of cars. Depends which one you buy. No different with an ICE car.

Also road noise? What an earth were you driving? Can’t imagine any EV being loaded than a petrol or diesel.

was an Audi Q4 e Tron No bueno !

 

[BigMcGuire]

So where we don’t run AC all night (mist of the world), the general idea is you charge at night when the grid is quiet. Obviously it might be a bit different in CA.

Just met up with my Dad. Stopped at the services. By the time I’d had a quick comfort break and stretched my legs I’d gone from 52% to 92%. That was plenty to get me home. No queue. No drama. Happy days.

I absolutely love my EV. The greatest vehicle I've ever driven (that I own). Yeah, my friend has a 50 amp level 2 charger and he can easily charge during non-peak hours without issue. Us with our 110v 15amp outlet, we're a little more SOL but we've made it work without problems.

Our next car will be an EV (most likely Tesla) - both my wife and I have this opinion after a year of our Tesla ownership.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Roy was an Audi Q4. No Bruno !

I don’t understand this sentence.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I absolutely love my EV. The greatest vehicle I've ever driven (that I own). Yeah, my friend has a 50 amp level 2 charger and he can easily charge during non-peak hours without issue. Us with our 110v 15amp outlet, we're a little more SOL but we've made it work without problems.

Our next car will be an EV (most likely Tesla) - both my wife and I have this opinion after a year of our Tesla ownership.

Certainly are better than ICE vehicles for my user case at least. I won’t ever go back.