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

[JT2002TJ]

So my wife has never put petrol in her car. Not once. So when we do get her an EV, I’ll just be grateful if she plugs it in rather than announcing I’ll have to do it!
And for anyone else considering a home charger I’d always recommend buying a tethered charger. Much more convenient.

I charge my wife’s car then move the cable over to my car daily. Have for almost 3 years now. It would be more convenient having 2 cables, but with my setup (charger in the garage and one car parked outside) I would still have to unplug her car to get out the garage. I would need 2 chargers, one mounted outside and the other where the current charger is.

Her care took 30 mins today. At most, in the winter, it takes an hour and a half. Mine takes 2 hours+.

*I also was in charge of fueling up her ICE prior to the EV move.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Wow I thought it was just me. My wife hated filling up gas in the car - so that was my job for both of our cars back when we had ICE cars. lol

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

So my wife has never put petrol in her car. Not once. So when we do get her an EV, I’ll just be grateful if she plugs it in rather than announcing I’ll have to do it!
And for anyone else considering a home charger I’d always recommend buying a tethered charger. Much more convenient.

I would recommend a non-tethered charger personally if I was asked. This incident with the cable breaking has reinforced my opinion on that as thankfully it’s not connected to the charger and a job for an electrician. I also think the charger we have looks a lot neater as it’s on the front of the house, but it’s all personal preference.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

My wife has always filled her car up herself when she had an ICE, but she is into cars and loves driving, more than me that’s for sure. If we go anywhere at the weekend, it’s rare I drive as she prefers to do it. I do a lot more mileage than her usually so it really does suit me to be a passenger lol.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I'm definitely tethered as well. Ours is 10m long, sufficient to not move cars around when the other car wants a charge or when guests need a top-up. The convenience of not having to constantly grab a cable and hook it up is worth it. And especially so when you are in rain, hail, snow etc. When you buy a good system, it looks good and cable isn't even visible.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Untethered cords are pretty much a European thing. (Where you're expected to keep the cord in your vehicle, the charging stations just have a socket, other than high-power rapid-charging stations.)

In North America, tethered is essentially universal. (There are an extreme few that are untethered, and they seem to be marketed toward "public apartment parking" where they don't want to leave a cable out in the open that might be a target for thieves, and the apartment management is expected to supply the cable to renters who need one, since untethered cables aren't something you can just go buy in North America.)

That said, there is a separation between "station is hardwired to a junction box" versus "station plugs in to a wall outlet." And many new-construction houses are coming with higher-power wall outlets in the garage. (A "NEMA 14-50" outlet designed to support 240 Volts at 50 Amps.) But as mentioned in the YouTube channel "State of Charge"'s latest video, oftentimes the quality of these outlets is terrible:

At my last house, I had such an outlet installed on the exterior of the house, and had a 32 Amp unit, should have been plenty low amperage, but after a couple years, the outlet started to melt!

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Untethered cords are pretty much a European thing. (Where you're expected to keep the cord in your vehicle, the charging stations just have a socket, other than high-power rapid-charging stations.)

In North America, tethered is essentially universal. (There are an extreme few that are untethered, and they seem to be marketed toward "public apartment parking" where they don't want to leave a cable out in the open that might be a target for thieves, and the apartment management is expected to supply the cable to renters who need one, since untethered cables aren't something you can just go buy in North America.)

That said, there is a separation between "station is hardwired to a junction box" versus "station plugs in to a wall outlet." And many new-construction houses are coming with higher-power wall outlets in the garage. (A "NEMA 14-50" outlet designed to support 240 Volts at 50 Amps.) But as mentioned in the YouTube channel "State of Charge"'s latest video, oftentimes the quality of these outlets is terrible:

At my last house, I had such an outlet installed on the exterior of the house, and had a 32 Amp unit, should have been plenty low amperage, but after a couple years, the outlet started to melt!

Typically, the distinction in Europe is; Public AC charging is untethered, Public DC charging is always tethered. As simple as that. And at home we have a 10m tethered as I really value my time too much to be messing about with cables or moving cars around. Public AC charging is also referred to as destination chargers, the clue is in the word. And the cables lock when you are charging.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Untethered cords are pretty much a European thing. (Where you're expected to keep the cord in your vehicle, the charging stations just have a socket, other than high-power rapid-charging stations.)

In North America, tethered is essentially universal. (There are an extreme few that are untethered, and they seem to be marketed toward "public apartment parking" where they don't want to leave a cable out in the open that might be a target for thieves, and the apartment management is expected to supply the cable to renters who need one, since untethered cables aren't something you can just go buy in North America.)

I prefer having untethered at home personally and a recent cable issue we had made it a lot easier and cheaper to solve. But it’s all subjective. We stay in a lot of AirBnB’s for short breaks and we are yet to use tethered charging points, all have required you having your own cable. Tethered is common across most public charging from what we have seen and used across the UK however. We keep our cable in a compartment in the boot, so it doesn’t take up useable space.

It’s one of those things where there’s no right or wrong answer isn’t it? Like, it’s a pretty insignificant and mundane topic that’s likely to receive shrugged shoulders most of the time lol. New cable hasn’t broke yet and judging by Audi’s quality standards, we have about 21 months of use before the next person with the car has to buy another 😜

 

[timber]

I personally like the tethered approach. I even think it should be mandatory expect for roadside AC chargers.

And, yes, carrying the cable is a complete non issue. I keep mine in a bag. I don't even bother using the frunk or the compartment under the rear trunk/boot. I also carry the portable EVSE along with the cable.

But as others have said it's not that relevant as all DC chargers are tethered.

 

[BigMcGuire]

We got one of those velcro Tesla bags that holds our Tesla cable in the back trunk - but we've never had to use it now that we don't have a garage anymore. Used it all the time when we had access to a garage (with an outlet) and work that provided a 20 amp outlet. Now we have neither. So we're 100% reliant on Level 2 chargers at my wife's work and me - Tesla superchargers after 10pm when their rates fall.

I would LOVE a 12-20 amp outlet to plug into where I work and where I park at home (apartment). <sigh>