110 charging in the real world

[Astro_Guy]

Charging an EV vs. filling the gas tank on an ICE powered vehicle is something of a paradigm shift. People are often posting about the time required to charge a battery from nearly empty to 100%. While this may be important when taking a long distance road trip, it is irrelevant for everyday driving. The average American drives under 30 miles per day. Reasonably sized EVs and PHEVs will gain five miles of range per hour of charging on a 110 VAC charger. Six hours on said charger covers the daily needs of the average American.

The paradigm shift involves abandoning the thought of filling the tank and replacing that with being able to take on enough charge to safely get you to the next opportunity to charge. When doing the daily routine that's going to be every evening, assuming that you can charge at home. As has been stated earlier, if you cannot charge at home, an EV might not be right for you.

 

[AuthorEditor]

I don't know if this is out yet or if it would work at your house, but check this out:

https://electrek.co/2022/07/27/siemens-home-ev-charger-adapter/

Those look really great! In my case the meters are on the opposite side of the house from the driveway, so not really sure how that would work with cable routing.

 

[Astro_Guy]

Those look really great! In my case the meters are on the opposite side of the house from the driveway, so not really sure how that would work with cable routing.

That was my first thought as well. Great idea for a limited number of people.

It's interesting to think about the electrical service to homes made over the years. One of my employees recently sold a home built in the WW2 years having 60 Amp service. My first home was a townhouse built in 1980 and it had 200 Amp serice. The current home was also built in 1980 but had only 100 Amp service. This was upgraded to 200 Amp service back in 1998.

I have a basement with a straight shot to get a 50 Amp circuit to the garage with under a 50 foot home run. Hope to be working on that this weekend.

 

[AuthorEditor]

The average American drives under 30 miles per day.

Sure, but even if you are average that doesn't mean you don't drive a few hundred miles on the weekend to visit the kids or an aged relative. From what I read here it sounds like most feel the need for Level 2 charging at home, and I think I am one of those. I was thinking about all those poles around my small city carrying the power. What about municipal chargers attached to poles with proceeds going to the city? Places could promote themselves as EV friendly.