Effective use of charging time outside home

[JeffKeryk]

This. There is zero reason to own an EV if you do not have at least Level 2 charging at your place of residence.

For most people I agree. I know a few families who charge with 110V, at work, school, etc. They use their EV all local.
One guy I used to work with loved his Volt; he told me he charged at work, never at home, and filled his tank like once a month at most.
My neighbor across the street volunteers at a local school; she charges her Volt there and sometimes at chargers. My next door neighbor uses 110V, I don't know about their other charging.

I would not own an EV if I could not charge at home with 240V recepticle. 30 MPH.

 

[HowAboutThis]

Smoke some weed and polish off a 6 pack.

If they allow self-driving cars ever, you might be onto something...

 

[HowAboutThis]

This. There is zero reason to own an EV if you do not have at least Level 2 charging at your place of residence.

Ironically, I think about a third of our country lives in multifamily housing. I'm guessing landlords haven't installed many charging stations for the apartment renters yet.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Ironically, I think about a third of our country lives in multifamily housing. I'm guessing landlords haven't installed many charging stations for the apartment renters yet.

It is starting around here. Condo and apartment dwellers are asking for charging. It just might be a lucrative business for some company.

 

[Torrid]

For most people I agree. I know a few families who charge with 110V, at work, school, etc. They use their EV all local.
One guy I used to work with loved his Volt; he told me he charged at work, never at home, and filled his tank like once a month at most.
My neighbor across the street volunteers at a local school; she charges her Volt there and sometimes at chargers. My next door neighbor uses 110V, I don't know about their other charging.

I would not own an EV if I could not charge at home with 240V recepticle. 30 MPH.

That's my stipulation for me. My work demands may run me short on 120v. 240v will be installed before a Tesla is my daily. 120v is plenty for my wife's use.

 

[CR94]

... I know a few families who charge with 110V, at work, school, etc. ... My next door neighbor uses 110V,

I would not own an EV if I could not charge at home with 240V recepticle. ...

Your neighbors likely have 120 volts at their outlets if you have 240 (& 120). 110 was nominal, and typical, in the US decades ago. AC-powered household appliances and electronics are generally designed for 120 volts, plus or minus a few. Actual voltage runs around 124 (& 248) where I live.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Your neighbors likely have 120 volts at their outlets if you have 240 (& 120). 110 was nominal, and typical, in the US decades ago. AC-powered household appliances and electronics are generally designed for 120 volts, plus or minus a few. Actual voltage runs around 124 (& 248) where I live.

You're right. Bottom line is, the 110/120V gets you 4 MPH in a Tesla; the 220/240V gets you 28 to 32 MPH.

 

[PandaBear]

Ironically, I think about a third of our country lives in multifamily housing. I'm guessing landlords haven't installed many charging stations for the apartment renters yet.

It takes time. The newer high end apartments and condos have chargers already. As homes are remodeled and replaced they will be replaced with higher voltage and current circuits for chargers.

Most Victorian houses have no parking garage but the ones still standing today have them now.

 

[dogememe]

Ok, this is an interesting topic.

Personally because of the Volts slow onboard charger (3.3kw) public charging isn’t particularly worth it. But if I’m already going somewhere/doing something and there’s a charger at my destination I will try to plug it in.

I can’t charge at home sadly. I could charge via 120V Level 1 charging at work for a while but long story short I no longer can.

If it’s a nice day on a day off I will occasionally go to a local place where there is a free charger and take a nap. And sometimes on my one hour lunch I’ll go find some food, find a free charger, and sit there and eat my lunch. Sadly that is limited to nice days as the Volt can’t be on and charge at the same time so I can’t keep the temp nice inside.

I would only buy an actual EV if I could officially/properly charge it at work or owned a home. I had that Leaf with a worn out battery that could do 20 miles per charge. Ended up just being frustrating. Had to go out of my way to find free chargers and sit there for an hour almost on a daily basis.

 

[Ws6]

This. There is zero reason to own an EV if you do not have at least Level 2 charging at your place of residence.

Some people can charge at work. For me, that would make it viable if I had been at my place of employ for a good period of time, and if competitors I may transition to also offered it.

 

[The Critic]

Some people can charge at work. For me, that would make it viable if I had been at my place of employ for a good period of time, and if competitors I may transition to also offered it.

If you’re on FTO for a week, what would you do?

 

[Ws6]

If you’re on FTO for a week, what would you do?

Swing by a fast charger for 20 minutes once or twice. Since I wouldn't be going to work, my driving would be cut down.

 

[pezzy84]

This. There is zero reason to own an EV if you do not have at least Level 2 charging at your place of residence.

As long as there is a decent public charging infrastructure there is not zero reason to own an EV. I'm on 3.75 years with EV's and can't charge at home (live in a condo). Places that have poor public charging infrastructure (rural areas) most likely have a much lower overall % of multi-family dwellings vs single family homes than urban areas. Despite having to have a slightly different plan in place for not having the ability to charge at home it becomes second nature just like going to get gas, without even looking on plugshare I can tell you where all the fast chargers and the charging rates available at probably all the DC fast chargers within a 3-4 mile radius of my home and hell I can one up that and even rattle off the amenities available within ¼-½ mile walk of each of them.

I have been able to charge at work easily (either free or heavily subsidized by office building owners/management) and outside of that I have about a dozen fast chargers within 3-4 miles of me that are located next to restaurants, grocery stores, malls, shopping centers, etc. If I am running low on charge but won't be back at work in next few days I can go to Publix or Kroger, plug in and spend maybe 30-40 minutes grocery shopping and come out with plenty of charge to get me through another week.

Back on topic my main time filler when I am charging is sitting comfortably at my desk working my 9-5, by the time I'm at 80% its a good time to take a 10-15 minute break to go unplug and move my car and get some steps in away from my desk.

 

[JeffKeryk]

As long as there is a decent public charging infrastructure there is not zero reason to own an EV. I'm on 3.75 years with EV's and can't charge at home (live in a condo). Places that have poor public charging infrastructure (rural areas) most likely have a much lower overall % of multi-family dwellings vs single family homes than urban areas. Despite having to have a slightly different plan in place for not having the ability to charge at home it becomes second nature just like going to get gas, without even looking on plugshare I can tell you where all the fast chargers and the charging rates available at probably all the DC fast chargers within a 3-4 mile radius of my home and hell I can one up that and even rattle off the amenities available within ¼-½ mile walk of each of them.

I have been able to charge at work easily (either free or heavily subsidized by office building owners/management) and outside of that I have about a dozen fast chargers within 3-4 miles of me that are located next to restaurants, grocery stores, malls, shopping centers, etc. If I am running low on charge but won't be back at work in next few days I can go to Publix or Kroger, plug in and spend maybe 30-40 minutes grocery shopping and come out with plenty of charge to get me through another week.

Back on topic my main time filler when I am charging is sitting comfortably at my desk working my 9-5, by the time I'm at 80% its a good time to take a 10-15 minute break to go unplug and move my car and get some steps in away from my desk.

While I always say EVs are not for everyone, this is an excellent post. When we got our car in Dec 2018, I considered it a toy; it was a gift for my wife. In the 1st few days, we drove around, checking out local charging. There were numerous chargers at the Medical facilities, a bunch downtown (even free at the library), Starbucks, not to mention at work. In a brilliant flash of the obvious, I realized, "Wow, this is doable. Perfect? Maybe not but definitly not what I thought and definitely doable."

While these cars are different; the point is, you learn. Gasing up is so ingrained in our lives that EV charging sems so foreign, such a pain. That is not the case. Again, it depends on your use case, but I contend that EV ownership is not what many people seem to think it is.

That's my experience.

 

[Torrid]

While I always say EVs are not for everyone, this is an excellent post. When we got our car in Dec 2018, I considered it a toy; it was a gift for my wife. In the 1st few days, we drove around, checking out local charging. There were numerous chargers at the Medical facilities, a bunch downtown (even free at the library), Starbucks, not to mention at work. In a brilliant flash of the obvious, I realized, "Wow, this is doable. Perfect? Maybe not but definitly not what I thought and definitely doable."

While these cars are different; the point is, you learn. Gasing up is so ingrained in our lives that EV charging sems so foreign, such a pain. That is not the case. Again, it depends on your use case, but I contend that EV ownership is not what many people seem to think it is.

That's my experience.

Definitely agree with this. I'm at the point that I hate stopping for gas in my other car now.

 

[pezzy84]

Definitely agree with this. I'm at the point that I hate stopping for gas in my other car now.

Its beautiful to charge during routine stops. Work being the #1 convenience and grocery shopping the #2 convenience for me - outside of roadtrips I have not had to make zero stops to charge that did not end up being multi-purpose stops.

 

[Torrid]

Its beautiful to charge during routine stops. Work being the #1 convenience and grocery shopping the #2 convenience for me - outside of roadtrips I have not had to make zero stops to charge that did not end up being multi-purpose stops.

Definitely. It takes more effort to monitor a car fueling than it does plugging in and walking away for 15 minutes. That's how we've treated it. We've not taken too many family trips in the car yet, but so far it's been a very smooth, enjoyable experience. The GTI doesn't beat us up since it had electronically adjusted suspension, but the bit of mechanical sound it does have is just a bit more than the road noise of the Model 3 which makes it that much more relaxing. We don't have FSD, but the driver assist features are near identical between the cars and on a road trip I'd definitely choose the Tesla with the whole family in it. By myself I still choose the GTI, but that's mostly because the Fender sound system blows the Tesla's stereo out of the water and I need to crank my tunes by myself.

 

[JeffKeryk]

By myself I still choose the GTI, but that's mostly because the Fender sound system blows the Tesla's stereo out of the water and I need to crank my tunes by myself.

Perhaps you don't have the Premium Sound system. Our Model 3 has incredible sound; it blows away the Mark Levinson systems in our 2 Lexi.

 

[Torrid]

Perhaps you don't have the Premium Sound system. Our Model 3 has incredible sound; it blows away the Mark Levinson systems in our 2 Lexi.

I don't, but I've been in higher Tesla's and they went a bit ridiculous on the Fender VW system. I wouldn't call the standard system bad, it just doesn't have the same impact. It's still clear and accurate. I would think I would give the edge to the highs on the Premium Tesla system, but the bass is just stupid on the VW and I'm a bass head. I used to build ridiculous car audio systems and was involved in helping build some competition level cars. I'd go even further in my current car, but I don't want to give up the cargo space. My 13 year old is techno artist that goes by Bass-ed on Spotify and Apple Music and she uses my car as the the test bed to make sure it hits low and hard enough.

VW has went to a new system in the current generation Golf and it hasn't lived up the the version. You'd think they'd stick with the good stuff instead of reengineering to something that doesn't perform as well.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I don't, but I've been in higher Tesla's and they went a bit ridiculous on the Fender VW system. I wouldn't call the standard system bad, it just doesn't have the same impact. It's still clear and accurate. I would think I would give the edge to the highs on the Premium Tesla system, but the bass is just stupid on the VW and I'm a bass head. I used to build ridiculous car audio systems and was involved in helping build some competition level cars. I'd go even further in my current car, but I don't want to give up the cargo space. My 13 year old is techno artist that goes by Bass-ed on Spotify and Apple Music and she uses my car as the the test bed to make sure it hits low and hard enough.

VW has went to a new system in the current generation Golf and it hasn't lived up the the version. You'd think they'd stick with the good stuff instead of reengineering to something that doesn't perform as well.

All I can tell you is, when people ride in our car, first they are shocked at the acceleration, but they often comment on the music clarity and accuracy. It is very very good. Wifey and I go out on Sundays to pick up a Chai, listen to the streamed music and talk.
We just saw John Mellancamp's current tour (not to be missed) and have been replaying his stuff to re-live the show.