Beginner’s Guide to Electric Vehicles
WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING AN EV
Electric vehicles are fun to drive! They have a lot of pep and usually come with cool features. They may cost more upfront but will save you money in the long run. The cost of the electricity needed for an EV is much less than the cost of gas, and since there are fewer moving parts, there is much less maintenance needed. Electric vehicle options are increasing and prices are decreasing. Almost all new electric vehicles have a range of over 200 miles, with many being over 300. Additionally, the time it takes to charge an EV on the road is getting shorter and shorter with the newer models.
You may be wondering how charging works. Most people charge at home. It is so refreshing to wake up knowing your car is ready to go without having to stop at a gas station. You will do most of your charging at home. Most EV owners have an electrician install an EV charger that allows you to charge your car overnight. You can charge on a regular wall outlet, but it will be much slower. Some people end up using a regular wall outlet while they wait for their electrician to install their charger, so don’t let the lack of a charger stop you from buying an EV! Just know that you will want to get an EV charger installed eventually.
Most batteries do best when they are charged to around 80 percent and you should only charge to 100% if you are going to be driving a significant distance soon after. However, there are some newer batteries that can sit at 100% for extended periods. It is important that you read your user’s manual and understand the optimum way to charge your specific vehicle.
The speed of the charger is broken down into Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. You can think of it as slow (1), medium (2), and fast (3). Using a regular (110) wall outlet would be considered a Level 1 charger. The charger that you would have an electrician install at your home would be a Level 2 charger. When a hotel has a Level 2 charger it may also be referred to as a destination charger. Many public charging stations are also Level 2 chargers. A Level 3 charger is also known as a fast charger, and, depending on the car and the conditions, can typically get you from a low charge to a high charge in half an hour. This is going to be the most expensive, but fastest, way of charging.
There is an extensive network of EV chargers and it is growing every day. You may not even realize all the EV chargers that are around you because most EV owners use phone apps or the car’s navigation system to find them. With that being said, at this point in time you might still want to map out your route to figure out where to charge. A Better Route Planner is a good resource for this, but there are many others. In the future as EV chargers get more ubiquitous, advance planning will become less necessary unless you are traveling somewhere remote.
For public charging, there are different types of chargers out there so it’s important to know which standard your car uses. There are adapters you can buy that should make your car compatible with most chargers, the exception being non-Teslas charging at Tesla superchargers, but even that is changing, with some Tesla superchargers having the capability to charge non-Teslas, and now some car companies will be switching over to the Tesla standard in the future.
To get from 20% to 80% can take anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour depending on your car and the type of charger (Level 2 or 3). When traveling, it is important to pay attention to whether a charger is Level 2 or Level 3, because that will determine how fast your car will charge. Most chargers you would use on the road are near amenities, giving you time for a bathroom break and a bite to eat. The newer electric vehicles have longer ranges and faster charging. For most EVs (depending on the type of battery) it takes less overall time to charge to 80 or 90% and charge more often than to try to charge to 100% at each stop. Charging slows down the closer the battery gets to full*. So think more frequently (every 2 hours or so) but shorter stops rather than trying to charge to 100%, which could take over an hour of charging, which is frustrating for you and for any car waiting to use the charger.
Although the manufacturing of an EV is more resource intensive upfront, most EVs make up for that in their first year or two of use** and from there on out are better for the environment than internal combustion engine cars. Recycling EV batteries is a relatively new industry, but is expected to ramp up when more EVs reach the end of their life. Most of the materials in the EV batteries can be recycled. There is also a growing market to reuse EV batteries. Even though they may be degraded enough after many years such that they don’t make sense to still be used in an electric vehicle, they can be combined with other used EV batteries and used for energy storage, such as backup batteries for buildings.
Nowadays there are many options for an EV buyer, and lots of information online, so get out there and start looking for the right electric vehicle for you!
*Check with your user manual and follow the guidelines it recommends for battery charging