A Canadian perspective on electric vehicles

[nereo]

EVs seem to be very good at thermal management now (having learned from the First gen Leafs a while back). That’s why it takes an additional 15-20 minutes to charge in the winter … basically the car  is using electricity from the plug to first warm the battery pack to avoid damaging it.

Does your work offer plugs for block heaters? If so there’s your L1 charging right there. My car has a “conditioning” setting too which will heat the cabin and warm the battery from the grid before I get in rather than draw from the pack. It’s proved useful to me, though I realize a pre-warmed cabin is a luxury item.

[techwiz]

Does your work offer plugs for block heaters? If so there’s your L1 charging right there. My car has a “conditioning” setting too which will heat the cabin and warm the battery from the grid before I get in rather than draw from the pack. It’s proved useful to me, though I realize a pre-warmed cabin is a luxury item.

I wish.  No free power in any of the parking lots near work. I have noticed the charging stations around town are busier than before.  It used to be a rare to see them being used, now there is always at least one car charging.  More charging infrastructure is being built each year.  I am seeing more EV's around, just a couple of doors down a neighbor got a Ford Mustang Mach-E (looks more like an SUV than the Mustang sports car). They only have L1 charging at their house as cost to install a better charger would require a major electrical upgrade currently the cost and availability has them pushing that decision down the road.   Things like that have me thinking about the true costs of switching to an EV. The cost of an EV plus a home charger would pay for a lot of gas. The break even point is not that easy to calculate. Having a better charging option at your house is not mandatory. My neighbors seem to be fine without one.  I am hoping once supply chains are back to normal and inflation is under control the prices and availability will improve.

[nereo]

Does your work offer plugs for block heaters? If so there’s your L1 charging right there. My car has a “conditioning” setting too which will heat the cabin and warm the battery from the grid before I get in rather than draw from the pack. It’s proved useful to me, though I realize a pre-warmed cabin is a luxury item.

I wish.  No free power in any of the parking lots near work. I have noticed the charging stations around town are busier than before.  It used to be a rare to see them being used, now there is always at least one car charging.  More charging infrastructure is being built each year.  I am seeing more EV's around, just a couple of doors down a neighbor got a Ford Mustang Mach-E (looks more like an SUV than the Mustang sports car). They only have L1 charging at their house as cost to install a better charger would require a major electrical upgrade currently the cost and availability has them pushing that decision down the road.   Things like that have me thinking about the true costs of switching to an EV. The cost of an EV plus a home charger would pay for a lot of gas. The break even point is not that easy to calculate. Having a better charging option at your house is not mandatory. My neighbors seem to be fine without one.  I am hoping once supply chains are back to normal and inflation is under control the prices and availability will improve.

A few things…
L2 chargers get expensive when you want (or get “sold”) a fancy smart charger with an integrated app and other such features. At a minimum what you need is a plug and the receptacle in which to plug it into. You can buy a “dumb” 16A/240V plug for around $200USD… essentially some heavy gauge wire, a fault detector and the two plug ends. For the receptacle it’s nothing more than the same circuit a hot water heater or other appliance uses. You can even plug into a standard clothes dryer receptacle if one is near your parking space.

If there’s a long, complex run to your panel or if you need to upgrade your service it can get pricey quick. But you also don’t need a 50 amp circuit. A simple 20 Amp circuit (3.8kw) will let you replenish 120+ miles of driving overnight. For most homes that won’t strain a 100 amp service.

Finally, the real cost savings from owning an EV comes from reduced maintenance. Fuel savings are typically “just” a few hundred dollars per year saved once increased electricity costs are factored in.

[Mighty Eyebrows]

The cost of an EV plus a home charger would pay for a lot of gas.

Pure EVs are great but PHEVs are also a very good mid-way point. For long trips or cold weather they can burn some fuel, if needed. Ours has about 60 km EV range in the summer and 45 km in the (mild) coastal winter. But, it doesn't get below -10C here. Level 1 (110v) charging always gets us full overnight. The Level 1 doesn't quite keep up with heating the car in the winter when plugged in, but we usually still leave the house with 95% charge.

Cheaper vehicle, more versatile (for now). I look forward to getting a full EV some day but we are mostly electric already.

[rocketpj]

We bought a full EV a year ago (2020 Kia Niro).  Here in BC we made full use of the subsidies for the purchase - $5k from the feds, $3k from the province and $6k for scrapping our decrepit old car (Vlad the Impala).  That took $14k off the total cost.

We could have paid cash, but they offered us 0% interest (!?!), so (not being dumb) I took it and stretched it out over 7 years.  In real terms the payments I make 6 years from now are worth less than today. Invest the difference for a real optimization strategy I guess. Recent inflation spikes have also validated that choice.

In the last couple of years BC has placed Level 3 rapid chargers almost everywhere along the highways.  On our trip last summer it seemed like every one horse town had a couple of fast chargers.  That allowed us to drive for a few hours until we felt like a break, plug into a charger and eat lunch, then carry on with our trip.  I can say that we would have taken that kind of break after 3 hours of driving anyways.

The West coast is not the same as the prairies (I grew up in Alberta), but I am 100% all in on EVs at this point.  They are just better.

[techwiz]

I was talking to a firefighter buddy of mine. He was talking about the rise in EV's and how the fire department and towing companies in our city still don't have a good set of procedures in place for dealing with EV's when they are in accidents or catch fire. The many different models with different battery locations can make it a challenge to deal with. Even once a battery fire is put out it can reignite on it's own for up to five days.   Some towing yards are using dunk tanks to submerge the car for to fully remove the risk of reignition.  This is not a bash on EV's there are lots of dangers in gasoline fires too. As new cars and technology are released there are always ripple effects.  Another example from my fire fighter buddy is air bags. On older cars you could just cut out the person trapped in the car with the jaws of life in a few seconds.  Now they have to take much more time and care to make sure they are not going to cut into an air bag throwing shrapnel.

[Mighty Eyebrows]

As new cars and technology are released there are always ripple effects.

This is a good point. We are in a time of rapid change and there are definitely going to be wrinkles and setbacks. Although some media sites use any negative story and an attempt to discredit EVs, ripple effects should be an expected part of this growth cycle.