MotorTrend
Eric Tingwall - Writer | Tim Marrs - Illustartions | Sept 19, 2022
Looking to Buy an EV? 3 Questions You Need to Answer Before You Do
Think seriously about your answers to these questions, and you’ll be on your way to a smoother EV ownership experience.
There’s a learning curve to owning and driving an electric car, and although it can’t be circumvented entirely, it can be flattened. Ask yourself the following questions before you buy your first EV, and you’ll have a better chance of ending up with a car that fits your driving habits and reduces the teething pains that frustrate many new EV drivers.
Experienced EV owners will tell you that there’s no such thing as range anxiety. Modern electric cars accurately estimate how much range you have left, erasing any doubt over whether you’ll make it to your destination. If drivers have any trepidation, it’s usually around finding quick and reliable charging options. Since you’ll do most of your charging wherever you do most of your driving, you’ll want to make sure you have a plan for where, when, and how you’ll charge locally.
For most EV drivers, the vast majority of charging happens at home. You can charge an electric car by plugging into a normal household (120-volt) outlet, but doing so will only add between 2 and 5 miles of driving range for every hour of charging. EV ownership is much easier when you have access to 240-volt charging (also known as Level 2 charging) either at home or where you work. These stations can fully charge most EVs in about 10 to 12 hours.
If your garage already has 240-volt service for a dryer, a heater, or a welder, you may be able to use it to charge your car. Many first-time EV buyers, though, will have to hire an electrician to prep their homes. This work can cost as little as a few hundred or as much as several thousand dollars depending on factors such as where your service panel is located and whether or not it needs to be upgraded. Buying an EV charging station will add $500 to $1,000 to that cost, although some EVs come with 240-volt charging equipment included in the purchase.
It may take several weeks to find an electrician and have the work completed, so it’s a good idea to start that process as soon as you know you’ll be buying or leasing an EV. Dealing
with sometimes unreliable public chargers or slow 120-volt charging when you’re new to EV ownership can be especially aggravating.
If you plan to primarily recharge using public charging stations, you’ll want to research where you’ll charge and understand how long it will take to do so. The Plugshare website and mobile app is a great tool for finding charging stations, and the user reviews can clue you in to which units are more reliable than others.
The most powerful public stations (also known as DC fast charging or Level 3 stations) can charge some EVs from 10 to 80 percent in less than 30 minutes, but you’ll often pay roughly triple what you would for electricity at home, which erases one of the biggest cost savings of driving an EV over a gas-powered car. Many automakers also recommend using fast charging sparingly, as it can reduce the lifespan of the car’s battery pack.
You can find slower Level 2 charging in shopping centers, at car dealerships, and in public parking lots. Many are free or significantly cheaper than DC fast chargers, but relying on these stations may require finding alternative transportation while you leave your car parked for hours at a time.
Where Will You Charge?
How Much Range Do You Really Need?
It’s a classic Goldilocks problem: Buy an EV with too little range, and you’ll be frustrated by how often you need to plug in. Buy an EV with too much range, and you’ll be paying for more car than you really need, since the battery pack is the most expensive part of a battery-electric powertrain. How do you find the electric car, SUV, or truck with the just-right amount of range for you?
Start by thinking of your longest day of driving during a typical week. Now double that number. That’s your starting point. Have a 75-mile round-trip commute? A car with an official EPA range of at least 150 miles ensures you’ll have enough of a buffer to go about your day without worrying about how much range you have left.
There’s a reason we suggest buying more range than you think you’ll need. An electric car’s official range number is based on laboratory testing that mimics a combination of city and highway driving. Hitting that number in the real world, though, is often impractical, as an EV’s range drops with sustained highway speeds, aggressive acceleration and braking, elevation changes, or extreme temperatures.
You may want more range if you plan to regularly take long trips with your electric car. It’s possible to cross the country or travel between any two major cities today using the fast charging stations along interstates and major state highways, although for most drivers, there’s a practical limit to how far you’d want to drive in an EV based on how long it takes to charge. We find that a single charging stop in the middle of a long drive is refreshing, but multiple charging stops in one day can prove tedious.
How many miles is the longest trip you plan to take with your EV? Take that number and divide by 1.4 if you’re willing to make one charging stop. (400 miles divided by 1.4 suggests an EV with at least 285 miles of range will comfortably do the trip.) Willing to make two stops en route to your destination? You can divide your trip distance by 2 for a ballpark estimate of how much range you need. (400 miles divided by 2 suggests that a 200-mile EV will suffice.)
If that’s too much math, there’s another way to visually see how an EV will fit into your travels. Visit A Better Route Planner or download the mobile app, select the EV you’re considering, and enter the departure point and destination for a long-distance trip you intend to take with your EV. ABRP works much like Google Maps, but it details where you should stop to charge and for how long. If the proposed itinerary looks too onerous, repeat the process using a vehicle with more range.
Some EVs charge faster than others, and the difference can have a measurable impact on how long you spend plugged in. This is true of both Level 2 charging and Level 3 DC fast charging, although the latter is more likely to matter to most EV drivers.
If you can charge at your office or home and won’t drive your
EV on long trips, charging speed shouldn’t be a significant concern. But if you plan to road-trip in your EV, you may want to put a fast charging speed on your shopping list.
Today’s fastest-charging electric cars can charge at speeds of up to 350 kilowatts, and as a result some of them can add more than 200 miles of driving range in less than 20 minutes. Many models max out around 150 kW and need 30 to 60 minutes to achieve the same benchmark.
The speed of each charge is also determined by the power available at the charging station. For example, a vehicle capable of charging at 350 kW will be limited to a fraction of its true potential when plugged in at a 150-kW charging station
How Patient Are You?
Yes, that’s right, there is a fourth question. You shouldn’t have to think too hard to answer this one, though. If you’ve made it this far, you’re armed with the knowledge needed to make an informed decision on what EV will meet your needs and how you’ll charge that vehicle in a way that fits your routine.
Are You Ready to Buy an EV?
Anuradha Varanasi - Writer
Ryan Lugo - illustrations
Getty Images - Photographer | Sept 12, 2022
How EVs Could Fix the Electrical Grid
Local governments and policymakers are anxious about the U.S. grid’s ability to withstand ever-increasing demand. Consumers could hold the key to an untapped resource.
Transportation is the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, accounting for about a third of all emissions. We could quickly lower those emissions by electrifying vehicles, but there’s just one hitch: we don’t currently generate enough power.
“If all transportation goes electric, we are effectively doubling demand,” said Matthias Preindl, an EV expert and professor of electrical engineering at Columbia Engineering. “And the grid isn’t built to withstand that.”
Despite some investment and expansion since the 1950s, the U.S. grid has a mostly aging fleet of generators, and maxed out transmission loads due to congested lines. Making matters worse, extreme weather events like heatwaves and wildfires have repeatedly melted power cables.
The U.S. would have to invest as much as $125 billion by 2030 just to keep up with the growing demands for power that EVs will require to operate, according to a 2020 study. But what if the EVs themselves could be part of the solution, adding power to the grid?
According to a recent International Energy Agency study, by 2030 some 145 million electrified cars, buses, trucks, and vans (a mix of plug-in hybrids and full battery electric) will be on the road. Sort of. On average, drivers park their vehicles 95 percent of the time. With close to $5 billion in federal money recently allocated to build a nationwide network of EV charging stations along interstate highways, all those idle EVs could be put to work via vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology—an idea experts say could transform the already overwhelmed electrical grid.
V2G technology involves using bidirectional chargers to carry unused power from an EV’s batteries into the smart grid. As an EV gets charged, the grid’s AC (alternating current) electricity is converted to the batteries’ DC (direct current)—which is then used to run the vehicle. A bi-directional charger can convert DC to AC and transfer it to the grid from the EV’s lithium-ion cells. It can also simultaneously control how much power enters or leaves the battery.
Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Technology to the Rescue?
According to a recent International Energy Agency study, by 2030 some 145 million electrified cars, buses, trucks, and vans (a mix of plug-in hybrids and full battery electric) will be on the road. Sort of. On average, drivers park their vehicles 95 percent of the time. With close to $5 billion in federal money recently allocated to build a nationwide network of EV charging stations along interstate highways, all those idle EVs could be put to work via vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology—an idea experts say could transform the already overwhelmed electrical grid.
V2G technology involves using bidirectional chargers to carry unused power from an EV’s batteries into the smart grid. As an EV gets charged, the grid’s AC (alternating current) electricity is converted to the batteries’ DC (direct current)—which is then used to run the vehicle. A bi-directional charger can convert DC to AC and transfer it to the grid from the EV’s lithium-ion cells. It can also simultaneously control how much power enters or leaves the battery.
Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Technology to the Rescue?
It’s a classic Goldilocks problem: Buy an EV with too little range, and you’ll be frustrated by how often you need to plug in. Buy an EV with too much range, and you’ll be paying for more car than you really need, since the battery pack is the most expensive part of a battery-electric powertrain. How do you find the electric car, SUV, or truck with the just-right amount of range for you?
Start by thinking of your longest day of driving during a typical week. Now double that number. That’s your starting point. Have a 75-mile round-trip commute? A car with an official EPA range of at least 150 miles ensures you’ll have enough of a buffer to go about your day without worrying about how much range you have left.
There’s a reason we suggest buying more range than you think you’ll need. An electric car’s official range number is based on laboratory testing that mimics a combination of city and highway driving. Hitting that number in the real world, though, is often impractical, as an EV’s range drops with sustained highway speeds, aggressive acceleration and braking, elevation changes, or extreme temperatures.
How Much Range Do You Really Need?
It’s a classic Goldilocks problem: Buy an EV with too little range, and you’ll be frustrated by how often you need to plug in. Buy an EV with too much range, and you’ll be paying for more car than you really need, since the battery pack is the most expensive part of a battery-electric powertrain. How do you find the electric car, SUV, or truck with the just-right amount of range for you?
Start by thinking of your longest day of driving during a typical week. Now double that number. That’s your starting point. Have a 75-mile round-trip commute? A car with an official EPA range of at least 150 miles ensures you’ll have enough of a buffer to go about your day without worrying about how much range you have left.
There’s a reason we suggest buying more range than you think you’ll need. An electric car’s official range number is based on laboratory testing that mimics a combination of city and highway driving. Hitting that number in the real world, though, is often impractical, as an EV’s range drops with sustained highway speeds, aggressive acceleration and braking, elevation changes, or extreme temperatures.
How Much Range Do You Really Need?
