I know. That’s just how I’m describing it.
Well it’s wrong. Don’t say that. It’s completely incorrect and will confuse people if you use the wrong terms. You can’t just decide that you’ll call Level 2 by the term Level 1. It’s not the same thing at all. Might as well call the second floor of your house the first floor.
Seems to be a theme of many new cars, whether ICE, EV, or hybrid. Annoying.
Was having this conversation with EV driving friends the other night. The consensus was that for everyday drivers who charge at home, such minor inconveniences like planning charging for occasional roadtrip to an unfamiliar location are far outweighed by the pleasure of almost never having to stop at a gas station.
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Well thanks for educating us all. There are a lot of people who are new to EVs. My husband knows all the correct terms.
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Polestar decided to go all the way and not have a rear window at all on a light duty vehicle that is not a cargo van, while providing a camera feed to the center “rear view mirror”:
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Lexus has this camera view in a fake mirror on its new NX. I had one as a loaner and found it sort of disconcerting- no view of back seat, for example. DH thought it’d be great at night to reduce headlight glare.
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I would never spend money on a passenger vehicle without rear window visibility.
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Are the charging adapters supplied with EVs waterproof? If a person has an exterior outlet, but no garage, could they run an extension cord to charge in any weather?
Water / weather resistance of EVSEs does vary across different EVSEs. Obviously, the models found in outdoor public charging locations tend to be the more water / weather resistant ones. But one that may be included with EVs or which can be purchased for home use vary.
So that could certainly be an issue for anyone without a garage.
Charging in the rain is not an issue but you do want to make sure you have a properly rated extension cord. If the extension cord is not correct you can have it melt. This is not an EV issue. My dad did it with yard tools back in the day.
We have 4 drivers in our family, 3 plug in hybrids and 1 EV and only a 1 car garage. We get a lot of precipitation in the Southeast. We run an extension cord to trickle charge whichever car is in one of the uncovered parking spots. Have a level 2 charger in the garage too. We use both all the time. If it’s a bad thunderstorm we will unplug.
Here’s a bit about charging in the rain: Can you charge an electric car in the rain? | Hertz Blog.
It’s a non issue.
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What about in the snow?
when he was in the UK in Feb. There, the petrol stations have to provide EV charging too. I think it’s an ongoing process and I know not all stations have EV chargers yet. So why isn’t that the same here? Because, of course, our petroleum companies don’t want to make life easy for EV car owners. It’s always money before consumers.
Ok, Linda. It’s not just money. Its about the HUGE physicality of the United States. The vast majority of our country is rural (physically, not population). Think of all the northern plains in the dakotas and in nebraska & wyoming, with not many people in the area. Or the dry deserts of utah, nevada, arizona, new mexico that are void of people. Or Oklahoma and texas areas. Our country - when you look at it from a landmass view is predominantly rural; where running EV doesnt make any sense to the consumers, unless for local trips in town.
we are in those areas. actually thinking about an ev for in town use. (they look so cool!) but forcing all stations in the US to have a charging station does not make sense, unlike the compacted UK. so just another view point when you asked “why not here?”
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People should be able to refuel cars, whether gas or electric, at what are currently gas stations built along roads. Not just at shopping malls and parking lots. I’m aware of the vastness of the US. There will not be an overnight abundance of EV chargers in rural areas. It will be interesting to see how the situation evolves as EVs become more affordable, technology and charging access improves, and gas gets more expensive.
Anyway, this thread is primarily about challenges and strategies to power non-Tesla EVs while traveling. I’ve been using Plugshare to review stations we have used. I encourage others to use the app so that drivers have more accurate information.
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To this day they’re still installing high speed internet in some of the rural areas of the US and even then its only because its totally subsidized by fees collected from all of us for our phone and mobile services, because there’s no economic justification for it.
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Not really a problem. Might be cold! Battery might take a little longer because of the outside temps. Doesn’t snow much where I am but there are folks in Canada driving EVs.
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My neighbor had a brand new leaf. After a few years, the battery died in November. She called Nissan and they promised her a new one. She couldn’t get one anywhere in our state nor from Nissan. In April, she finally said she’d call BBB and consumer protection and they said they’d buy it from her and tow it away. They gave her more than she originally paid so she decided not to write formal complaints in spite of severe inconvenience.
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The Nissan Leaf was really cool when it came out in 2012 but it is not current EV technology. Please don’t make any assumptions about other EVs based on a Nissan Leaf.
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Even if charging stations don’t get built as fast in rural areas, there still seems good advantage to having lots of EVs in cities, where there is more congestion/pollution.
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Nissan Leafs use air cooling for the battery, which shortens battery life. Tesla used liquid cooling starting with the original Roadster back in the 2000s.
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