EV Charging | L1 or L2? | Most People Get This Wrong!

Comments · 420

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  @donaldbrick3326 · 5 months ago

  Canadian EV owner here. Just to add a practical and real story regarding DC fast charging in Western Canada, specifically British Columbia. I recently did a road trip from Calgary, Alberta to Victoria, BC. I own a Tesla model Y and used the Tesla DC fast charging network. The round trip ended up being 2267km. The cost for charging was $101.35 cdn. Taking my other similar sized gas powered vehicle (Lexus RS350) at 10 liters/100km and an average gas price of $1.80/liter, the savings on fuel alone equaled $306.71 cdn.<br>The point is that even if there is no home charging available, the savings from running an EV vs an ICE vehicle are massive.

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• WA

  @wanderleyceschim2881 · 5 months ago

  After several months, I finally realized that our 3 EVs don&apos;t have to share the single level 2 charger, as they are often parked for longer than a day. We just got one of the mobile chargers connected to the 120V plug in the garage and since that EV is often parked for longer than a day and typical outing is less than 40 miles total, level 1 is more than enough.

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• JO

  @joshuarozario5654 · 3 months ago

  I like the simplicity with which he explains, especially to those who are new to the EV world. Thanks

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• JO

  @john4703 · 5 months ago

  Our 1st EV is a 2022 Bolt EUV, and charged it on 120v to start, but soon upgraded to 240v (32 amps to start, then to hardwire 50a). &nbsp;I had a bad Qmerit contractor and a bad 2nd electrician to fix those mistakes, and a 3rd electrician to correct those mistakes! &nbsp;For awhile now we have been charging our 3 EV’s with solar power and storage batteries helping. &nbsp;It really helps in any situation to have a dedicated circuit just for the EVSE device.

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• RO

  @RobertYoung-i1r · 5 months ago

  My apartment is going to put in a 240 volt outlet that we can plug our personal EVSE into. &nbsp;SCORE.

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• RO

  @RobertHouben · 3 months ago

  As a new EV owner (Toyota C-HR), struggling to understand options, this was extremely helpful! &nbsp;Thank you!

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• ST

  @stewsim · 4 months ago

  When we got out Equinox Ev, we were L1 for the first couple of months, along with a DCFC once a week.<br>My wife had a daily commute around 60 miles, plus our day to day stuff.<br>When home for the day, ABC until morning.<br>It was workable, though we only had a full pack once a week, we were newbies with range anxiety…🥴<br>But then I got L2 wired up, and it was indeed a game changer…!

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• CY

  @cyberoptic5757 · 5 months ago

  POSITIVE SUPPORT: Jim&apos;s theme is correct and delivers an accurate message without ever mentioning anything technical. &nbsp; That&apos;s our experience also. &nbsp;We have an old EV for local driving and charge it from a standard plug with the cord that came with the car. &nbsp;Last year we also bought a modern EV, with big range and quicker charging capacity, for the occasional longer trips. One charges from a wall plug, standard, exterior. The other charges from an L2 in the garage.

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• IA

  @ians3586 · 5 months ago

  I&apos;m fortunate to work from home so I am able to charge my EV for free using the power my solar panels generate. It&apos;s been a game changer since I bought my EV last September!

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• SU

  @SusanKarns-f2h · 4 months ago

  the most honest and knowledgable video I&apos;ve seen in 10 -20 years of research &nbsp;thank you!

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• EH

  @ehendi · 5 months ago

  One point of note is that Level 1 charging is less efficient than Level 2. Depending on the EV, charging with Level 1 can waste up to 20% while Level 2 wastes about 10% of the total energy the EVSE is pulling from the mains. The reason is while charging, the EV has to run electronics such as computers, AC-DC converters, fans for cooling, etc. All of these electronics consume power while charging, but the difference between charging at 120v Level 1 versus 240v Level 2 is minimal. So for example, an EV that uses 300W while charging for 10 hours on Level 1 will waste 3000Wh. But on Level 2, at 40A, it only takes 1.5 hours to reach the same amount of energy output. In that 1.5 hours, The EV&apos;s electronics will have used about 450Wh of energy.<br><br>Another point is charging outdoors in cold winter weather. The EV has to keep the battery warm and this battery heater draws from the same 1.4kW pool that a Level 1 EVSE provides. This not only prolongs the charging time, but also increase the amount of time the EV&apos;s electronics have to continuously pull 300W. With a Level 2 EVSE, the EV&apos;s battery heater and electronics will only have to be on for a relatively short amount of time, thereby increasing efficiency and saving money on the electric bill.<br><br>This is all, of course, being very nitpicky and only relevant for those who really want to geek out and squeeze out as much efficiency as possible. In reality, driving an EV while charging overnight with a Level 1 EVSE is still better than driving a gas car. Both for the environment and the pocket book.

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• PE

  @petesandberg3957 · 2 weeks ago

  The problem with metered shared chargers is someone monopolizing the charger after they’re done. Plugging in for the evening and not coming back until morning. It would be nice if they had four cords so it either could charge one at time at full speed or divide the power fours ways.

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