Really? Ours is hidden under a false bottom in the trunk. I would have said keep it if I knew as we have other spare ones. Didn’t know it was there until playing with storage
I live Chicago area. Happy to give you one if you are close!
You can top off at a public charger for around $10-$20 in a pinch but I get that this is very frustrating.
Nope, no charger at all. I asked about that. And to be fair, the salesman asked me if i had a charger before he gave me a test drive, so it’s not like it was a huge surprise.
It’s not crazy to expect the owner of a BEV to want a level 2 charger at home, and not just a wimpy level 1 thing, though. I mean, truth be told, i could probably limp by with level 1, but then i would be thinking about “range” all the time, which is probably not the experience they want you to have
I have a dozen friends with electric cars. The next door neighbors own a Tesla, and i bought a NACS adapter. I’m sure I’ll manage. But yeah, it will be frustrating if my charger doesn’t arrive soon.
It didn’t come with a charger at all?! That’s so bizarre… my came with two, a level-1 charger and a separate NEMA 14-50 level-2 charger (that you can plug in at RV campgrounds, etc.)
Same. One of mine was hidden under the carpet in the trunk.
But yeah, shipping is probably still just a bit built up from the holidays. Hopefully it arrives soon, but otherwise just check plugshare.com for your nearest public one.
If the dealership has a fast charger, I bet they’d let you use it once or twice if you explained the situation to them.
It might have been Tesla who started the trend, but starting a few years ago many EVs haven’t been coming with any charger.
Using plugshare to see if there are any free level 2 chargers nearby is always a good idea. Around here there are enough EVs that those are pretty busy, but getting some free charging while at the dog park can be a good excuse to exercise the dog. Even not at the free level, there may be some that are reasonably priced. For example here all of the schools have chargers that only cost a few cents more than it costs to charge at home.
If they have a level 2 charger installed, and if there car is old enough to have come with one, they might have the Tesla mobile charger available to borrow. The “mobile charger” is the one that uses an outlet to charge, and has a variety of cables available. It will do level 1 or 2, if they have the right plug adapters.
Level 1 charging is usually fine. The trick is to just always plugin, and let the car charge either all the time, or when electric rates are low. The car won’t overcharge.
Is the 80% rule still a recommendation? (As in, ask the car to limit charging to 80% of max except for the occasional long road trip, in an effort to preserve long-term battery capacity)
Mostly, yes, but it depends on the car. Some battery chemistries are happy with a full charge. Some manufacturers might obfuscate the charge level, so “100%” is really 90%, or such (I think this may be more common with PHEVs that have small batteries).
I recently saw an article I only half read, that said to preserve your battery life, don’t leave your EV plugged in too long. Which is the opposite of all the advise the manufacturers have ever given. There is no harm in leaving the car plugged in and limited to an 80% charge. Perhaps instead of an EV the author was thinking of a phone from 2021?
It depends on the battery. My Model Y Tesla that is almost two years old is meant to be always plugged in a set to 80% unless you are planning a long road trip in which case you can max it out. Some batteries are fine with 100% and some recommend not keeping it plugged in unless you are actively charging. I tried to look up a list for some examples and the results of a Google search are inconsistent to the point of being completely useless.
For the most part, you probably don’t need to worry about 80% or 100%. While there is a difference, in practice the loss of charge with time is fairly minor with most batteries. You will want to charge up to 100% from time to time, anyway.
By the time it makes a significant difference, it’s probably about time for a new battery pack, anyway, unless you do a lot of daily driving. At some point, it becomes a min-maxing type game, rather than practical advice.
The bigger issue is battery heat, so if you limit anything, limit fast charging unless you really need it, i.e. no charging ability at home, longer road trips, emergencies, etc.
This. We were lucky enough to have a 30A 240V service in our garage, but there has only been once we needed it. 120V would do us fine. And the one tine we needed more we could’ve driven to a charger. I would guess that 120 is good for most.
Yeah, as I mentioned, I don’t have any charger. Not 240, not 120. But UPS says they have recieved it, and it will arrive on the 2nd.
I ordered it before Christmas, and was a little worried the order would sit in someone’s inbox until January 3rd. But this should be fine. And in the off chance it’s not, I can hit up a friend. (or the dealer – although I think they only have level 2. And I’d be much happier hanging out with a friend for a few hours than hanging out in the dealer’s waiting room.) Or, better yet, hitting up my next door neighbor and walking home while the thing charges.
But, I doubt we’ll need to charge before the 2nd. And we do still have a gas car in the garage.
We got the Chargepoint hardwired–it’s incredibly easy to wire, even for a newb. Color coded, put the wire in the socket and clamp it down. I recommend it.
That was on my short list. But i bought the grizzl-e mini from United Chargers. I have friends with the 2-car version of it, who like it. It makes all the lists of highly rated car chargers. It will fit with the infrastructure (hooks, etc.) we already installed for the level 1 charger we had when we drove a c-max. It will plug into the existing outlet. And it’s small enough (and comes with plug adapters and a carrying case) to throw into the trunk for a road trip.