How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Electric Car

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People today are terrified of the electric car revolution. Just as folks 100 years ago mocked automobiles and embraced their beloved horses and oxen, many today seem to believe the electric car is part of a dark plot by the government to interrupt our God-given and constitutionally protected right to move from place to place in four-wheeled cocoons powered by infernal combustion engines. Of course, the people who sell us gasoline and diesel are only too happy to play on those fears so they can continue making record-breaking profits. As a result, the media is filled with scary tales of battery fires, people pushing their electric car into a lake because the battery died, and photos of 8-year-old children in the Democratic Republic of Congo digging cobalt out of the ground with their bare hands for electric car batteries.

When I was younger, people lived in fear of the atomic bomb. In school, we all practiced “duck and cover” drills where we would scurry under our desks, put our hands behind our necks to protect from flying shrapnel, and wait for a really bright light to arrive. Buildings in my city all had Civil Defense signs on them, showing us where we could duck into their concrete and steel interiors to escape the coming blast. Peter Sellers made quite a name for himself as he played both starring roles in Stanley Kubrick’s dark comedy, How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Bomb. Some of you may recall the final scene, in which Slim Pickens rides a bomb like a bucking bronco at a rodeo show as it falls to Earth over Russia.

My Electric Car Journey Began In 2017

In 2017, my wife and I traded our beloved Mazda Miata for a 2-year-old Nissan LEAF. We adored our Miata, but it didn’t love us back. Its diminutive dimensions made it difficult for our aging knees, hips, and shoulders to get in and out of it without a derrick. The LEAF was a bold move on our part. We had nowhere to charge it at home save for a 110 volt outlet in the carport. It had a range under ideal conditions of about 80 miles. The dealership where we bought it was 72 miles from our home. We made it to our driveway with an array of lights flashing, warning us that we had no charge left in the battery. We plugged into the wall outlet and waited to see how long it would take to shove enough electrons into the battery to begin driving our new ride.

Our LEAF was the cheapest model made. It came with no CHAdeMO charging port, not that there were any of those in our area. In fact, there were hardly any electric car chargers of any kind anywhere in Rhode Island at the time. So our driving was limited to how far we could go on a full charge and get back home safely — about 35 miles one way was the limit. Slowly, we got used to driving the LEAF.

We found out about reduced range in cold weather the hard way. On one winter day, we had to turn around before we reached our destination for fear we wouldn’t have enough charge left to get home. We learned to use the seat heaters and heated steering wheel instead of the cabin heater. In the summer, we never used the AC. We learned to drive 55 mph on the highway, as cement mixers and school buses zoomed by in the passing lane.

There were definitely some compromises required to make the LEAF work for us. I popped a 220V circuit into my entry panel and ran a line out to the carport. I bought a charging cable on Amazon for $120 and learned that Level 2 really is quite a bit faster than Level 1. We used the LEAF when we could, and our gas-powered Civics when necessary. There was no way we were ready or willing to adjust our lifestyles to driving fully electric with the LEAF as our only vehicle.

Eventually, we transitioned from our Rhode Island home to an oceanside condo community in Florida. We filled the LEAF with as many of our possessions as would fit and had it trucked to Florida. There were no electric car chargers in our community, and when we asked the powers that be about installing some, they looked at us like we had just dropped down from Mars. The head of the HOA told us that they exploded when plugged in and could not be driven in the rain or through puddles. This was Florida, remember. Home to lunatics like Rick Scott, Ron DeSantis, Marco Rubio, and Matt Gaetz. Northerners were tolerated, but that was about it.

Our first task was getting a 220 volt line to the carport. Oh, the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth that went with that! The property manager, citing Florida law, wanted a $1 million dollar property damage rider to our homeowner’s insurance policy, plus a written promise to remove the “charger” if we ever sold. When I pointed out that we were not installing a charger, only an outlet, all objections melted away. But condos are not the same as a private home. I couldn’t go into the meter room and add a new 220V line on my own. Everything requires a building permit and a licensed electrician.

I found someone locally to do the job, but we needed a private meter so we could track how much electricity we were using, since we were drawing from the common electrical panel for the entire building. In an effort to overcome any objections from the HOA, I had offered to pay them a flat $50 a month just for the convenience of being able to charge at home. They said no, so in the end, we read the meter every three months, multiply by the local rate from our utility company (currently about 14 cents per kWh) and send them a check for about $50 — about a third of what we were willing to pay. It’s been three years now and no one has ever complained.

But having an electric car with only 70 miles of useful range limited how far we could go away from home. The city has free chargers in the municipal garage, but they take a while and are 5 miles away — not the ideal situation if you don’t have access to a plug where you live. So when we visited friends in other parts of Florida, we had to rent a car. No big deal, actually, but not that convenient. One time all the local Enterprise store had available was a Chevy Spark. Now, I don’t want to say anything bad about that car, in case any readers own one, but it was smaller than the LEAF and felt like a sardine can in comparison. It made us appreciate our LEAF even more.

Saying Hello To Y-ley, Our Tesla Model Y

Eventually, the LEAF was just too restrictive for our needs, so we opted for a 2022 Tesla Model Y. Since we already had a 220 volt outlet installed, we had a place to charge it, so that put us ahead of the game. As much as we liked the LEAF, the Model Y was lightyears ahead in terms of range, power, comfort, and styling. Of course, it also requires an EE degree to learn how to operate the touchscreen. It’s been more than two years now and we still don’t know how to do a light show on the 4th of July. Boo-hoo.

The Tesla is perhaps the finest automobile we have ever owned. It has plenty of room for 5 people, can carry enough stuff for all our needs, and is supremely comfortable on the highway. It also doesn’t look like every other car on the road without being too outré. The LEAF was just plain weird to look at.

Driving An Electric Car Is Different

What we have learned after driving an electric car for more than 6 years is that it is a completely different experience than driving a gas-powered car. Let me give you an example. We spend our summers in Connecticut, where we drive a 2017 Chevy Bolt. Coming home from a baseball game in Worcester yesterday, we were passed by an Acura. I listened as the engine screamed to redline and the transmission went through a number of gear changes. As it turned out, he was now one car closer to the tractor-trailer in front of us, which stayed there for the next 10 miles. When a passing opportunity finally came, all it took to get the Bolt ahead of the truck was a slight prod on the exhilerator with my right foot.

The power and torque of an electric car is something that has to be experienced to be believed. There’s no drama, no soaring engine note, no thrashing from the gearbox. You simply wish it and it’s done. It’s calm and supremely controlled. It gives the driver confidence that the car can handle any challenge with ease, which is a pretty nice feeling when you are behind the wheel.

There is a lot of misinformation about regenerative braking, otherwise known as one-pedal driving. There is a myth that an electric car has no brake pedal, but that is completely not true. It has one; it’s just that it seldom gets used. As soon as you lift off the right pedal, the electric motor becomes a generator, which sends some electrons back to the battery and slows the car down at the same time. After a few days behind the wheel, you learn to modulate the pedal so the car comes to a halt exactly where you want it to. It really is very confidence-inspiring and when you get back into a regular car you realize that braking in the conventional manner is a chore that you really don’t miss at all.

Charging An Electric Car Is Getting Easier All The Time

In the six years since we started driving an electric car, EV charging has improved dramatically. The Tesla Supercharger network is the gold standard by far. Put in your destination and the software tells you where you need to charge and for how long to get you where you want to go with enough battery charge when you arrive to do whatever you need to do. With the Chevy Bolt, things are a little more complicated, but not that much, at least until access to the Supercharger network actually happens.

A week ago, we did a road trip to Newport, RI, to go sailing with friends. Our ChargePoint app showed us all six chargers in the downtown area were in use, so we went directly to the Newport Sailing Center at Fort Adams where there were two chargers available. We took on some juice while we waited for our friends to arrive, then later that day we went back downtown and plugged in across from our favorite restaurant, where we charged while we were having our meals. Parking in Newport is insane in the summer. You can go round and round for hours looking for a parking space, and parking lots start at $20. We plugged into one of the ChargePoint chargers that was in use earlier in the day, avoided the parking lot fee, and spent $3.18 for electricity while we were eating.

We are planning a road trip to Vermont next week. Google Maps now shows EV chargers along our route, so we already know where we are going to stop along the way. That wouldn’t have happened a short while ago. Now, you drivers of conventional cars may snicker up your sleeves about what a burden it is to have to plan our trip in this way, because all you have to do is drive, knowing there will be a gas station at every exit. But we find being a little more engaged in the process is rather a nice thing. It’s like when we used to sit around the living room with our AAA maps and plan a trip. No one is suggesting that charging is as convenient as filling the tank, but is convenience the only parameter for measuring life’s journey?

Electric Car Maintenance

So far, we have spent the following for maintenance on the three electric cars we have owned:

• One 12 volt battery for the LEAF
• Two gallons of window washer fluid
• One rear window wiper blade for the Bolt

That’s it. About $150 for over six years. We spent $700 to have an 220 volt line with a private meter installed in Florida, but when you offset that against the convenience of being able to charge while we sleep, we feel we are money ahead there.

Level 1 Charging

When we started our electric car adventures, we thought relying on a plain old wall outlet for charging was declassé. But we have learned that it can be fine, if it meets your driving needs. If your car is going to sit in the parking lot for 12, 18, or 24 hours without moving, why do you care how fast it is charging? All you really care about is that you have enough range to get where you are going and home again the next time you need your car.

In Connecticut, I added an exterior 110 volt wall outlet to the side of our storage shed. I found the wire, the outlet, and the weatherproof housing I needed in a drawer full of electrical stuff, and no, I did not get a building permit. By default, the Bolt charges at 8 amps, but there is a manual override that allows you to bump that up to 12 amps. A few weeks ago, with some trepidation, I set it to 12 amps and waited to see if it would trip a breaker or overheat anywhere. It didn’t. So now I know I can charge 50% faster if need be. Now admittedly, if you commute 150 miles every day, Level 1 isn’t going to cut it. But for most drivers, the electrons you can acquire overnight are all you will need. Relax. Be happy. You’re a trendsetter and showing people they have nothing to fear from driving an electric car.

There is something weird happening with the Bolt, however. Its range keeps going up! The car has had the battery replaced. When we bought it last year, it never showed more than 185 miles of range on a full charge. Over last summer, that increased to around 225 miles. But this year, after trips to Ogunquit, Maine, Newburyport, Massachusetts, and Newport, it now maxes out at 278 miles! To be perfectly honest, the Bolt is the equal of the Tesla in terms of power, range, and comfort, and may have a small edge in agility and handling, We enjoy driving it a lot and would recommend it to anyone looking for an inexpensive used electric car.

The Takeaway

Of course, the primary reason to drive an electric car is to avoid polluting the atmosphere with tailpipe emissions, but people don’t really want to hear about that stuff. They want to hear about power, torque, fun to drive — things like that. An electric car has all that and more. We find we are much more relaxed when we drive an electric car and enjoy the ride more. We no longer need to be the fastest car on the road. We are content to go 70 mph instead of 80. We actually appreciate the chance to get out and stretch our legs every 200 miles or so.

We are never going to convince others to consider an electric car by preaching to them. That’s not how change works. Fear is a big part of any technological change. Taking away some of that fear is something those of us who drive an electric car can do.  So just stop worrying, relax, and enjoy the ride, knowing you are showing others they too can drive an electric car if they choose to. So give yourself a hand for helping the future to get here a little bit sooner.