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Yeah. You saw the thumbnail.

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Every electric car, every single one

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can be charged with a standard household outlet using a cable like this, which they often come with for free,

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or which can be purchased for about 100 bucks.

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Electric cars don't need a special kind of electricity.

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They need the same electricity you have at home.

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The only thing that matters is how much electricity they'll need,

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and that depends almost entirely on you and how much you drive.

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And if you have a typical commute,

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this is probably all you need.

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Hi.

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If you've been considering an electric car

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a little more closely
than you might have in the past due to world events

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and the precarious nature of oil prices,

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well, you found the right video.

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If you don't know who I am, my name is Alec,

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and I run the channel Technology Connections.

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This is my second channel Technology Connextras, where I make stuff more off the cuff.

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But I have had to script this one because I've tried

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too many times to film this,
and it has been a disaster each time.

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And today I would like to help you form

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some technology connections between your daily life and an electric car

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because as you saw from the title,

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it's really easy to overthink them.

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And yet we are also not thinking about them enough

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because as technology has progressed,

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we appear to be focusing all of our time and energy

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on what I would claim is the wrong thing.

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Right now, we're approaching this exactly backwards,

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because all you really need to charge a car is wires.

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And if we were smart about it, we would be doing the easy thing.

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But instead we're doing the hard thing because it's flashy and cool

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and we're just pretending it's smart

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because it makes more people more money.

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I'll explain what I mean by that shortly,

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but first I want to talk about who my intended audience

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for this video is, and also who it is not.

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I am very aware that not

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everyone can charge their car at home.

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Perhaps you live in an apartment building,

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or you live in a neighborhood with on street parking.

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When I talk about how easy it is to charge an electric car at home,

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I'm not intending to deny your reality.

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In fact, I'm trying to demonstrate

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how ridiculous it is that you are stuck in a situation

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where you cannot charge an electric car

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somewhere that's convenient to you,

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because all you need is wires.

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And if I were in charge, we'd be doing things quite differently,

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which is kind of the point of this video.

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But also, if I were in charge,

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I wouldn't want to just give everybody
an electric car and call it a day.

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I am very plugged in to conversations about car dependency

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and how frustrating our built environment is,

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because it caters so heavily to the car and is often

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hostile towards other modes of transportation,

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like transit or biking, or even our own two feet.

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I make videos about electric cars

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because I think they are better and less destructive cars,

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not because I think they are the solution to all of our problems.

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I just wanted to put that on the record,

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as I often get accused of that very thought.

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But right now we have a severely car

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centric infrastructure here in the US,

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which I believe is going to take longer

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to unwind than a lot of people wish it would.

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So we need to walk and chew gum at the same time.

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And my desire is to help people.

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Today, activism is not a zero sum game,

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and I say this with respect.

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I think activists would do well to remember

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that in conversations on the internet.

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With that out of the way, it is not really my intention to debunk

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a bunch of misinformation about EVs or anything like that.

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I will touch on a few of those things,

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but what I really want to do here is to reframe the conversation,

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to try and help you get over some of the common mental hangups.

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I know many people have when it comes to using an electric car.

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I'm also making this as a sort of test video for a remake

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I want to do of my EV charging guide.

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Some information in that video is out of date,

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particularly the information on charging connectors.

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But there's actually great news there,

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and I'll be talking about it towards the end of this video.

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But I'm going to start with a mental hang up,

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which is the result of a bit of misinformation

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and that is battery pack lifespan.

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Way too many people still believe
that the battery pack in an electric car

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is something of a consumable item,

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which is going to need replacement down the road.

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This is not true

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and has essentially never been true.

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But the good news for people who might be watching this video

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is that this misconception has depressed the value of used

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EVs quite heavily,

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or at least it did.

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One of the reasons I'm trying to rush this video

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out, though I clearly didn't do that good of a rush job,

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is that if you are considering a used electric car,

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you might want to do that soon.

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More and more people are waking up to the realities

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of what might happen to oil prices,

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and it already looks like the value of used

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electric cars is going up.

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Now, if you are worried about

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assessing the battery health of a used electric car,

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there are tools you can use to do that

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and I will link some information in the description.

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But truly, you should not be worried about buying a used EV.

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I would avoid used Nissan Leafs for reasons

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I will talk about later in the video,

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but pretty much any other model

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is likely to be a great choice and serve you very well

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for many years to come,

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even if it was made before the world ended in 2020.

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But anyway, this video is not really about the wrong things

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people believe about electric cars.

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It's more about understanding all the different ways

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they can be charged because there are so many opportunities

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we're just not taking advantage of right now.

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But I'm going to say something

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now which will probably get some people upset with me.

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Yet I believe it to be true.

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The last people you should be getting advice

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from when it comes to electric cars are electric car enthusiasts.

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They can be really good at keeping up with new information

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and knowing what the best of the best might be at any given moment,

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but they largely do not know what is important

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to normal people at this point, and will likely steer you towards things

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you almost certainly don't need.

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A lot of those people get very obsessed with optimizing

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their electric car experience,

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and they don't necessarily have a very good grasp

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of how off putting their preferred strategies

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look to those who aren't familiar with electric cars yet.

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What I'm saying is they mean well,

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but they can make it seem a lot harder than it actually is.

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Also, it's not important right now,

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but Tesla enthusiast is a very distinct subset

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of electric car enthusiasts, and, well,

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they have a bad habit of giving advice, which is not relevant

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because they don't keep up with what
the other industry players are doing.

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If they did, they'd be embarrassed by the fact that Tesla currently

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has just four 800 volt capable DC fast charging stations

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in the entire world, but they're not embarrassed about that

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because they're not actually interested in the technology,

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which makes electric cars work.

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They're just interested in their Tesla.

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anyway, something that I think can be very confusing

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to people outside of the electric car world

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is that today's electric cars can operate in two

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radically different but complementary paradigms.

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One of those paradigms is the one you are already used to,

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where you use the car like a car,

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and once the battery charge gets low,

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you take it to a place to refill it quickly.

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We have made great strides here and now.

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Charging times for electric cars are getting close to refueling.

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Time for gasoline.

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My car, for example, only takes 18 minutes

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to charge from 10% to 80% in good weather.

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It gets slowed down a bit in the cold,

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and at the same time I'm releasing this video.

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I'm releasing a trip report where I drove my car from Chicago

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to Cincinnati in very cold January temperatures

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with terrible wind conditions.

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So if you want to get a sense of what that looks like today,

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you can watch that.

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It's really not a big deal.

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The only real issue I have is my car's terrible navigation software,

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but that's not important in any context, but a road trip.

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And now that we have charging networks like Ayana,

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which are freeing us from the tyranny of app based charger activation,

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using an electric car like a gas powered car

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is actually a pretty normal experience these days,

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and this is only going to improve.

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Lots of people are getting excited by the headlines

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coming out of China about their latest cars, which can charge

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in just about five minutes.

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But I would like to argue

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very strongly that you should care a lot

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less about that than you currently do because the much better, cheaper,

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and more convenient way to charge an electric car

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is the other operating paradigm they offer us, and always have.

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Charging them slowly while they're parked and you're not using it.

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This is something that seems obvious once somebody tells it to you.

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But it might not be obvious if you haven't thought about it before.

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Your car spends a lot of time parked and not going anywhere.

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It's parked when you are sleeping.

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It's parked when you're at work.

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It's parked if you've been bad or good.

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So plug it in for goodness sake.

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I'm sorry.

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I don't know why I'm like this.

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The point is, you've got a lot of time where your car could be charging

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without actually waiting on the car.

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And the beautiful thing about electric cars

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is that we can charge them with incredibly simple infrastructure,

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which doesn't cost very much money at all.

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And what is that infrastructure?

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Wires.

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This is the second operating paradigm,

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which, ironically, is the one that early adopters

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of electric cars were very excited about,

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but which has been getting far too little attention in recent years.

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So let's give it some more attention,

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because it really is the smarter way to do this.

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As I said in the intro, electric cars

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don't need a special flavor of electricity.

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They just need electricity.

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The stuff you have at home and to give them access

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to that electricity, all they need is wires.

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And I do mean that literally.

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Electric car charging infrastructure can be as simple as a power cord.

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In fact, lots of electric car charging infrastructure

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literally is a power cable and nothing more.

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This is the case for AC charging, which has two categories

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level one and level two.

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For those outside of North America, this is a naming convention

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unique to us and our weird split phase power.

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But for those of us who have 120 volt household power,

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well, that's what level one means.

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It simply means charging a car on 120 volt AC power.

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It has a few flavors, though.

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Almost always we use the term level one to mean

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charging a car on a standard household outlet

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using a portable charging cable such as this.

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To reiterate, every electric car can do this.

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Every single one.

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This is the slowest way to charge a car.

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However, it is much more impactful than many people realize.

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In fact, level one charging can work for the majority of people

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as their exclusive source of charging energy.

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And I'm serious.

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This charging cable, even with a car like mine

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that has a very large battery

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pack, is all most people actually need

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to keep their car charged up for commuting and errands.

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However, it requires a pretty radical

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reimagining of what refueling a car is like

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and can be quite frustrating to certain brains.

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See, a modern electric car will take several days

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to get a complete charge on a cable like this,

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but a complete charge and a modern electric car provides

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a few hundred miles of driving range.

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And unless you actually drive that far in a day,

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you can simply charge it up little bits at a time

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and replenish what you used.

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There's no consequence to battery pack longevity or anything like that.

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The only practical downsides to level one charging for most people

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are that it is less energy efficient due to higher charging losses,

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which makes it slightly more costly than level two,

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though it's still going to be way cheaper than gas.

254
00:12:12,598 --> 00:12:16,202
And if you're electric, utility offers time of use discounts.

255
00:12:16,469 --> 00:12:18,904
Taking advantage of that is very difficult with level

256
00:12:18,904 --> 00:12:21,073
one charging, where your car has to be charging.

257
00:12:21,340 --> 00:12:22,708
Basically, whenever you're at home.

258
00:12:23,676 --> 00:12:24,977
But here's the brass tacks

259
00:12:25,444 --> 00:12:27,713
for a mid-sized car and smaller,

260
00:12:27,813 --> 00:12:30,549
you can expect a charging cable like this to provide

261
00:12:30,549 --> 00:12:33,853
40 miles of driving range with every overnight charge.

262
00:12:34,386 --> 00:12:37,289
So if you drive 40 miles or less each day,

263
00:12:37,423 --> 00:12:40,292
which is the case for the majority of commuters in the US,

264
00:12:40,826 --> 00:12:44,363
then you will replenish all of the energy you used to commute

265
00:12:44,930 --> 00:12:46,899
simply by plugging your car into this thing.

266
00:12:46,899 --> 00:12:48,100
When you get home.

267
00:12:48,534 --> 00:12:51,270
now remember that thing I said about how electric cars

268
00:12:51,270 --> 00:12:53,739
operate under two complementary paradigms?

269
00:12:54,540 --> 00:12:56,509
If you decide to try using level one

270
00:12:56,509 --> 00:12:58,377
charging for your electric car at home,

271
00:12:58,978 --> 00:13:00,746
you can still use DC fast

272
00:13:00,746 --> 00:13:02,982
charging for quick top ups when you're out and about.

273
00:13:03,716 --> 00:13:07,386
Whatever limitation you might have for your charging situation at home

274
00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:10,823
is not a limitation for how far you can drive your car.

275
00:13:11,190 --> 00:13:14,226
It's just a limitation for what you can do with the power

276
00:13:14,226 --> 00:13:15,427
you have at home.

277
00:13:15,928 --> 00:13:19,765
But if you're even more adventurous with your mental framing,

278
00:13:19,899 --> 00:13:23,869
you can drive more than 40 miles a day without visiting a fast charger.

279
00:13:24,170 --> 00:13:26,772
So long as you have extra idle time on the weekend.

280
00:13:27,439 --> 00:13:29,942
Say, for example, you had a 60 mile commute

281
00:13:29,942 --> 00:13:32,144
and you left home on Monday with a full charge.

282
00:13:32,912 --> 00:13:33,846
When you get home,

283
00:13:33,846 --> 00:13:37,449
you might be down to 75% state of charge in a car like mine,

284
00:13:37,883 --> 00:13:38,717
and a level

285
00:13:38,717 --> 00:13:41,353
one charger is not going to be able to completely

286
00:13:41,353 --> 00:13:42,822
recharge the car by morning,

287
00:13:44,156 --> 00:13:46,325
but it might get you up to 92%.

288
00:13:46,859 --> 00:13:50,696
And that means you're only operating with a deficit of 8% per day.

289
00:13:51,597 --> 00:13:55,901
On Friday morning,
your car might only be at 68% state of charge, meaning

290
00:13:55,901 --> 00:13:58,270
you'll get back home with 43% that night.

291
00:13:58,904 --> 00:14:01,240
But now you've got the entire weekend

292
00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,043
to keep your car plugged in and charging whenever you can.

293
00:14:04,276 --> 00:14:08,280
And there's a very good chance
it will be back to 100% by Monday morning.

294
00:14:09,281 --> 00:14:12,284
To be clear, I am not suggesting this is ideal,

295
00:14:12,852 --> 00:14:14,954
but I am saying it is possible.

296
00:14:15,187 --> 00:14:18,157
And if you've got a DC fast charger near your home,

297
00:14:18,157 --> 00:14:21,627
which you can easily
find out by looking at the plug share app or website,

298
00:14:22,795 --> 00:14:25,497
you can just try this out without risking much at all.

299
00:14:25,931 --> 00:14:28,901
Worst case scenario, you have to run down the street to charge up

300
00:14:29,501 --> 00:14:30,703
like a normal car.

301
00:14:31,537 --> 00:14:34,540
Now, there are two remaining caveats to level one charging.

302
00:14:34,907 --> 00:14:36,876
The first has to do with electrical safety.

303
00:14:37,376 --> 00:14:38,944
This is a very minor issue,

304
00:14:38,944 --> 00:14:40,880
and I don't want to make it sound too serious,

305
00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:42,548
but you should be aware that plugging

306
00:14:42,548 --> 00:14:44,683
in an electric car charging cable to the wall

307
00:14:45,017 --> 00:14:48,654
requires the same level of attention as plugging in a space heater,

308
00:14:48,921 --> 00:14:51,891
because the car will draw 12 amps through an outlet.

309
00:14:52,925 --> 00:14:54,026
This means you should pay

310
00:14:54,026 --> 00:14:56,695
attention to the connection between the plug and the socket.

311
00:14:57,329 --> 00:15:00,032
If the connection is poor, the plug may overheat

312
00:15:00,032 --> 00:15:01,834
and could potentially start a fire.

313
00:15:03,035 --> 00:15:05,070
Engineers are smart and decent.

314
00:15:05,070 --> 00:15:07,206
Charging cables now have temperature sensors

315
00:15:07,206 --> 00:15:10,376
in the plug to detect this is happening and will slow down

316
00:15:10,376 --> 00:15:12,544
or even stop charging in that case.

317
00:15:13,145 --> 00:15:15,214
But cheap charging cables

318
00:15:15,481 --> 00:15:19,652
may not do that, so make sure the outlet holds onto the plug tightly.

319
00:15:20,319 --> 00:15:23,289
If it feels loose, the connection is likely to be poor,

320
00:15:23,289 --> 00:15:26,592
and you should replace that receptacle before charging a car with it.

321
00:15:27,459 --> 00:15:31,163
And if you're worried, just feel the plug to see if it's getting hot.

322
00:15:31,163 --> 00:15:33,933
After the car has been charging for a half hour or so,

323
00:15:34,500 --> 00:15:36,335
it's normal for it to feel a little warm.

324
00:15:36,735 --> 00:15:39,905
But if it's uncomfortable to touch, there is a problem.

325
00:15:40,739 --> 00:15:41,239
Also,

326
00:15:42,841 --> 00:15:44,610
you really shouldn't use level

327
00:15:44,610 --> 00:15:47,079
one charging cables with extension cords.

328
00:15:47,513 --> 00:15:49,615
I'm not saying it's not possible,

329
00:15:50,082 --> 00:15:54,186
but I am saying you need to be extremely cautious about doing that.

330
00:15:54,186 --> 00:15:56,255
And if you don't understand the fundamentals

331
00:15:56,255 --> 00:15:58,557
of electrical safety and wire gauge,

332
00:15:59,391 --> 00:16:00,859
you probably just shouldn't.

333
00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:02,294
Oh, right.

334
00:16:02,294 --> 00:16:05,798
Also kind of related the 12 amp draw from an electric car

335
00:16:05,798 --> 00:16:09,635
charging on this will max out a 15 amp circuit's capacity.

336
00:16:09,635 --> 00:16:13,572
So if you've got other things on that circuit like a fridge or freezer,

337
00:16:13,973 --> 00:16:16,675
it's possible the car will cause the circuit breaker to trip.

338
00:16:17,443 --> 00:16:19,845
It's not a big deal, but it's something to be cognizant of

339
00:16:20,145 --> 00:16:21,981
and this is less of a concern

340
00:16:21,981 --> 00:16:24,383
if you have a 20 amp circuit to charge your car.

341
00:16:25,184 --> 00:16:27,152
the other larger caveat with level

342
00:16:27,152 --> 00:16:29,421
one charging is cold climates.

343
00:16:29,822 --> 00:16:32,257
You probably know by now that cold weather reduces

344
00:16:32,324 --> 00:16:34,693
electric cars driving range, and this is true.

345
00:16:35,294 --> 00:16:38,430
It is getting better with the addition of heat pumps to electric cars,

346
00:16:38,764 --> 00:16:40,366
but it is still quite significant,

347
00:16:40,366 --> 00:16:42,468
especially when the weather gets extremely cold.

348
00:16:43,335 --> 00:16:45,537
This is one reason you may want to upgrade

349
00:16:45,537 --> 00:16:48,207
to level two charging, which I will be discussing next.

350
00:16:48,707 --> 00:16:50,909
But the other important part of this caveat

351
00:16:50,909 --> 00:16:55,681
is that if your car is parked outside in extremely cold conditions,

352
00:16:55,681 --> 00:16:58,751
a level one charging cable may not actually add

353
00:16:58,751 --> 00:17:00,586
very much energy to the battery pack.

354
00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:04,056
This is because the car will be using an electric heater

355
00:17:04,056 --> 00:17:07,659
to keep its battery pack warm in those extremely cold conditions,

356
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,829
and the power it needs to do that takes away

357
00:17:10,829 --> 00:17:13,032
from the power available to charge the battery.

358
00:17:13,699 --> 00:17:15,601
However, the impact of this depends

359
00:17:15,601 --> 00:17:18,270
a lot on the car and even the situation.

360
00:17:18,904 --> 00:17:21,240
For example, back when I had a Chevy Volt,

361
00:17:21,540 --> 00:17:24,943
I plugged that thing in at work to a standard outlet outside,

362
00:17:25,511 --> 00:17:28,414
and I never saw a slower charge than I expected.

363
00:17:28,414 --> 00:17:30,249
Even when the weather got quite cold.

364
00:17:31,150 --> 00:17:35,220
And if you're parked in a garage that's freezing temperature or above,

365
00:17:35,454 --> 00:17:37,890
you probably won't ever see slower charging happen.

366
00:17:37,923 --> 00:17:39,124
But I wanted to mention it.

367
00:17:39,892 --> 00:17:42,694
So now let's talk about level two charging.

368
00:17:43,228 --> 00:17:46,765
All that level two means is 240 volt charging.

369
00:17:47,099 --> 00:17:49,301
And I'm saying this because not enough people

370
00:17:49,301 --> 00:17:51,937
appreciate how flexible level two charging is.

371
00:17:52,404 --> 00:17:54,640
And a lot of electricians don't know this either.

372
00:17:55,507 --> 00:17:57,876
You're going to hear a lot of advice from people,

373
00:17:57,876 --> 00:18:00,546
which says to install a Nema 1450

374
00:18:00,546 --> 00:18:02,815
receptacle, the matching one for this plug,

375
00:18:03,148 --> 00:18:07,653
and that's capable of providing 9.6kW of charging power to a car.

376
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:09,888
And let me be clear,

377
00:18:09,888 --> 00:18:12,458
if you can do that, I would recommend it.

378
00:18:13,192 --> 00:18:16,528
But what an electric car enthusiast is not likely to tell you

379
00:18:16,662 --> 00:18:19,832
is that it's overkill for almost everybody.

380
00:18:20,365 --> 00:18:22,301
A charging circuit like that will offer you

381
00:18:22,301 --> 00:18:25,437
the ability to completely recharge most cars overnight,

382
00:18:25,637 --> 00:18:28,640
which is something a lot of people would like to have.

383
00:18:29,174 --> 00:18:31,877
But very few people genuinely need.

384
00:18:32,211 --> 00:18:33,979
And the reason I think this is important

385
00:18:33,979 --> 00:18:35,948
is because we have to deal with people

386
00:18:35,948 --> 00:18:38,817
who have a limited electrical service in their home.

387
00:18:39,718 --> 00:18:41,954
I'm hoping we see electric code reform,

388
00:18:42,254 --> 00:18:44,490
and I'm probably going to make a main channel video about this,

389
00:18:44,490 --> 00:18:47,593
because there are some very artificial limitations here,

390
00:18:47,593 --> 00:18:49,161
which only matter on paper.

391
00:18:49,528 --> 00:18:53,432
But for now, an electrician is going to have to do a load calculation

392
00:18:53,432 --> 00:18:55,601
to determine how much available capacity

393
00:18:55,634 --> 00:18:57,536
your electrical panel actually has.

394
00:18:58,003 --> 00:19:01,039
And in many homes, that capacity is limited

395
00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:04,877
such that you cannot install a name of 1450

396
00:19:04,877 --> 00:19:08,680
without getting a very expensive electrical service upgrade.

397
00:19:09,681 --> 00:19:12,217
But this does not necessarily mean

398
00:19:12,217 --> 00:19:14,753
you cannot have a level two charging station.

399
00:19:14,953 --> 00:19:17,089
With the electric service you already have,

400
00:19:17,523 --> 00:19:20,125
because you can put a charging station on a 30

401
00:19:20,125 --> 00:19:22,294
amp circuit or a 20 amp circuit,

402
00:19:22,628 --> 00:19:24,830
or even a 15 amp circuit.

403
00:19:25,264 --> 00:19:27,533
And even that weedy little 15 amp

404
00:19:27,533 --> 00:19:30,969
circuit will give you eight miles of driving range for every hour

405
00:19:30,969 --> 00:19:32,137
your car is plugged in.

406
00:19:32,304 --> 00:19:35,541
Meaning even 100 mile commutes become feasible.

407
00:19:35,541 --> 00:19:37,709
Using that charger exclusively.

408
00:19:38,443 --> 00:19:39,645
But let's back up a bit.

409
00:19:39,878 --> 00:19:42,347
The reason I said to charge an electric car.

410
00:19:42,347 --> 00:19:43,649
All you need is wires

411
00:19:45,217 --> 00:19:47,819
is that that is literally what this thing is.

412
00:19:48,187 --> 00:19:50,422
The technical term for this is EVs

413
00:19:50,689 --> 00:19:52,691
or electric vehicle supply equipment.

414
00:19:53,091 --> 00:19:55,894
But all it really is, is a fancy power cord.

415
00:19:56,195 --> 00:19:58,830
In fact, this is the exact same thing

416
00:19:58,830 --> 00:20:00,832
as the level one charger right here.

417
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:04,503
It just has thicker wires so it can carry more current.

418
00:20:04,503 --> 00:20:08,407
And it has a Nema 1450 plug so it can accept 240V.

419
00:20:09,107 --> 00:20:12,010
Otherwise, it's doing the exact same thing.

420
00:20:12,277 --> 00:20:14,980
It sends a signal to the car which announces its presence

421
00:20:14,980 --> 00:20:18,517
and tells the car
how much current the charging cable can safely provide.

422
00:20:18,884 --> 00:20:21,153
In the case of this cable, that's 32 amps.

423
00:20:21,820 --> 00:20:24,156
And when the car requests power from the cable,

424
00:20:24,389 --> 00:20:28,126
it closes a switch inside this box and provides AC power

425
00:20:28,493 --> 00:20:30,529
directly to the car's charging port.

426
00:20:30,996 --> 00:20:32,497
That is, all these things do.

427
00:20:32,898 --> 00:20:34,900
The car is what actually handles

428
00:20:34,900 --> 00:20:37,736
battery charging, and it has an onboard charger

429
00:20:37,736 --> 00:20:40,239
which will convert the AC power coming from the wall

430
00:20:40,539 --> 00:20:43,475
to the DC power necessary to charge its battery cells.

431
00:20:44,276 --> 00:20:47,145
And since this thing is really just a long range cord

432
00:20:47,145 --> 00:20:50,449
with a car charging connector on one end and a fancy box in the middle,

433
00:20:50,983 --> 00:20:52,751
you might guess that they're pretty cheap.

434
00:20:53,485 --> 00:20:54,386
And you're correct.

435
00:20:54,386 --> 00:20:57,656
These things can be had for less than 200 bucks these days,

436
00:20:58,056 --> 00:21:00,993
though I might go for something a little more expensive to avoid.

437
00:21:00,993 --> 00:21:02,160
Amazon sludge.

438
00:21:03,228 --> 00:21:04,796
The only expensive

439
00:21:04,796 --> 00:21:07,733
proposition to installing an electric car charging station

440
00:21:07,733 --> 00:21:10,335
is getting wires from your electrical panel

441
00:21:10,469 --> 00:21:12,838
to where you want the charging station to be.

442
00:21:13,739 --> 00:21:17,142
And the reason I get pretty frustrated and cranky about this

443
00:21:18,010 --> 00:21:19,711
is because nobody bats an eye.

444
00:21:19,711 --> 00:21:22,748
When we think about running wires for appliances.

445
00:21:23,181 --> 00:21:25,050
For instance, when we're building a house

446
00:21:25,050 --> 00:21:27,386
and we decide to put in an electric dryer,

447
00:21:27,819 --> 00:21:29,955
it's just taken as a given that the electrician

448
00:21:29,955 --> 00:21:32,491
is going to install a two pole 30 amp breaker

449
00:21:32,491 --> 00:21:36,328
in the electrical box and run ten gauge wire to the dryer outlet,

450
00:21:36,328 --> 00:21:37,496
wherever that might be.

451
00:21:38,430 --> 00:21:41,066
And yet, for some reason, when people imagine what it takes

452
00:21:41,066 --> 00:21:43,135
to install an electric car charging station,

453
00:21:43,602 --> 00:21:46,138
they often think it's more complicated than that.

454
00:21:46,138 --> 00:21:49,708
Despite the fact that it is literally the exact same task.

455
00:21:50,042 --> 00:21:53,578
In fact, there are electric car charging cables like this

456
00:21:54,012 --> 00:21:55,647
which plug into dryer outlets.

457
00:21:56,048 --> 00:21:58,850
And this means if you have an electric dryer in your garage,

458
00:21:58,850 --> 00:22:03,522
or maybe in a utility room next to a carport or something, congrats!

459
00:22:03,522 --> 00:22:07,859
You already have a very powerful circuit to charge an electric car.

460
00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:11,530
And there are even devices out there
which will let you plug a car charger

461
00:22:11,530 --> 00:22:13,799
and a dryer into the same receptacle,

462
00:22:14,066 --> 00:22:16,501
and it will automatically stop your car from charging

463
00:22:16,501 --> 00:22:17,869
when you need to use the dryer.

464
00:22:19,471 --> 00:22:20,706
It's just wires.

465
00:22:21,273 --> 00:22:24,843
And the thing about wires, right, is that they just sit there

466
00:22:24,843 --> 00:22:29,247
in your walls undisturbed and will last 50 years or longer.

467
00:22:30,148 --> 00:22:33,185
If you elect to run a new circuit for a charging station.

468
00:22:33,352 --> 00:22:35,120
You only have to do that once.

469
00:22:35,554 --> 00:22:37,923
It's essentially permanent infrastructure.

470
00:22:38,090 --> 00:22:40,158
And while the charging station or cable

471
00:22:40,158 --> 00:22:41,927
might fail at some point down the road,

472
00:22:42,728 --> 00:22:45,697
you already did the hard part and replacing it is a snap.

473
00:22:46,264 --> 00:22:48,700
If you go with a receptacle and cable like this,

474
00:22:48,700 --> 00:22:51,937
you literally just have to unplug a dead one and plug in a new one.

475
00:22:52,971 --> 00:22:55,774
I don't know why the world isn't getting excited about this.

476
00:22:55,807 --> 00:22:58,643
You can literally have a gas station at home

477
00:22:58,944 --> 00:23:02,647
using the exact same technology that operates your clothes dryer.

478
00:23:03,482 --> 00:23:05,484
And because, as I have already said,

479
00:23:05,484 --> 00:23:08,887
your car can charge while you do other things like sleep.

480
00:23:09,488 --> 00:23:13,291
You do not have to care if your car takes five, six, seven, eight,

481
00:23:13,492 --> 00:23:15,794
even ten hours to charge.

482
00:23:16,161 --> 00:23:19,731
All you need to care about is whether you can recover the energy

483
00:23:19,731 --> 00:23:22,534
your car needed to do your commute, errands, and whatnot.

484
00:23:22,834 --> 00:23:24,569
In the time you have to do that.

485
00:23:25,270 --> 00:23:28,340
And what I'm trying to say is you have a lot of time.

486
00:23:28,607 --> 00:23:30,575
So do not stress too much over

487
00:23:30,575 --> 00:23:33,211
how much power your charging station can put out.

488
00:23:33,712 --> 00:23:36,014
There is no need to go overboard.

489
00:23:36,281 --> 00:23:39,151
And if all you can install is a 20 amp circuit,

490
00:23:39,618 --> 00:23:41,420
you are almost certainly going to be fine

491
00:23:41,453 --> 00:23:44,790
so long as your household doesn't drive more than 100 miles a day.

492
00:23:45,624 --> 00:23:50,028
Yeah, that's right, you can charge two cars with one cable.

493
00:23:50,595 --> 00:23:52,831
Electric cars have such a large range

494
00:23:52,831 --> 00:23:55,434
now that they don't need charging every day.

495
00:23:55,700 --> 00:23:57,836
So if you've got two cars in your household,

496
00:23:58,203 --> 00:24:01,039
you can charge one one night and the other the next.

497
00:24:01,206 --> 00:24:02,407
Imagine that.

498
00:24:02,841 --> 00:24:06,044
And again, I know Midwesterners are very confusing

499
00:24:06,077 --> 00:24:08,079
to a lot of the rest of the world, so let me just stress.

500
00:24:08,647 --> 00:24:12,818
I am not saying you should not desire a more powerful charging station,

501
00:24:12,818 --> 00:24:15,854
or that a more powerful charging station is not useful.

502
00:24:17,055 --> 00:24:20,025
I am saying you probably don't actually need one,

503
00:24:20,025 --> 00:24:22,994
and you should think through your needs before you spend lots of money

504
00:24:23,028 --> 00:24:24,229
you don't need to spend.

505
00:24:24,496 --> 00:24:26,331
It's good to be smart and frugal.

506
00:24:27,065 --> 00:24:29,367
Which reminds me, there's probably going to be some talk

507
00:24:29,367 --> 00:24:32,471
in the comments about technological solutions available to us,

508
00:24:32,671 --> 00:24:35,440
which allow us to install higher current charging stations

509
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,809
even when we have limited electrical service.

510
00:24:38,210 --> 00:24:41,446
I've even talked about these on my main channel and they're really cool.

511
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:43,615
What they essentially do is monitor

512
00:24:43,615 --> 00:24:46,418
how much current is being pulled by your entire home,

513
00:24:46,418 --> 00:24:50,422
using inductive clamps on the main feed wires in your electrical panel,

514
00:24:50,755 --> 00:24:53,291
and then they'll automatically tell your car to slow down

515
00:24:53,291 --> 00:24:56,628
its charging if other electrical loads appear in your house.

516
00:24:56,995 --> 00:25:00,932
For instance,
if your water heater switches on or you use the dryer, etc..

517
00:25:01,967 --> 00:25:05,470
But here's me with my frustrating Midwestern energy

518
00:25:05,470 --> 00:25:08,073
saying you probably don't need that.

519
00:25:08,507 --> 00:25:11,977
I would rather you keep it simple, stupid, and install a smaller

520
00:25:11,977 --> 00:25:14,646
charging station and just live with that.

521
00:25:14,646 --> 00:25:18,617
Especially since we now have DC fast chargers popping up everywhere,

522
00:25:18,783 --> 00:25:22,053
which can provide a quick charge should that need arise.

523
00:25:22,854 --> 00:25:25,023
In fact, you could ask an electrician

524
00:25:25,023 --> 00:25:28,493
to install a 240 volt Nema 620 plug.

525
00:25:29,127 --> 00:25:32,330
These look just like our normal plugs, but they're all a little wonky.

526
00:25:32,764 --> 00:25:34,766
And charging cables for these exist

527
00:25:35,133 --> 00:25:37,536
and they'll provide ten miles of driving range

528
00:25:37,536 --> 00:25:39,271
for every hour your car is plugged in.

529
00:25:40,071 --> 00:25:41,673
If you actually need to drive

530
00:25:41,673 --> 00:25:45,110
more than 100 miles a day, then that won't work for you.

531
00:25:45,243 --> 00:25:47,913
But I just got a message from someone on Patreon

532
00:25:47,913 --> 00:25:50,682
telling me that they've been charging their Chevy Silverado

533
00:25:50,682 --> 00:25:52,851
EV, a gigantic truck

534
00:25:53,285 --> 00:25:55,887
exclusively on one of these Nema six 20s,

535
00:25:55,887 --> 00:25:59,024
and it has not been a problem for them because again,

536
00:25:59,357 --> 00:26:01,927
your car spends a lot of time parked,

537
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,729
and if it can be charging whenever it's parked,

538
00:26:04,996 --> 00:26:06,932
you're going to get a lot of range back.

539
00:26:06,932 --> 00:26:08,600
Even if you have limited power.

540
00:26:09,467 --> 00:26:12,604
But as much as it annoys me when electric car enthusiasts

541
00:26:12,604 --> 00:26:15,807
spend so much time on optimization to the point of paralyzing people

542
00:26:15,807 --> 00:26:17,776
who are not very familiar with electric cars yet,

543
00:26:18,276 --> 00:26:20,946
I am going to give you one piece of optimization,

544
00:26:21,146 --> 00:26:24,382
which you can do if you have higher power charging available

545
00:26:24,549 --> 00:26:27,719
and which I take advantage of, and that is time of use rates.

546
00:26:28,386 --> 00:26:30,822
Many utilities offer variable rate plans,

547
00:26:30,822 --> 00:26:33,158
and my electricity is dirt cheap.

548
00:26:33,158 --> 00:26:34,926
Between the hours of about 10 p.m.

549
00:26:34,926 --> 00:26:38,496
and 5 a.m., pretty much all electric cars

550
00:26:38,496 --> 00:26:41,166
allow you to schedule charging to take advantage of this,

551
00:26:41,466 --> 00:26:44,469
and I have my car set up to start charging at 11

552
00:26:44,669 --> 00:26:46,237
and it will stop charging at five.

553
00:26:47,339 --> 00:26:49,541
If I had a slower charging station,

554
00:26:49,541 --> 00:26:51,176
I might not be able to do that,

555
00:26:52,744 --> 00:26:55,113
except here I am being a midwesterner again,

556
00:26:55,447 --> 00:26:57,849
I actually could, I would just need to plug my car

557
00:26:57,849 --> 00:26:59,718
in more frequently than I currently do.

558
00:27:00,452 --> 00:27:03,355
At this point I charge my car about weekly.

559
00:27:03,855 --> 00:27:06,558
I do have a shorter than average commute, so keep that in mind.

560
00:27:06,891 --> 00:27:08,693
But if you have a 40 mile commute,

561
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,129
a full charge on an electric car sold

562
00:27:11,162 --> 00:27:13,465
today is going to last you for the bulk of the week.

563
00:27:14,199 --> 00:27:17,602
So I personally don't think there's much of a point

564
00:27:17,602 --> 00:27:21,072
trying to install a charging station,
which could get you an entire charge

565
00:27:21,072 --> 00:27:22,474
in seven hours or whatever,

566
00:27:23,575 --> 00:27:27,479
when you could simply plug your car in 2 or 3 times a week

567
00:27:28,079 --> 00:27:29,948
and still take advantage of cheap overnight

568
00:27:29,948 --> 00:27:33,018
electricity or whatever, the rates are cheap in your area,

569
00:27:33,018 --> 00:27:34,753
that's probably going to start changing

570
00:27:34,753 --> 00:27:36,621
as more solar power ends up on the grid.

571
00:27:36,621 --> 00:27:40,125
But here in Illinois,
we've got quite a lot of nuclear power on the grid,

572
00:27:40,325 --> 00:27:42,227
and I'm happy to use it in the dead of night.

573
00:27:43,128 --> 00:27:44,796
And to give you some additional context,

574
00:27:45,063 --> 00:27:46,164
my charging station

575
00:27:46,164 --> 00:27:49,968
actually takes about 12 hours to completely refill my car,

576
00:27:51,202 --> 00:27:52,137
but that's not a

577
00:27:52,137 --> 00:27:54,806
situation I ever actually encounter

578
00:27:54,839 --> 00:27:57,409
because I limit my charging to 80%,

579
00:27:57,575 --> 00:27:59,244
which is believed to prolong the life

580
00:27:59,244 --> 00:28:01,279
of a nickel manganese cobalt battery pack

581
00:28:01,813 --> 00:28:05,550
and I plug it in when the car is down to 30%,

582
00:28:05,850 --> 00:28:08,553
which means the actual time it takes my car to charge

583
00:28:08,953 --> 00:28:10,588
is just six hours.

584
00:28:11,456 --> 00:28:13,124
I haven't explicitly said this yet,

585
00:28:13,124 --> 00:28:16,227
but this is why I think it's kind of foolish to focus on

586
00:28:16,227 --> 00:28:19,798
how quickly a charging station can get a car charge from empty to full.

587
00:28:20,932 --> 00:28:24,803
That's just not a thing that actually happens
if you're charging your car.

588
00:28:24,803 --> 00:28:29,240
That way, you either drive a terrible commute
or you're being very silly.

589
00:28:29,941 --> 00:28:33,244
And at this point, I'm going off script for the rest of the video.

590
00:28:33,244 --> 00:28:34,446
So buckle up.

591
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:36,648
Really, I just want to get this done

592
00:28:36,648 --> 00:28:38,550
and we'll make the rest of my points from my notes.

593
00:28:39,150 --> 00:28:42,320
The reason I keep saying all you need is wires,

594
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:46,324
and we're doing this exactly backwards, has to do with the opportunities

595
00:28:46,324 --> 00:28:50,295
we are not taking, which would make this so much cheaper and easier.

596
00:28:51,062 --> 00:28:53,798
The way we appear to be solving the problem of

597
00:28:53,798 --> 00:28:55,567
I cannot charge my car at home

598
00:28:55,867 --> 00:28:59,370
is to try and replicate the old fueling paradigm

599
00:28:59,370 --> 00:29:01,206
with DC fast charging.

600
00:29:02,140 --> 00:29:04,476
And again, this is technically possible,

601
00:29:05,043 --> 00:29:07,011
but it's far from ideal.

602
00:29:07,011 --> 00:29:09,280
In fact, it is the opposite of ideal.

603
00:29:10,215 --> 00:29:12,517
This is a $300 charging cable.

604
00:29:13,151 --> 00:29:17,122
The DC fast chargers you see out and about are five figure machines,

605
00:29:17,122 --> 00:29:20,458
which require enormous electrical hookups from the power grid.

606
00:29:20,792 --> 00:29:23,261
And that means every DC fast charging site

607
00:29:23,261 --> 00:29:27,332
you see was probably a six figure affair at minimum.

608
00:29:27,599 --> 00:29:29,534
Or if it's a larger charging site,

609
00:29:29,734 --> 00:29:31,469
a multi-million dollar affair,

610
00:29:32,070 --> 00:29:33,938
and somebody has to pay for that,

611
00:29:33,938 --> 00:29:35,707
and the people that are going to pay for that

612
00:29:36,341 --> 00:29:39,110
are the drivers who use those charging stations.

613
00:29:39,677 --> 00:29:42,213
And that means the electricity you get from a DC

614
00:29:42,247 --> 00:29:46,151
fast charging station is often 3 to 5 times as expensive

615
00:29:46,284 --> 00:29:47,886
as retail electricity.

616
00:29:48,753 --> 00:29:51,189
So not only are we saying renters

617
00:29:51,189 --> 00:29:54,459
who can't charge at home
should just have to deal with a worse experience,

618
00:29:54,592 --> 00:29:57,562
but it's also a much more expensive experience.

619
00:29:58,363 --> 00:30:01,432
I've already identified several scenarios where having DC

620
00:30:01,466 --> 00:30:04,636
fast charging available close to your home is useful,

621
00:30:05,103 --> 00:30:08,673
but something that I need to stress is that if we do this right,

622
00:30:09,073 --> 00:30:11,609
we should not be using those except

623
00:30:11,609 --> 00:30:13,545
when we go on road trips.

624
00:30:14,212 --> 00:30:17,048
Because I have this charging cable at home.

625
00:30:17,048 --> 00:30:19,584
Well, really, I use a different charger than this,

626
00:30:19,584 --> 00:30:23,688
but it's exactly as powerful as this
because I have one of these at home.

627
00:30:24,422 --> 00:30:27,659
I do not use DC fast charging in my local area.

628
00:30:27,659 --> 00:30:32,497
The closest DC fast chargers I use are in Wisconsin and Indiana.

629
00:30:33,164 --> 00:30:36,734
I have used a local DC fast charger one time

630
00:30:36,901 --> 00:30:37,969
because my plans

631
00:30:37,969 --> 00:30:40,471
suddenly changed and I didn't have enough range

632
00:30:40,471 --> 00:30:43,808
to get to the city and back in the winter, but actually I did.

633
00:30:43,808 --> 00:30:45,643
I was just being overly paranoid about that,

634
00:30:45,643 --> 00:30:48,613
and I figured, why not have that charging station there?

635
00:30:48,613 --> 00:30:50,081
It's about five minutes from where I live.

636
00:30:50,248 --> 00:30:52,050
Spent five minutes on that charger

637
00:30:52,050 --> 00:30:53,918
just to give myself a bit of a security blanket.

638
00:30:54,285 --> 00:30:55,486
And there we go.

639
00:30:55,753 --> 00:30:59,123
But that is literally the only time I have used

640
00:30:59,123 --> 00:31:02,093
DC fast charging infrastructure in my local area,

641
00:31:02,493 --> 00:31:05,797
except for making YouTube videos about DC fast charging.

642
00:31:06,497 --> 00:31:07,899
And this is what I mean about

643
00:31:07,899 --> 00:31:10,535
we are not thinking enough about electric cars,

644
00:31:10,535 --> 00:31:12,937
because for someone who understands them, well,

645
00:31:13,238 --> 00:31:14,272
I can tell you

646
00:31:14,272 --> 00:31:17,342
we are going to need to have the density of electric car

647
00:31:17,342 --> 00:31:21,946
charging that we see today for gasoline on interstate corridors.

648
00:31:22,347 --> 00:31:24,816
Basically, truck stops are going to have

649
00:31:24,816 --> 00:31:27,185
to install a bunch of DC fast charging

650
00:31:27,318 --> 00:31:28,486
so people like me

651
00:31:28,486 --> 00:31:31,489
can make trips at the drop of a hat to wherever we want to go.

652
00:31:32,190 --> 00:31:34,626
But when we're at our destinations,

653
00:31:35,226 --> 00:31:37,595
we shouldn't be using those things,

654
00:31:37,595 --> 00:31:41,766
because every building in this country has electricity.

655
00:31:42,667 --> 00:31:43,935
This is the thing, right?

656
00:31:44,569 --> 00:31:47,572
I keep saying all you need is wires because

657
00:31:48,539 --> 00:31:50,208
all you need is wires.

658
00:31:50,642 --> 00:31:52,744
And one of the ways we could be solving

659
00:31:52,744 --> 00:31:55,213
charging for people who can't charge at home

660
00:31:56,247 --> 00:31:58,116
is to let them charge at work.

661
00:31:58,583 --> 00:32:00,752
I am sitting in a commercial building

662
00:32:00,885 --> 00:32:03,755
which has, I just checked a 500

663
00:32:03,755 --> 00:32:05,857
kVA pad mount transformer.

664
00:32:06,291 --> 00:32:10,361
That means that transformer
can supply half a megawatt of charging power.

665
00:32:10,728 --> 00:32:13,131
And I know for a fact that this building

666
00:32:13,131 --> 00:32:15,233
is not using anywhere near that capacity.

667
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:16,734
This is an industrial building.

668
00:32:16,734 --> 00:32:17,969
It has that transformer

669
00:32:17,969 --> 00:32:21,005
because people could be using industrial machinery or whatever.

670
00:32:21,105 --> 00:32:24,309
And every unit in here has 203 phase service.

671
00:32:24,642 --> 00:32:26,945
But based on the businesses that are in this building,

672
00:32:26,945 --> 00:32:30,515
I can guarantee nobody is using anywhere near that.

673
00:32:30,815 --> 00:32:34,285
So right here we have the electrical capacity

674
00:32:34,285 --> 00:32:36,754
to install a few dozen

675
00:32:36,754 --> 00:32:39,357
powerful charging stations in the parking lot,

676
00:32:39,857 --> 00:32:43,895
and we could charge people minimal amounts of money to use them

677
00:32:43,895 --> 00:32:46,798
because it is basic electricity rates.

678
00:32:47,465 --> 00:32:50,101
Now, it's a little bit more complicated than that

679
00:32:50,101 --> 00:32:51,903
because that's a commercial power bill

680
00:32:51,903 --> 00:32:53,271
and there's going to be demand charges.

681
00:32:53,638 --> 00:32:54,973
But what I'm saying here is

682
00:32:55,807 --> 00:32:57,508
we have the opportunity

683
00:32:57,508 --> 00:33:00,945
to simply trench some wires out to the parking lot,

684
00:33:01,145 --> 00:33:05,583
install a bank of chargers, and solve the problem that way.

685
00:33:05,984 --> 00:33:08,486
Now, obviously, I know a lot of people work from home these days.

686
00:33:08,486 --> 00:33:10,054
That doesn't solve the problem for anyone.

687
00:33:10,421 --> 00:33:12,423
Everyone. But my point is

688
00:33:13,358 --> 00:33:15,727
all we need is wires.

689
00:33:15,727 --> 00:33:18,396
And if your car is going to be parked for eight hours,

690
00:33:19,263 --> 00:33:22,934
you don't have to care how fast it charges.

691
00:33:23,134 --> 00:33:26,137
This is the thing I'm really trying to get more people to understand,

692
00:33:26,137 --> 00:33:28,773
because those of us that were early adopters

693
00:33:28,773 --> 00:33:31,376
of electric cars just intuited this very quickly,

694
00:33:31,376 --> 00:33:33,845
and we see this as an obvious benefit.

695
00:33:34,245 --> 00:33:37,048
But I keep encountering people who are very hung up on

696
00:33:37,048 --> 00:33:39,751
the fact that their car will take hours to charge.

697
00:33:40,351 --> 00:33:41,686
They just haven't yet thought through

698
00:33:41,686 --> 00:33:43,488
that you don't have to wait on the car.

699
00:33:43,488 --> 00:33:44,856
You can do other things.

700
00:33:45,556 --> 00:33:47,825
and another reason I personally think it's important

701
00:33:47,825 --> 00:33:49,427
to get chargers at workplaces

702
00:33:49,761 --> 00:33:52,964
is because as more solar power gets put on the grid,

703
00:33:53,264 --> 00:33:57,168
it would be most useful if we can use it while the sun is up.

704
00:33:57,468 --> 00:34:01,039
And a great way to do that is to be charging electric cars.

705
00:34:01,539 --> 00:34:03,608
Because I charge my car in the middle of the night,

706
00:34:03,841 --> 00:34:05,643
I can't take advantage of that.

707
00:34:06,044 --> 00:34:08,279
Whereas if I had a charging station here

708
00:34:08,279 --> 00:34:11,282
in the parking lot, I would probably plug in here

709
00:34:11,549 --> 00:34:14,719
assuming the electricity was,
you know, cheaper than I can get it at home,

710
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,455
which again, it may not be, but my point is

711
00:34:17,688 --> 00:34:21,292
we are not going to be able to do things like utilize solar energy

712
00:34:21,292 --> 00:34:23,895
during the day and vehicle to grid technology.

713
00:34:23,895 --> 00:34:28,466
If we don't get charging cables like this installed, where people work.

714
00:34:29,233 --> 00:34:30,935
So if we do that,

715
00:34:30,935 --> 00:34:34,639
we are also going to have a more sustainable charging infrastructure

716
00:34:34,639 --> 00:34:37,909
and will solve the problem of people who cannot charge at home.

717
00:34:38,910 --> 00:34:40,344
What I imagine happening is

718
00:34:40,344 --> 00:34:43,047
that a lot of workplaces will start saying, okay,

719
00:34:43,247 --> 00:34:45,650
we offer EV charging as a perk,

720
00:34:45,917 --> 00:34:49,821
but if you have charging at home, please don't use it.

721
00:34:50,121 --> 00:34:52,190
It might be difficult to manage, but

722
00:34:52,690 --> 00:34:55,093
probably the charging at home is still going to be cheaper

723
00:34:55,093 --> 00:34:57,562
for people who can access it than charging it at work.

724
00:34:57,995 --> 00:35:01,699
But charging even charging at work on a slow charger like this,

725
00:35:01,999 --> 00:35:05,369
even if it cost twice as much as retail electricity at home,

726
00:35:06,037 --> 00:35:08,840
that's still cheaper than a DC fast charging station.

727
00:35:09,540 --> 00:35:10,741
To give you some context,

728
00:35:10,741 --> 00:35:14,712
Ayana is one of the cheapest DC fast charging providers right now,

729
00:35:14,946 --> 00:35:16,314
and this station in Janesville,

730
00:35:16,314 --> 00:35:19,784
Wisconsin is charging $0.33 per kilowatt hour.

731
00:35:20,251 --> 00:35:23,988
That is triple what I pay for electricity at home on average,

732
00:35:24,155 --> 00:35:25,456
and six times

733
00:35:25,456 --> 00:35:28,493
what I pay for electricity for my car by charging it overnight.

734
00:35:29,093 --> 00:35:31,996
So yeah, some charging stations are over

735
00:35:31,996 --> 00:35:35,566
$0.50 per kilowatt hour or even $0.70 per kilowatt hour.

736
00:35:35,933 --> 00:35:40,404
And it is not fair to force renters into using those things

737
00:35:41,172 --> 00:35:43,641
when if we just ran some wires

738
00:35:43,641 --> 00:35:46,277
from the building to the parking lot,

739
00:35:46,444 --> 00:35:49,380
they could take advantage of cheap charging infrastructure,

740
00:35:49,380 --> 00:35:52,150
which is cheap to install and cheap to operate.

741
00:35:52,617 --> 00:35:56,387
So that is why I've been saying we're doing this exactly backwards.

742
00:35:56,621 --> 00:35:58,656
Our attention is on the technology

743
00:35:58,656 --> 00:36:01,959
which is enabling road trips because that's important.

744
00:36:03,027 --> 00:36:05,229
But unless you drive professionally,

745
00:36:06,130 --> 00:36:08,032
you just need a charger like this.

746
00:36:08,032 --> 00:36:11,502
And this is what we should be prioritizing in my opinion.

747
00:36:11,869 --> 00:36:13,271
But I believe I'm correct.

748
00:36:13,838 --> 00:36:16,240
and now I'll finish up by returning to used

749
00:36:16,240 --> 00:36:19,944
EVs and talking about the charging connector change
we are going through,

750
00:36:19,944 --> 00:36:23,114
but which miraculously doesn't actually matter.

751
00:36:23,814 --> 00:36:26,617
To be clear, this is only for North America.

752
00:36:26,617 --> 00:36:28,886
The rest of the world is not going through this nonsense

753
00:36:28,886 --> 00:36:30,655
because y'all are smarter than us.

754
00:36:30,955 --> 00:36:33,424
But here we are making a transition

755
00:36:33,424 --> 00:36:37,595
from the old J1 77261 charging connector

756
00:36:37,895 --> 00:36:42,533
to the Tesla connector, which is now an SRT standard.

757
00:36:42,934 --> 00:36:44,735
You're probably going to hear it referred to

758
00:36:44,735 --> 00:36:48,306
as the Tesla connector or Max Nax.

759
00:36:48,339 --> 00:36:50,141
The North American charging standard,

760
00:36:50,541 --> 00:36:54,512
or three 3400, because that is the new Seiki standard.

761
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:56,480
That's good thing.

762
00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:58,416
Number one, it is no longer proprietary.

763
00:36:58,416 --> 00:36:59,884
It isn't as a standard.

764
00:37:00,384 --> 00:37:03,287
But good thing number two is the miraculous bit

765
00:37:03,888 --> 00:37:05,957
in the process of creating the standard,

766
00:37:06,324 --> 00:37:10,261
the SRT decided to have new max chargers

767
00:37:10,261 --> 00:37:14,065
speak the exact same language as the old CCS chargers.

768
00:37:14,365 --> 00:37:17,802
So the signals that go on the communication pins are identical.

769
00:37:18,236 --> 00:37:21,606
And that means we can simply use these passive adapters

770
00:37:21,606 --> 00:37:24,275
to go from one charging standard to the other.

771
00:37:24,809 --> 00:37:28,045
All this thing is, is a big it's two big bus

772
00:37:28,045 --> 00:37:30,715
bars connecting these two pins to these two pins,

773
00:37:30,948 --> 00:37:33,351
although they have to flip around because the polarity is different.

774
00:37:33,551 --> 00:37:34,752
Isn't that fun?

775
00:37:35,186 --> 00:37:36,487
And it's just a dumb adapter.

776
00:37:36,487 --> 00:37:40,024
It just passes power and signals from the charging station

777
00:37:40,224 --> 00:37:41,826
to the car through this thing.

778
00:37:42,660 --> 00:37:45,363
But you'll notice I have two of them.

779
00:37:45,596 --> 00:37:47,431
And it's not just commitment to the bit.

780
00:37:48,466 --> 00:37:51,402
You will need two adapters, and this is the one thing

781
00:37:51,402 --> 00:37:54,805
which is a little bit frustrating about the transition,

782
00:37:55,406 --> 00:37:56,641
but we'll make our way through it.

783
00:37:57,141 --> 00:37:59,977
So the cool thing about the Tesla connector,

784
00:37:59,977 --> 00:38:03,714
which I, I still have reservations about, but it's apparently fine,

785
00:38:04,482 --> 00:38:07,585
is that it uses the same two pins

786
00:38:07,585 --> 00:38:10,354
for both AC and DC charging.

787
00:38:11,055 --> 00:38:13,724
That is why the Tesla connector is so small for J.

788
00:38:13,958 --> 00:38:15,159
For cars one.

789
00:38:15,192 --> 00:38:17,695
They added these two chunky boys down here

790
00:38:17,695 --> 00:38:19,797
to accomplish a DC charging.

791
00:38:20,197 --> 00:38:22,366
And so in the case of my car,

792
00:38:22,366 --> 00:38:24,835
there's a little flap which covers these two pins.

793
00:38:24,835 --> 00:38:27,405
You pull that thing out and then you can charge DC

794
00:38:27,571 --> 00:38:29,006
or else the top of the connector,

795
00:38:29,006 --> 00:38:31,108
you just use a standard AC charging cable.

796
00:38:32,009 --> 00:38:34,412
Because Tesla combines the functions.

797
00:38:35,146 --> 00:38:37,648
I need these two adapters and just say no.

798
00:38:37,648 --> 00:38:39,817
Adapters for the other direction

799
00:38:39,817 --> 00:38:42,987
also exist in fact, Teslas have been coming with them forever.

800
00:38:42,987 --> 00:38:44,755
So you can use a charger like this.

801
00:38:45,589 --> 00:38:47,792
Stick an adapter on there and plug it into a Tesla.

802
00:38:48,059 --> 00:38:50,561
So if you're installing a charging station at home,

803
00:38:51,329 --> 00:38:54,432
just pick the connector that the car you're looking at has.

804
00:38:55,733 --> 00:38:56,867
In the end, you'll just slap.

805
00:38:56,867 --> 00:38:59,036
If once you get a new car, you'll just stick an adapter on there

806
00:38:59,036 --> 00:39:00,237
and it's fine.

807
00:39:01,472 --> 00:39:02,873
But the fact that we're going to need

808
00:39:02,873 --> 00:39:05,543
two adapters is a little bit confusing.

809
00:39:05,543 --> 00:39:08,846
So the small one is only really going to be needed.

810
00:39:08,846 --> 00:39:12,683
Like if you're visiting someone and they have a Tesla charger,

811
00:39:12,817 --> 00:39:17,621
or I've used this a couple times at hotels
which had Tesla wall connectors

812
00:39:17,788 --> 00:39:19,690
and was able to charge overnight at a hotel.

813
00:39:21,125 --> 00:39:22,927
This is the one that you use for DC

814
00:39:22,927 --> 00:39:24,995
fast charging, and I have only

815
00:39:25,696 --> 00:39:27,865
I haven't actually needed to use this.

816
00:39:29,367 --> 00:39:32,870
And I will explain why, which has to do with the thing I mentioned

817
00:39:32,970 --> 00:39:36,941
at the start where Tesla is crazy behind with charging technology,

818
00:39:37,241 --> 00:39:39,477
but their fans don't know that

819
00:39:40,211 --> 00:39:41,746
and they forgive them for it.

820
00:39:42,279 --> 00:39:43,481
Even when you tell them,

821
00:39:44,348 --> 00:39:46,884
because Tesla fans are a special breed.

822
00:39:47,518 --> 00:39:50,788
So my car is an 800 volt native car.

823
00:39:51,722 --> 00:39:54,024
This is not important for most cars,

824
00:39:54,024 --> 00:39:56,761
but this is some weeds that you might be interested in knowing.

825
00:39:57,661 --> 00:39:59,930
My car is an 800 volt native car.

826
00:39:59,930 --> 00:40:03,601
That means the battery pack voltage is about 800V.

827
00:40:04,034 --> 00:40:06,036
It's not really, it's a little lower than that, but we

828
00:40:06,137 --> 00:40:08,839
we classify between 400 and 800V.

829
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,309
And when you DC charge these pins

830
00:40:12,610 --> 00:40:15,212
directly, connect the off board charger

831
00:40:15,212 --> 00:40:16,680
to your battery pack.

832
00:40:17,782 --> 00:40:21,152
This means the charging station has to be able to put out

833
00:40:21,152 --> 00:40:25,089
at least 800V to charge my car as quickly as possible,

834
00:40:25,389 --> 00:40:30,594
and because almost none of Tesla's charging infrastructure can do that,

835
00:40:30,995 --> 00:40:34,331
it does not make any sense for me to go to Tesla Superchargers.

836
00:40:34,598 --> 00:40:37,601
So for the most part, I've been using other charging networks

837
00:40:37,601 --> 00:40:40,571
which have six one connectors, because even these

838
00:40:40,571 --> 00:40:44,308
even the oldest chargers out there from,

839
00:40:44,575 --> 00:40:48,579
Electrify America, they have all been 1000 volt capable from day one.

840
00:40:49,313 --> 00:40:50,514
What really happened here?

841
00:40:50,748 --> 00:40:53,651
And again, Tesla fans, just forgive them for everything.

842
00:40:53,651 --> 00:40:56,587
Was Tesla made a very big strategic error

843
00:40:56,587 --> 00:41:00,558
when they designed the original connector because it was not capable

844
00:41:00,558 --> 00:41:03,093
of handling voltages higher than 500V,

845
00:41:03,461 --> 00:41:07,131
and they have made a hardware revision, which has made that possible.

846
00:41:07,631 --> 00:41:10,801
But Tesla basically just thought we don't need higher voltage.

847
00:41:10,801 --> 00:41:11,669
It's fine.

848
00:41:11,669 --> 00:41:14,605
And the rest of the industry understands

849
00:41:14,605 --> 00:41:17,842
higher voltages allow you to charge the battery pack faster,

850
00:41:18,042 --> 00:41:22,646
because resistive heating is cut almost in a quarter.

851
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:23,881
When you double the voltage.

852
00:41:24,882 --> 00:41:25,783
But again,

853
00:41:25,783 --> 00:41:29,186
Tesla fans are not that interested in the technology of electric cars.

854
00:41:29,186 --> 00:41:30,654
They're interested in their Teslas.

855
00:41:31,021 --> 00:41:32,890
Sorry, I don't want to keep beating that dead horse,

856
00:41:32,890 --> 00:41:34,525
but seriously, do not listen to them.

857
00:41:34,525 --> 00:41:35,159
They will tell you.

858
00:41:35,159 --> 00:41:37,628
For instance, they will tell you advice about charging a car

859
00:41:37,628 --> 00:41:40,498
to get it down to like 5% before you plug in.

860
00:41:40,764 --> 00:41:43,133
Because Teslas charge faster that way.

861
00:41:43,434 --> 00:41:44,635
My car does not.

862
00:41:44,802 --> 00:41:49,240
My car's fastest charging window is between about 30 and 55%.

863
00:41:49,473 --> 00:41:52,009
So if you're trying to optimize on a road trip,

864
00:41:52,076 --> 00:41:55,646
the advice someone will give you for a Tesla is exactly wrong.

865
00:41:55,646 --> 00:41:58,949
For my car, you don't want to get it down to 5%.

866
00:41:58,949 --> 00:42:00,150
You will waste time.

867
00:42:00,217 --> 00:42:02,720
It's ideal to plug it in around 20%.

868
00:42:03,187 --> 00:42:03,687
But again,

869
00:42:05,155 --> 00:42:06,590
let's not beat that dead horse.

870
00:42:07,258 --> 00:42:10,327
I'm just saying I haven't actually really needed to use this thing,

871
00:42:10,327 --> 00:42:13,430
because the most useful thing it would do for me

872
00:42:13,430 --> 00:42:16,834
is unlock Tesla Superchargers and my car.

873
00:42:16,834 --> 00:42:20,037
While it can charge on those things, it has to do a

874
00:42:20,271 --> 00:42:23,607
this really cool trick
it does with the rear motor inverter, where it uses

875
00:42:23,607 --> 00:42:25,476
the rear motor as a buck converter.

876
00:42:26,110 --> 00:42:27,678
I think that's the right term and steps.

877
00:42:27,678 --> 00:42:30,381
It steps the voltage up, but it can only do that

878
00:42:30,548 --> 00:42:32,917
at about 80 to 100kW of charging power.

879
00:42:32,917 --> 00:42:35,853
So it's very slow to use a Tesla Supercharger because again,

880
00:42:36,820 --> 00:42:40,090
they are way behind when it comes to charging technology.

881
00:42:40,558 --> 00:42:43,527
But also something which is important for people

882
00:42:43,527 --> 00:42:45,963
that might be looking at used electric cars to know

883
00:42:47,064 --> 00:42:49,099
this adapter only works on version

884
00:42:49,099 --> 00:42:51,535
three and version four superchargers.

885
00:42:52,136 --> 00:42:55,873
It does not work on version two or version one superchargers.

886
00:42:55,873 --> 00:42:58,309
So if you've if you're aware

887
00:42:58,309 --> 00:43:01,278
that the Tesla Supercharger network is opening up to other cars,

888
00:43:01,845 --> 00:43:04,682
a good deal of their existing charging stations

889
00:43:04,848 --> 00:43:07,484
do not work with non Teslas.

890
00:43:07,952 --> 00:43:09,520
And this

891
00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:12,156
I think is actually the most confusing thing about the transition.

892
00:43:12,656 --> 00:43:14,491
And this is entirely Tesla's fault

893
00:43:14,491 --> 00:43:17,328
because they never update their old charging hardware.

894
00:43:17,328 --> 00:43:20,998
They maintain it well,
but they never update their old charging hardware.

895
00:43:21,298 --> 00:43:23,634
So that so a lot of their earliest charging stations,

896
00:43:24,535 --> 00:43:26,804
they're still there and usable to Tesla drivers,

897
00:43:27,204 --> 00:43:29,940
but they are not usable to non Tesla drivers.

898
00:43:30,240 --> 00:43:33,410
And I my friend Robert has shared several pictures

899
00:43:33,410 --> 00:43:37,581
with me of non Tesla drivers plugged into version two superchargers

900
00:43:39,149 --> 00:43:40,818
and they left their car there.

901
00:43:40,818 --> 00:43:43,220
They apparently just thought they could plug it in and walk away.

902
00:43:43,220 --> 00:43:45,489
But no it is not charging so

903
00:43:47,491 --> 00:43:48,726
that's that's not great.

904
00:43:49,093 --> 00:43:52,129
But every other charger that uses

905
00:43:52,129 --> 00:43:56,900
the new connector is going to work directly with a car with CSS.

906
00:43:56,900 --> 00:44:00,170
And I have used this adapter at that ionize station to test it.

907
00:44:00,604 --> 00:44:03,374
Even though the ion station had plenty of CCS one chargers

908
00:44:03,374 --> 00:44:06,210
available, I didn't need to use this adapter,
I just wanted to test it out

909
00:44:07,011 --> 00:44:10,881
and also again, this is weeds stuff nobody needs to care about.

910
00:44:10,881 --> 00:44:12,383
But Hyundai cheapened out.

911
00:44:12,383 --> 00:44:13,917
They gave me this adapter for free.

912
00:44:14,718 --> 00:44:15,853
That's nice of them.

913
00:44:15,853 --> 00:44:18,555
But this adapter can only handle 350 amps,

914
00:44:18,789 --> 00:44:20,991
which is not a problem for my car at all.

915
00:44:20,991 --> 00:44:23,027
But if you tried to use this adapter

916
00:44:23,027 --> 00:44:25,929
with a different car, it could be a problem. So

917
00:44:26,930 --> 00:44:27,898
again, we're

918
00:44:27,898 --> 00:44:29,433
we're kind of it's going to be a little bit

919
00:44:29,433 --> 00:44:30,801
fine as we go through this adventure.

920
00:44:30,801 --> 00:44:33,037
But I don't I don't really care about that.

921
00:44:33,037 --> 00:44:35,806
A lot of people got really up in arms about Hyundai's decision,

922
00:44:35,806 --> 00:44:37,574
but this lives with my car.

923
00:44:37,574 --> 00:44:39,176
It's going to stay with my car forever.

924
00:44:41,045 --> 00:44:44,882
Is it silly that they cost cut this a tiny little bit?

925
00:44:44,882 --> 00:44:46,183
Sure, but it doesn't matter.

926
00:44:46,850 --> 00:44:49,053
So the important thing of this nonsense section

927
00:44:49,053 --> 00:44:53,090
I've been rambling about is that if you get a car with A61 connector,

928
00:44:53,090 --> 00:44:57,494
do not feel as if you bought a car with an obsolete charging connector.

929
00:44:57,795 --> 00:45:00,831
It will work just fine on new charging equipment.

930
00:45:01,699 --> 00:45:06,403
The only exception is a car with a CHAdeMO connector,

931
00:45:06,770 --> 00:45:09,339
and this is basically just the Nissan Leaf.

932
00:45:09,339 --> 00:45:12,376
There were a couple other cars that ended up here with that connector,

933
00:45:12,376 --> 00:45:14,845
but the CHAdeMO connector is big in Asia,

934
00:45:15,245 --> 00:45:17,881
and Nissan brought it over.

935
00:45:17,881 --> 00:45:20,617
And basically it's now obsolete.

936
00:45:21,351 --> 00:45:25,289
So if you want to buy a used Nissan Leaf, you certainly can.

937
00:45:25,289 --> 00:45:27,891
But understand especially the first two model

938
00:45:27,891 --> 00:45:30,360
years, had a very poor battery pack design

939
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:33,063
and a lot of them have really degraded quite badly.

940
00:45:34,765 --> 00:45:37,434
But even the better later ones with longer ranges,

941
00:45:37,768 --> 00:45:40,237
it is not really going to be possible

942
00:45:40,237 --> 00:45:42,372
to DC fast charge them in the future.

943
00:45:43,207 --> 00:45:45,442
Somebody has developed a

944
00:45:45,442 --> 00:45:47,344
CHAdeMO two wks one adapter,

945
00:45:47,978 --> 00:45:50,347
but that thing is a wild contraption

946
00:45:50,347 --> 00:45:52,883
because it has two actually translate

947
00:45:53,083 --> 00:45:56,286
the CHAdeMO signals coming from the car

948
00:45:56,553 --> 00:46:01,125
to CCS to tell the charging station what the car wants and back.

949
00:46:01,358 --> 00:46:03,627
I believe it has batteries inside there.

950
00:46:03,627 --> 00:46:05,095
It's it's amazing

951
00:46:05,095 --> 00:46:06,964
that somebody went through the effort to make this thing.

952
00:46:06,964 --> 00:46:08,332
And I've seen tests.

953
00:46:08,332 --> 00:46:09,533
It appears to work,

954
00:46:09,666 --> 00:46:12,202
but it's very clunky and you don't want to be dealing with that.

955
00:46:12,202 --> 00:46:16,306
So if you want to look at a used Nissan Leaf, just understand

956
00:46:16,306 --> 00:46:19,176
that car is only going to be a runabout.

957
00:46:19,176 --> 00:46:21,945
You're probably not going to want to take that on a road trip.

958
00:46:22,546 --> 00:46:24,782
But you know, one of the arguments

959
00:46:24,782 --> 00:46:27,217
EV people have been making for a long time is

960
00:46:28,285 --> 00:46:30,454
you could rent a car to go on a road trip.

961
00:46:30,454 --> 00:46:33,123
You don't have to take your own car to go on a road trip

962
00:46:33,557 --> 00:46:36,193
if you want to go on a road trip, so that's an option.

963
00:46:36,193 --> 00:46:39,062
I understand that's an option a lot of people wouldn't want to take,

964
00:46:39,062 --> 00:46:40,564
but it is an option.

965
00:46:41,131 --> 00:46:42,299
So that's pretty much it.

966
00:46:42,299 --> 00:46:43,767
I'm going to end the video here.

967
00:46:43,867 --> 00:46:45,602
Please ask questions in the comments.

968
00:46:45,602 --> 00:46:47,738
Because as I said earlier, I want to

969
00:46:47,938 --> 00:46:50,340
I need to remake my EV charging guide.

970
00:46:50,340 --> 00:46:51,909
And I want to do that fairly soon.

971
00:46:52,476 --> 00:46:55,045
But and so I'm using this

972
00:46:55,045 --> 00:46:58,048
as a test of that kind of see what things

973
00:46:58,048 --> 00:47:00,484
I might have missed in here that people are curious about.

974
00:47:00,484 --> 00:47:02,519
So, please ask your questions below.

975
00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:06,456
But seriously, the most important thing I want to stress is

976
00:47:06,990 --> 00:47:09,927
this is different, but it's not difficult.

977
00:47:09,927 --> 00:47:12,729
It only seems difficult because you haven't tried it yet.

978
00:47:13,163 --> 00:47:15,299
Once you get used to plugging your car

979
00:47:15,299 --> 00:47:18,135
in at home or at work somewhere, you park it.

980
00:47:18,368 --> 00:47:20,604
You're going to wonder why on earth

981
00:47:20,604 --> 00:47:22,439
you would want to have a gas powered car.

982
00:47:22,439 --> 00:47:26,109
Again, this is an almost universal experience for EV drivers,

983
00:47:26,376 --> 00:47:30,013
but that experience does not happen for people who purchase an EV

984
00:47:30,247 --> 00:47:32,716
and expect to use it like a gas car.

985
00:47:33,483 --> 00:47:35,152
And I know there's a lot of people

986
00:47:35,152 --> 00:47:37,554
doing that, which saddens me, quite frankly,

987
00:47:37,888 --> 00:47:39,089
because they may not realize

988
00:47:39,089 --> 00:47:42,092
they are signing up for a less than ideal experience.

989
00:47:42,659 --> 00:47:44,561
And it just frustrates me to no end

990
00:47:44,561 --> 00:47:48,565
because the ideal experience is cheap as chips.

991
00:47:48,565 --> 00:47:50,767
It's literally just wires.

992
00:47:50,767 --> 00:47:56,306
And if we had smart policy, we would be getting wires in more places

993
00:47:56,306 --> 00:47:57,908
and we wouldn't be encouraging

994
00:47:57,908 --> 00:48:00,377
multi-million dollar fast charger installations

995
00:48:00,744 --> 00:48:02,446
within the city limits.

996
00:48:03,180 --> 00:48:05,115
As I said, we're always going to need some.

997
00:48:05,115 --> 00:48:09,086
But you know, circle K is installing a lot of DC

998
00:48:09,119 --> 00:48:11,788
fast chargers at the shell stations around here.

999
00:48:11,788 --> 00:48:13,590
I think they're doing it all across the country,

1000
00:48:14,224 --> 00:48:16,627
and it almost just feels like a

1001
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:20,030
like a waste because I'm never going to use those.

1002
00:48:20,430 --> 00:48:21,365
And,

1003
00:48:21,365 --> 00:48:24,701
the only people that I can think of in my life that might use

1004
00:48:24,701 --> 00:48:28,739
those are people that I know from out of town that are going to visit,

1005
00:48:29,106 --> 00:48:31,174
but also they can use my charger.

1006
00:48:31,341 --> 00:48:32,009
So it's

1007
00:48:33,310 --> 00:48:34,544
yeah, it's it's

1008
00:48:34,611 --> 00:48:36,179
frustrating how we're doing this

1009
00:48:36,179 --> 00:48:38,215
because like I said, we're doing it backwards.

1010
00:48:38,382 --> 00:48:42,719
We're getting very excited about the headlines of faster charging cars,

1011
00:48:42,953 --> 00:48:45,422
but not enough people are realizing

1012
00:48:45,422 --> 00:48:48,191
that context only matters on road trips

1013
00:48:48,625 --> 00:48:51,728
or for professional drivers, and that is one caveat to say

1014
00:48:52,663 --> 00:48:54,865
that is professional

1015
00:48:54,865 --> 00:48:57,567
drivers, rideshare drivers, delivery drivers, etc.

1016
00:48:57,567 --> 00:49:01,471
are going to be the main users of DC fast charging

1017
00:49:01,471 --> 00:49:03,173
infrastructure in a local area,

1018
00:49:03,173 --> 00:49:05,909
and we will need that infrastructure for them.

1019
00:49:07,044 --> 00:49:09,813
But for typical car driving,

1020
00:49:10,681 --> 00:49:13,617
you should not be using DC fast charging

1021
00:49:13,617 --> 00:49:17,554
unless you're going on a road trip or you have an oops moment.

1022
00:49:17,554 --> 00:49:21,959
So this is what I meant by there's two different paradigms.

1023
00:49:21,959 --> 00:49:25,295
We're focused on the wrong one, and I hope you understand what I mean.

1024
00:49:25,829 --> 00:49:26,997
But thanks for watching

1025
00:49:26,997 --> 00:49:29,533
and I hope you consider driving an electric car soon.

1026
00:49:30,067 --> 00:49:32,369
If you're wondering why I haven't talked about hybrids,

1027
00:49:33,437 --> 00:49:34,972
well, I'm going to talk about hybrids

1028
00:49:34,972 --> 00:49:39,142
soon on the videos
I'm doing on my main channel with, engine management.

1029
00:49:39,142 --> 00:49:40,510
But here's something I will say.

1030
00:49:40,544 --> 00:49:42,245
And I just realized I should have said this earlier.

1031
00:49:42,946 --> 00:49:45,282
If you cannot charge your car at home,

1032
00:49:45,816 --> 00:49:47,718
don't buy a plug in hybrid.

1033
00:49:48,218 --> 00:49:51,989
I'm noticing this thing now where a lot of people think

1034
00:49:51,989 --> 00:49:55,058
the word hybrid means the car has a plug.

1035
00:49:55,492 --> 00:49:59,863
I don't know how this happened because hybrid cars don't have plugs.

1036
00:50:00,030 --> 00:50:02,332
They just have a small battery pack

1037
00:50:02,432 --> 00:50:04,968
and electric motors, which assist the engine.

1038
00:50:05,502 --> 00:50:08,972
Plug in hybrids are a recent category of car,

1039
00:50:08,972 --> 00:50:11,675
but now I'm seeing more and more people

1040
00:50:11,675 --> 00:50:14,277
assume the word hybrid means the car has a plug.

1041
00:50:15,145 --> 00:50:17,881
And I'm telling you, if you cannot charge at home,

1042
00:50:18,115 --> 00:50:20,684
don't buy a plug in hybrid because the use case

1043
00:50:20,684 --> 00:50:23,153
for those makes absolutely no sense

1044
00:50:23,620 --> 00:50:25,122
except home charging.

1045
00:50:25,555 --> 00:50:29,192
Even workplace charging with a plug in hybrid is arguably kind of silly.

1046
00:50:29,626 --> 00:50:30,360
Because,

1047
00:50:31,628 --> 00:50:34,131
as I said, public charging tends to be more expensive.

1048
00:50:34,664 --> 00:50:36,466
Now, the math might be changing,

1049
00:50:36,700 --> 00:50:39,169
but plug in hybrids do not make sense

1050
00:50:39,169 --> 00:50:41,271
unless you can regularly charge them at home.

1051
00:50:41,271 --> 00:50:44,908
So if you cannot charge at home, don't consider a plug in hybrid.

1052
00:50:44,975 --> 00:50:45,876
Just don't.

1053
00:50:45,876 --> 00:50:47,277
It is a worse hybrid.

1054
00:50:47,310 --> 00:50:49,679
You're going to pay more money for more battery capacity

1055
00:50:49,679 --> 00:50:50,881
you won't ever use,

1056
00:50:50,914 --> 00:50:52,516
and they get worse fuel economy

1057
00:50:52,516 --> 00:50:54,217
because they're carrying around more batteries.

1058
00:50:54,751 --> 00:50:56,286
So I will say that

1059
00:50:56,586 --> 00:50:57,821
if you're wondering why I'm not talking

1060
00:50:57,821 --> 00:50:59,589
about hybrid cars, it's because ultimately

1061
00:50:59,589 --> 00:51:01,825
I think the combustion engine is a dead end

1062
00:51:01,825 --> 00:51:03,994
and we need to move away from it as quickly as possible.

1063
00:51:05,195 --> 00:51:08,632
But I understand that during the transition period,

1064
00:51:08,632 --> 00:51:10,867
a lot of people would be better suited to have hybrids.

1065
00:51:11,768 --> 00:51:13,970
Frankly, hybrids should have been the default

1066
00:51:13,970 --> 00:51:16,440
drivetrain technology for the past 20 years.

1067
00:51:16,907 --> 00:51:19,209
But again, there's a lot of misconceptions about them.

1068
00:51:19,209 --> 00:51:20,577
People have.

1069
00:51:20,577 --> 00:51:22,512
I'm noticing people have wild

1070
00:51:23,647 --> 00:51:27,117
imaginations of what hybrid drivetrains are like.

1071
00:51:28,618 --> 00:51:31,054
The reason why Toyota's hybrids are so bulletproof

1072
00:51:31,054 --> 00:51:34,758
is because that drivetrain is simpler than a transmission.

1073
00:51:35,759 --> 00:51:38,028
People think it's like two separate drivetrains,

1074
00:51:38,028 --> 00:51:40,497
but it's actually an engine connected to a transmission,

1075
00:51:40,497 --> 00:51:42,032
which isn't really a transmission.

1076
00:51:42,032 --> 00:51:44,067
It's two motors and a planetary gear set.

1077
00:51:44,367 --> 00:51:45,435
That's why they're so reliable.

1078
00:51:45,435 --> 00:51:48,605
There's way fewer moving parts in the transmission.

1079
00:51:49,272 --> 00:51:52,309
A and they're simpler cars

1080
00:51:52,309 --> 00:51:55,378
than a car with an even like a four speed automatic transmission.

1081
00:51:55,378 --> 00:51:57,080
Hybrids are much simpler cars.

1082
00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:00,684
It's just they have more complicated electronics to drive those motors.

1083
00:52:01,318 --> 00:52:03,787
But anyway, I will actually end now.

1084
00:52:03,787 --> 00:52:04,654
Thanks for watching.

1085
00:52:04,654 --> 00:52:05,856
Hope this helps.

1086
00:52:06,256 --> 00:52:08,158
Let's move towards a better future, please.

1087
00:52:08,425 --> 00:52:11,394
I'd rather we spend less money moving about the country.