The EV
I’ve bought many cars in my life. None of them were new – somewhere between 15 and 20 years old. I usually keep them to around 5-7 years and when I get rid of them they are held together by rust and go down the road on will power. My wife on the other hand is one that doesn’t believe we should necessarily buy a brand new car but would like something that its age can’t be counted multiple decades. Something about reliability I guess. She has a point – like she does on many things.
We had been looking for a used car on and off for a while and neither of us wanted to shell out the arm and leg required to buy one. In particular we wanted an EV just to see what they would be like. We had ridden in a few Mustang Mach-Es which were a cool ride but they were more than what we wanted to spend. I think the horse on the steering wheel is what makes this blog post agricultural in nature and makes it fit into this website… I digress…
In any case we weren’t going to spend as much as they wanted and decided to hold off until we won the lottery or my money came from that Nigerian prince that sends me emails. I took part of a day and bounced around to different dealers just to see if they had anything that was used which no one had. Then it happened. I came across a 2020 Chevy Bolt – not new but not old and it wasn’t crazy priced. So we bought it – and to date we absolutely have not regretted it.
So what’s it like? Have we burned down our garage? Do we have to push it everywhere because the range is so bad? Do you have to plug it in all the time? Do you spend more on your electric? I bet you can’t do road trips. Have you become a tree hugger? Let’s talk about it.
So when you think about buying one you have to ask yourself why and what am I expecting? Be realistic - for us it is intended to handle travel to and from work for my wife and a few trips up town on the weekends. She drives roughly 50 miles round trip a day (that’s including a detour to make a drop at school during the school year) and when everything is all said and done we charge it around 2 times a week. So how much has it raised our electric bill? $84 a month or $21 dollars a week. Is it cheaper? Yes – we went from spending $200 a month on her commute down to $84.
When it comes to the charger itself it depends on what you have. Our Bolt came with what’s called a Level 1 charger. This is the type of charger that plugs into a regular wall outlet like what you would find in your living room. It works but it is very slow and only adds around 3-5 miles +/- of travel per hour. If you are older and don’t go that far in a day that might be all you need.
“That’s it? That’s slow and that’s why I won’t buy an EV!” I hear you say. And if that was your only option I would agree and we wouldn’t have gone that way either if that was the case. But there is also what’s called Level 2 charging which is what we have. We have a plug in the garage for 240 volts similar to what you would find for your electric stove or electric dryer. I bought a level 2 charger off of Amazon for $170 that plugs into that dryer plug in the garage. You can buy different ones but the one I bought can be adjusted to different amperages depending on your wiring. I set mine at 24 amps – one of the lower settings. I could set it higher but didn’t see a need because it charges the car at a rate of 25 miles in an hour and the car is always fully charged by morning. I don’t see a need to bump up the amperage to speed it up anymore. Nothing gets hot at this rate for me.
When it comes to range of a Bolt it depends but we have our charge limit set to 80% on the car. Can it go higher? Yes but for now it’s 80% which is supposedly easier on the battery. That gives us a range of around 170 to 180 miles on a charge. Does this mean you cannot do a road trip? You can but you will need to plan it – they have fast chargers which work. The price is comparable to gas at that point and you’re probably going to be at a fast charger for 45 minutes with a Bolt. (Other cars charge faster but the Bolt is a little slower than most.)
Is an EV for everyone? In my view maybe not – particularly if you have a big family (more than 4 people probably) the Bolt isn’t for you. If you are doing a multistate road trip it might not be right for you either unless you plan it. Hauling trailers or campers my answer is the same. But if you aren’t hauling things, don’t have a lot of people, or making a long, long road trip I would say sure. The battery on the Bolt we have has a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty too from GM. I guess my point here is you don’t need to buy a brand new EV – we didn’t. They aren’t anything to be afraid of regardless of what you might hear and just be realistic with your expectations. If you can find one at a fair price made in the last five to seven years you may be pleasantly surprised. We have.
Peace Always,
Lester