The EV learning curve
A guide for the curious and the confused
It’s been nearly a year since I started this newsletter: 54 editions (including bonus newsletters for paid subscribers) later, I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface of what’s happening around the U.S. on the local level.
As much as stories about cross-country train travel, composting or setting fire to fight fire fascinate me, I know people are also looking for practical answers for how they approach climate issues in their own life. It’s why I’ve focused on resources in the paid subscriber editions, on everything from the place you can buy nothing to an easy 101 guide to climate basics to how to think of yourself as a citizen instead of a consumer when it comes to climate.
Next week I’ll publish September’s bonus email — which will build off a guide I’ve been developing on how to understand and take action on local climate action plans. I’m proud of how much I’ve distilled for people who are starting from square one — but I also know its a work-in-progress, and reader feedback is crucial. Become a paid subscriber here to get it, as well as the access to all the previous bonus emails in the archive.
This week, I’m republishing an older Resource of the Month edition to the entire The Planet You Save readership. It’s a mini-guide for the care and feeding of your first EV (the care & feeding is mostly electricity, honestly). Hint: this is a great edition to share with someone you know. As usual, I also have some recent local climate stories linked at the end.
I originally wrote this in April, and since then, more than 5% of new car sales in the U.S. have been fully-electric for two quarters in row — which, according to one analysis, is a tipping point for truly mainstream adoption. While I still think public transit and small electric vehicles — bikes, scooters and more — are essential to cutting transportation emissions, it is quite something to see EVs actually take off.
Maybe you’re among the people considering making your next car — new or used — electric. If so, here’s a few things you need to know:
EVs are far past the point of being only for early-adopters. Automakers are now staking their companies on electric cars and trucks being fully mainstreamed. But there’s shockingly little help at the point of sale for new EV owners to deal with the short-but-notable learning curve of powering your car with electricity. Somebody taught you how to pump gas, right?
Electric vehicles are an incomplete solution to greenhouse gas emissions, including negative effects from resource extraction, recycling plans for car batteries and the incredible danger to people in and outside of increasingly large and heavy cars.
But when the actual MacArthur Genius Tressie McMillan Cottom agrees with me about something, I know I need to expand it further.
We’ve owned a used Volt for three years (be warned: every Volt owner is obsessed with their car). While GM is no longer making them, a plug-in hybrid is a hot commodity on the used car market. Owning one has also been a lesson in practicalities of a partial or full-electric vehicle.
I don’t say this to scare you; but to recognize that there’s an initial learning curve for EVs. It’s partially because we’re in the middle of conceptual shift about the infrastructure needed to support cars. It’s also, in my opinion, because of a real dearth of customer service thinking in the car industry.
So, let me help with some practical info for the gap between this current moment and a future where teenagers never learn to pump gas.
Here’s a general rule: If you know the practicalities of your particular EV, then you don’t need to remember the others.
If you’ve put down a deposit on a F-150 Lightning, there’s no need to remember where the closest Tesla supercharger is. If you’ve bought a used plug-in Pacifica, there’s no value in reading up about how fast a Mach-E charges. And it’s far less to remember than most other new technologies: Three years later, I don’t have to think twice about getting the right charger for my car.
I’ll also round up some resources at the end.
Not your aunt’s Prius
The classic hybrids that have become mass sellers over the past two decades are not electric vehicles, but instead use a battery to increase gas mileage via capturing power from momentum and breaking. If you’re buying a regular hybrid, there’s nothing to charge.
Electric vehicles come in two main flavors: plug-in hybrids and full-electric.
Full electric is simple: there is no gas tank in this car. You can charge them at charging stations, you can charge them at home. They will tell you very clearly how much range you can expect to get out of the battery based on your driving style and elevation change (although it’s common to get some of that mileage back if you’re coming back down a hill).
A plug-in hybrid can actually refer to couple different kinds of cars, but the outcome for the driver is the same: the car has a battery that can get a limited but notable range only on electric power, and a gas tank for all other times. There’s no manual switch over, no button you have to press. The next time you charge the car, it will use the battery first before burning any gas.
Plug-in hybrids can go long stretches of time operating on either mode exclusively. When we bought our used car, the lifetime gas mileage was 250+ mpg. That meant its previous owner had almost never used gas, meaning they likely charged it at home each night. In this way, a plug-in hybrid can become a full-electric car. But if there’s a not a charger anywhere in sight, you’ve effectively purchased a traditional car with good gas mileage (and in some cases, less maintenance costs).
Not a universal socket
If you’ve ever traveled abroad, you may have arrived at your hotel to find the wall outlets don’t match your plugs. This is solvable with the right tools. But right now EVs and plug-ins have a similar problem, without many ways to adapt: not every car has the same plug. This is what McMilliam Cottom ran into in her attempt to charge her plug-in hybrid.
So how do you know what’s the crucial part of your charging set up? You’ll need to know two main things: the charger type and what “speed” of charging your car can handle.
The good news: there’s only three “speeds”, and you already know one. Level 1 is literally a wall socket. This does take a lot longer, likely a full day for full-electric cars. Electric cars also come with their own “chargers” for this use case — something I didn’t realize until months after I bought the Volt. Plug the bigger end of the charger into the car and the smaller end into the socket.
(The “secret charger” in the back of my car - useful for wall outlets)
Level 2 is faster, and often what is installed for EV home chargers. That will get you a full charge in hours, easily done overnight. DC Fast/Level 3 is very fast, and generally is only available to full-electric cars and in public charging stations.
Charging speeds are downwardly compatible: i.e. If your car can use level 3 chargers, you can also plug them in at level 2s.
In terms of charger types, you need to know what kind it is: common “plugs” in North American cars are J1772, CCS, CHAdeMO, and Tesla’s own proprietary charger. Charging ports are increasingly becoming standardized, but for now, you’ll want to be aware of what you have.
Once you know this, you can set up your preferred tool for finding chargers to only show compatible ones, so you’re not surprised when you arrive. Which leads us to…
Apps Apps Apps
Right now I have seven different apps for charging on my phone, but I only regularly use three. The one I find most useful is an all-of-the-above app called Plugshare. Newer cars may have a charger search option built into the console, and there are several websites that specialize in mapping chargers across different charging networks.
What’s a charging network? Think of it like a gas station brand: a Texaco will sell you the exact same thing as the Costco or the Sheetz, but each has a slightly different pitch (and price) as to why you should fill up there. Each charging network has its own app, which doubles both as a finding tool and payment. I have not yet seen a credit card reader on charging stations, but some offer the opportunity to call a toll-free number to use a credit card without signing up for an account. A variety of companies and businesses sometimes offer free charging (i.e. Volta has an ad-based set up at a variety of grocery stores; the National Park Service already has 100 chargers across a handful of parks)
If there’s a network that you find yourself returning to a lot, whether by geography or price, I’d suggest getting a physical card that’s attached to your account with the network — usually no bigger than a grocery store rewards card or a credit card, in case you find yourself in a parking garage with spotty cell service.
If you have the capability, it will be most convenient to charge at home. Unless you are rarely using your car, you’ll probably want to install a level 2 charger, which converts the “speed” of the electricity coming from your home into a faster charging capability.
A bonus suggestion: Ask your utility if they offer time-specific plans for electric vehicles. Utilities can provide discounts on electricity used in the middle of the night to charge a car when demand across the entire grid is lowest. And no, you won’t have to wake up at 2am to plug-in in the car, you can plug them in and program the car to only start charging when it’s most useful.
Resources for newbie EV owners
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An overview of EV driving & charging California’s EV driving overview
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A car shopping guide from the electric vehicle associations
Did I miss anything? Other questions you have? Let me know by replying to this email.
More local climate stories
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Why did Hurricane Fiona wreck Puerto Rico? Climate-heavy rains and bureaucratic infighting over the grid: “There are very good plans to use the money well…that is not what is going on.” Also: Ways to help in PR.
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Richmond (CA) City Council recharges its abandoned e-bike program
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Navajo Nation’s largest school district gets first electric buses
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Update on North Carolina’s public utility commission’s upcoming big decision on Duke’s long-term energy plan.
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When the Big One hits Portland, cargo bikers will save you
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Why Alex Honnold of ‘Free Solo’ fame is funding solar power in New Orleans neighborhoods