06deacon
The Pumpfaker
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2012
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What kind of car do you need? Sedan, SUV, pick up?
The most common non-Tesla EV out there is the crossover SUV. Good options from VW, Ford, and Audi out currently. In the next couple years there will be more SUV and truck options coming.
Every EV comes with a level 1 charging cord, which you can plug into any regular outlet. It’ll charge the car pretty slowly (adding 3-4 miles of range per hour). Depending on your driving habits that may be enough for you. Most people get an electrician to install a 240V outlet in the garage on a dedicated circuit for a level 2 charger. Depending on how much copper wire you need to run from the outlet to your panel box this could run a couple hundred to a thousand bucks. Level 2 charging units are 400-600 bucks generally depending on how many “smart” features you want with it.
For daily driving around town charging at home at night is sufficient. If you leave town regularly, I recommend plugging your route into the website A Better Route Planner to see how your trip would do with charging.
The Tesla gets about 6 mph plugged into the wall. We never bothered trying to add a 240 outlet since that is largely sufficient for our office commute.
I guess I disagree on the “stylistic abomination” part Henry but if it makes you feel better we made it even sillier looking with aftermarket roof bars.
Overall the Tesla is a very fun car to drive, although I can’t wait till some of the cool features start failing and they’ll cost a mint and a special trip to the dealer to fix with proprietary materials. Fortunately in that case we still have my beat-it-to-death Subaru.