Who needs faster EV charging at home? Drivers share their experiences
Level 2 home charging helps with long distances, large vehicles, cold weather, lack of public charging
Many EV owners could have access to cheap and easy charging at home with an ordinary power outlet, we reported last week.
That's called Level 1 charging. It adds about six kilometres of range per hour, and is typically cheaper and easier than installing a faster charger.
But some people say they do need Level 2 charging, which uses a special charger and higher voltage to add 30 to 50 kilometres of range per hour. We heard from EV drivers across the country who shared their experiences.
Here are things they suggest considering.
How much you drive — and availability of public chargers
Julia McNally, director of climate action at Toronto Hydro, had suggested Level 1 will probably work for someone who drives less than 60 kilometres per day.
We heard from some readers who may commute less than that, but need Level 2 charging at home because they take long trips without EV infrastructure nearby.
Marlon Hagerty, who lives outside Thunder Bay, Ont., commutes 22 kilometres to work each way. But he said his family often takes 400-kilometre round trips to the cottage. There's no public Level 2 or 3 charging on en route, so they need to fully charge their car before leaving. Waiting for his car to charge to full at Level 1 isn't practical, he wrote, but he added, "I think if there is great Level 3 [public fast-charging] infrastructure in the future, then yes, Level 1 at home should be less of an issue."
The size of your EV or battery
Just as larger gas-powered vehicles consume more gas per kilometre, larger EVs consume more electricity per kilometre.
Louis-Guillaume Rigaud of Ottawa owns a Kia EV9, a larger SUV with three rows of seats, which he drives 50 kilometres per day. Even in ideal temperatures, he says, it took nine or 10 hours to top it up each night with a Level 1 charger — and far longer when the temperatures were very cold or very hot.
"My own experience in the first three months of ownership before I installed the Level 2 charger was that this wasn't sustainable and forced me to visit additional charging stations at much greater cost," he wrote.
Your parking situation and the local climate
Level 1 charging can get slow in low temperatures — something to consider if you live somewhere with cold winters and have outdoor parking.
Jim Holtom lives in Kanata, Ont., in a 10-unit condo building with Level 1 charging. "It works fine [even in winter] because the indoor parking is heated," he said.
But his cottage near Lindsay, Ont., also only has Level 1 charging, and he parks outdoors. That's OK for 10 months of the year, he said. "But in January to February, Level 1 charging can struggle.…The battery must be sufficiently warm to be charged. Most of the Level 1 charge current goes to heating the battery."
He estimates cold temperatures can cut Level 1 charging speed down to 1.5 to three kilometres of added range per hour of charging or even close to nothing, if it's cold enough.
"I can confirm that when evening temperatures dip to -20C, you can pretty much give up on charging using L1.... Level 2 chargers provide more power so that more power is available to heat the battery," he said. "A Level 2 charger can keep a car parked outside fully charged all year long."
Time-of-use electricity rates
Some regions have cheaper electricity rates at certain times — usually late at night. For example, Ontario residents on the "ultra-low overnight" rate are charged 2.8 cents/kWh of power between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., compared to 28.4 cents/kWh between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Some readers who drive longer distances said this helps a Level 2 charger pay off, since they can't fully charge within the low-rate window with a Level 1.
Brandon Pinkney of Gads Hill, Ont., wrote that he drives about 60 to 100 kilometres per day, and thinks he could get by with Level 1 charging if he started using it earlier at a higher electricity rate. But a Level 2 charger lets him start at 11 p.m. and still be fully charged in the morning.
"This roughly results in 1/3 the energy cost vs Level 1, and will fully pay for my Level 2 charger and install within a year or two of ownership," he wrote.
What to take from this? Consider how much you drive, whether you have indoor or outdoor parking, the size of your vehicle and local electricity rates when deciding if you need a Level 2 charger.
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