A Full Year with An EV: why electric cars are here to stay

Charging in Ontario, Canada

It’s the beginning of September, 2022. My family’s been living with our 2022 Bolt EUV for a full year. We decided to lease the car to understand the ‘EV way of life.’ When we rolled off the dealer lot and drove home, I knew we would be dealing with giggles, skepticism, ridicule and more. My husband will admit that I pushed us to get the EV. It was recently when he told the kids , ‘You’re mom was right. Getting this car was one of the best things we did.’

Future posts will walk you through our first person experiences with our Bolt EUV. Yes. We are still waiting on GM to update our battery. Our ability to charge is still at 80%.That extra 20% would come in handy on longer road trips in and around our home in metro Detroit. Here is the other kicker, the Bolt EUV is our ONLY car. Yes, we are getting by with not just one vehicle, but an electric vehicle. 

Getting to know the actual car was tricky. Our salesperson really didn’t tell us much. I’m being brutally honest. We didn’t get a formal dealership presentation of why we should buy an EV. In the dealership’s defense, we were the easiest sale of all time. The biggest decision we made was if we went with the standard model or souped things up with Premium. Because this was our first experience with an EV, we opted for the Standard option. The majority of our knowledge with our EV came from a few friends who have an EV and/or my own Googling, reading and testing.  

We charged our Bolt EUV with the basic 110 volts from the garage.This is also called Level 1 Charging. Your electric car will be able to be plugged into ANY outlet. Really. Any outlet. Level 1 will charge your car, but it will happen slowly.  More detail on charging options and cords here. 

The 110 volt charge was temporary as we took advantage of GM’s deal to install a separate 220 volt (aka Level 2 Charging) car charger on our house. We paid $250 for what would have been a bill of at least $2500. GM partners with various install companies. State Electric installed our electric vehicle charger. Once you get the car home, you schedule installation of the car charger. We also had DTE come out and put a separate box on our home. I love seeing the car charging bill on my monthly DTE bill. To date, we are averaging between $50 and $90 per month to charge our car. The bill is heavily dependent on:

• If we charge the car during the peak or off peak energy hours

• If we utilize the free charging near our home

• How often we are travel more than 30 minutes around our house 

On road trips outside of our usual route, we take our Level 2 charger plus the new addition to our charging accessories - a Lectron adapter. This adapter enables the Bolt EUV to charge at a Tesla Destination charger, which is different than a Tesla Supercharger. 

I know, that’s alot to keep track of right?

Aside from our normal suburban travels, this is where we took the Bolt EUV:

Frankenmuth

We did this in the height of winter. This is the first time we experienced winter life with an EV. A car at only 80% capacity PLUS the winter equals less mileage than warmer months.  This is also the first time we realized that driving at higher freeway speeds + heat burns energy quicker. 

Chicago

This was the longest trip we’ve taken with the EV, utilizing charging stations along I-94 in Michigan, then playing EV Charging Frogger at a downtown garage in Chicago.  This is the first time we used the Fast Charging Level 2 stations (which are not the same thing as Tesla anything. I know, it can get confusing). 

Ontario, Canada

Once over the border, we were surprised with the amount of charging stations that were freckled along the coast. This was also the first time we plugged the car to the outside outlet of a place that wasn’t our home.  That was pretty cool.

Let’s also put some cards on the table that you are thinking about. Power.

We don’t have a boat or the need to lug something, HOWEVER, what I know of the Rivian and the Lightning, these two can do the job for your lugging needs. I don’t know much about the Hummer, but this also looks like it has the power you need to haul your goods to the Lake or to a nearby camping ground.

When you talk about Power and 0-60? Our Bolt EUV made my dad’s stomach drop. The first time we visited with the EV, of course we took dad for a subdivision spin. He was skeptical. How could our car, that looked like a Matchbox, do anything peppy? Well, folks. Dad got in the passenger seat, Michael gunned it and my dad’s face lit up. My dad’s worked in and around cars since I was a baby. And he still keeps his mechanic certification. The car passed the Dad Test. 

Why are electric cars here to stay? Simple. The amount of investment in both infrastructure and innovation. A few highlights:

President Biden pledged to build 500,000 charging stations. 

This is one area of weakness right now. Charging stations need to become what roadside burger places were like back in the day. Set them up with amenities and things to do while the car gets charged. Places like New Buffalo have charging stations in the most random places, like the parking lot of a concrete company. 

Midwest states are pledging to build charging stations along the water

A collaboration between Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois to create a straight up Route 66 for EVs. How cool is that? If you are a Midwesterner, you are well aware of the gorgeous Lake Michigan road trips you can take. Over the next few years, you can do this with even less stress that ever. Chargers up and down Lake Michigan.

The Detroit Regional Partnership Foundation just won a $52 Million Mobility grant

A Federal grant was recently awarded to the state of Michigan to advance mobility innovation across the state.

California just voted to stop making new gas vehicles by 2035 

California is its own planet - and so is its economy. Don’t be surprised if this move trickles over to more states.

We are in the early stages of EV adaption, yes. Comfort levels aren’t there yet and yes, Today’s Electric Vehicle tips tend to come from car blogs, men and product experts from the auto companies. It’s time for some real-life tips from everyday families.

Welcome to Our EV Life.

How to Charge Your EV

One of the most frequent questions I get about the EV is how to charge it.  The first thing you should do after purchasing an EV is download a series of Charge Finding apps. Here are the most popular.

• Chargepoint

• Plugshare 

• Electrify America

Of these three, I tend to use Chargepoint the most.  To date, we’ve also used Chargepoint chargers more than other chargers. Chargepoint has an app where you can pay directly for your charging time. Now, there are also times when a business has a FREE charger. More of which we highlight in our post about interesting places we’ve charged our EV. 

Now, you bought your EV and it’s in your driveway. Surprise! You can plug your car literally into any outlet. Truly. Outside outlet to your house? Yep. The outside outlet on a light pole? Yup. The charge time will be the slowest and longest - but you’ll still get the charge.  This is a Level 1 charge. 

When we began our EV journey, we used a standard plug in the garage. Our Bolt EUV came with a charging cord and two attachments: one for a standard 110 volt plug (Level 1) and another for the fast charging 220 volt plug (Level 2). It is not necessary to have an EV charger installed on your house, but we HIGHLY recommend it. GM is still offering the perk of paying for the bulk of your Level 2 install. Here are your steps:

1. Set up the install 

2. Contact your energy company to install another meter on your house

We paid about $250 out of pocket for the whole kit and caboodle. State Electric did our installation.

Because of the configuration of our garage, driveway and house, we had the installation take place on the back of the house. We had the option to have the Level 2 box in the garage, but the work to tear up the ground, build a trench and bury the line was a step (and extra cost) we didn’t want to go through.  When it’s raining or the weather is cold, we park the Bolt in the garage and are still able to charge with the cord running under the door. 

Once Steps 1 and 2 are done, your home is now its own gas station.  Minus the smell and the wonderings about the cost of oil. 

At home charging tips

When you charge your EV, you are using the electric power from your own home. We made the mistake of forgetting to focus the charging AT NIGHT during off peak hours (it’s cheaper).   Your car will take longer to charge in the winter as well. EVs also get less miles per charge because of the effect the cold has on the battery.  

A semi-full charge 

We live in an area with many trees and exposed power lines. Just like we try to keep a backup charger for our phones and the batteries for the inverter, we aim to get our car as fully charged as possible. (As of this writing, we are still dealing with the Bolt EUV at 80%, per the recall. It would be really really great for GM to replace the battery before the winter months). 

GM’s Chevrolet app

In addition to the charging apps I recommended, I am a big fan of Chevy’s own app. When we go on trips, the app automatically builds a border around where you are going, including the amount of juice you have left in the car. The app shows you Level 2 chargers in and around where you are going. 

Level 2 Standard and Fast Charging 

When you are on the road, you will want to find a Level 2 charger. There are Level 2 chargers that are FAST chargers, which is a bonus. This means that you’ll be able to get more energy in less time. When we drove from Detroit to Chicago, we managed to find fast charging Level 2 chargers along the way. You’ll pay more for a fast charger, but it’s worth it. 

Now, a standard Level 2 charger is also FINE. It’s still faster than Level 1. You can find standard Level 2 chargers at hotels and other businesses. An ideal road trip scenario is when you can find a coffee shop, bookstore and/or restaurant. Since a typical road trip has you stopping for gas ANYWAY, why not find a charger that is near a restaurant, coffee shop, etc. For the record, we feel that the 500,000 charging stations that are being built should add other bells and whistles. We do, however, like the mandates that are being placed on the 500K, including being placed at 50 mile intervals. 

Tesla Chargers and our Converter 

Charging at a Tesla Destination Charger

Tee Hee!

This one was confusing, so let’s break it down.

Tesla was the first company to get the EV thing going. Hands down. As a perk, Tesla put together a network of chargers for Tesla owners. There are two types of charging:

1. Tesla Destination Chargers

2. Tesla Superchargers

Technically speaking, we shouldn’t use our standard Level 2 charger at any Tesla station, BUT we purchased a Lectron vehicle charger, which converts our Level 2 charger in a way that can be used in a Tesla Destination charger.

We tested this setup in Canada and it worked like a charm.  What we can’t use and can never use (unless Tesla decides to change things up)  are the Tesla Superchargers. There is no converter for this and it’s strictly for Teslas.

It will take a little getting used to, going from app to app, seeing which one you want to use. In about two months (which is how long it took us), things become pretty second nature! Don’t forget to email us with any other questions!