That’s awesome! One thing nobody mentioned to me is that EV owners tend to know each other because we’re all hanging out at the chargers, and everyone (with the very notabale exception of tesla owners) is super nice! It’s just generally a pretty positive experience socially as well as economically.
Ha I love it! I charge almost exclusively at home, as I have a gas powered van for long distance trips and my Bolt EUV’s DC fast charging is limited to 50kW. I feel like I’m missing out now. Lol
Glad you like your Bolt too! Ended up trading a Honda CR-V for a 2027 Bolt thanks to all this nonsense too.
Do I feel a little foolish driving a car off the lot when I had to finance? A little. But even the LT trim we got is super neat, drives so ZIPPY…And I look at all the gas stations and constant-expensive-noise fixing auto shops I drive past, and feel such a relief.
… Now to just pay off this thing.
I’m convinced a Bolt was the very best choice all things considered… They don’t make an EV Honda Element yet, so the perfect E-SUV doesn’t exist yet! 😉
Upside, you can get a reasonable charge over the weekend on a Level 1 charger alone - something I really wish my ioniq 5 could do (not that I’m procrastinating hiring an electrician or anything…)
My wife has a short commute, and i have a long commute.
We figured out that if we schedule it correctly, we can keep the car charged up with only a lvl 1 charge. A lvl 2 charge will top it off overnight if i have some extra driving.
True. Most people don’t need more than that. Even if you have limited power, like an old 100 amp electrical panel, you can do a 230V 20 Amp plug. That’s still around 2.5x faster than a L1 charger, but draws as much as a large window air conditioner.
I have a 230V 32 Amp charger I installed myself, but I was using a Level 1 charger just fine until I got around to wiring up my charger outlet.
Has your Ioniq 5 had any of the issues with the ICCU people complain about? I was originally going to get that instead of a Bolt, but those failures scared me away. Also, the Bolt was cheaper. Lol.
Yeah, I’ve got a 230V 50A outlet I can hook into easily enough once I get the wasps cleared out. I’d really like to stick a dedicated lvl 2 charger out there, but IDK if my panel can even handle the load from that outlet alone. I’ve been putting off upgrading it for ages, and all the electrician friends I’ve asked for help about it have just sorta stared at my panel for a while then quickly changed the subject to asking about my smoke detectors, which seems like a good sign.
(My Ioniq is new enough to have come stock with the newer, supposedly-fixed ICCU + the software patch, so fingers crossed that it should be fine (I haven’t heard of them failing, at least). Really love the car though - first one I’ve owned that made driving actually like… a fun thing to do. Also damn that charge time on 800v is ridiculously nice)
I bought my first used EV just a few months ago and am loving it
That’s awesome! One thing nobody mentioned to me is that EV owners tend to know each other because we’re all hanging out at the chargers, and everyone (with the very notabale exception of tesla owners) is super nice! It’s just generally a pretty positive experience socially as well as economically.
Ive had an EV for a week, and twice when I come out to a parking lot I’ve found people looking at the car who wanted to know more about it.
Ha I love it! I charge almost exclusively at home, as I have a gas powered van for long distance trips and my Bolt EUV’s DC fast charging is limited to 50kW. I feel like I’m missing out now. Lol
Glad you like your Bolt too! Ended up trading a Honda CR-V for a 2027 Bolt thanks to all this nonsense too.
Do I feel a little foolish driving a car off the lot when I had to finance? A little. But even the LT trim we got is super neat, drives so ZIPPY…And I look at all the gas stations and constant-expensive-noise fixing auto shops I drive past, and feel such a relief.
… Now to just pay off this thing.
I’m convinced a Bolt was the very best choice all things considered… They don’t make an EV Honda Element yet, so the perfect E-SUV doesn’t exist yet! 😉
Upside, you can get a reasonable charge over the weekend on a Level 1 charger alone - something I really wish my ioniq 5 could do (not that I’m procrastinating hiring an electrician or anything…)
My wife has a short commute, and i have a long commute.
We figured out that if we schedule it correctly, we can keep the car charged up with only a lvl 1 charge. A lvl 2 charge will top it off overnight if i have some extra driving.
True. Most people don’t need more than that. Even if you have limited power, like an old 100 amp electrical panel, you can do a 230V 20 Amp plug. That’s still around 2.5x faster than a L1 charger, but draws as much as a large window air conditioner.
I have a 230V 32 Amp charger I installed myself, but I was using a Level 1 charger just fine until I got around to wiring up my charger outlet.
Has your Ioniq 5 had any of the issues with the ICCU people complain about? I was originally going to get that instead of a Bolt, but those failures scared me away. Also, the Bolt was cheaper. Lol.
Yeah, I’ve got a 230V 50A outlet I can hook into easily enough once I get the wasps cleared out. I’d really like to stick a dedicated lvl 2 charger out there, but IDK if my panel can even handle the load from that outlet alone. I’ve been putting off upgrading it for ages, and all the electrician friends I’ve asked for help about it have just sorta stared at my panel for a while then quickly changed the subject to asking about my smoke detectors, which seems like a good sign.
(My Ioniq is new enough to have come stock with the newer, supposedly-fixed ICCU + the software patch, so fingers crossed that it should be fine (I haven’t heard of them failing, at least). Really love the car though - first one I’ve owned that made driving actually like… a fun thing to do. Also damn that charge time on 800v is ridiculously nice)