Solutions to the Climate Crisis — 4
You’re interested in an EV. You’d like smooth, quiet, and zippy to drive, no gasoline, and minimal maintenance. But what model should you pick, what incentives are there, and how will you charge it? Here’s a simple overview from my experience, with links I recommend, from a United States and California perspective.
Models
Most of the legacy car companies (finally) have EVs for sale, with more promised, but the top two sellers by far are Tesla’s Model 3 sport sedan and Model Y crossover SUV. I’ve driven the former for two years, after three years with a Chevy Bolt EV, and now see both Teslas constantly on the road.
Plug-in-America’s PlugStar is a great reference for EV buying, incentives (federal, state, regional, utility), and charging, based on your zip code location.
I see California as a leading indicator, where BEVs* reached 9.5% of new car sales for 2021. The Tesla Model Y outsold all car and truck brands except the Toyota Camry, and that was close second! The top seven models were:
- Toyota Camry — 61,599
- Tesla Model Y — 60,394 (88,641 cumulative)
- Honda Civic — 59,818
- Toyota RAV4 — 59,157
- Tesla Model 3 — 53,572 (216,970 cumulative)
- Toyota Corolla — 48,915
- Ford F-Series — 46,817
Next tier BEVs include the Chevy Bolt (12,313; 54,277 cumulative), Ford Mustang Mach-E (5,807), VW ID.4 (5,293), Nissan Leaf (4,192; 57,595 cumulative), Hyundai Kona EV (3,122), Kia Niro EV (3,003), Audi e-tron (2,404), and Porsche Taycan (2,350).
*Battery Electric Vehicles, as opposed to Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs). If I’m going to plug in, I don’t want to carry around and maintain a gasoline engine! Data from InsideEVs and California Energy Commission.
Charging
Level 2 is the preferred home charger, adding around 25 miles of range per hour. Plug it in overnight and you’re fully charged in the morning. I go anywhere in my metropolitan area without thinking about recharging, and with the convenience of never going to a gas station (especially nice during Covid). It needs a dedicated 240V circuit (like for an electric dryer or range) and a device called an EVSE on the wall. You typically only charge to 80% full for battery health and regen (recapturing braking energy) capacity, and don’t go below 10–20%.
DC Fast Charging can go from 20% to 80% in 20–30 minutes; it slows down for battery health above 70-80%. Use it on road trips, and it could be your primary charging if you don’t have home charging (like when I was waiting for mine to be installed). Some older cars are limited to 50 kVA (like my former Chevy Bolt) vs. over 150 kVA in current Teslas and others. I found Tesla’s Superchargers great: just plug it in and the car connects and charges, with many stalls available.
Level 1 plugs into a standard 120V outlet, using an adapter included with the car, but only does around 4 miles of range per hour, thus called “trickle charging.” If you have an outlet available and don’t drive very many miles in a typical day it could work overnight, and you could combine it with Fast Charging if you run short.
“Range Anxiety” — the media loves to assume you have it, but it’s just not a thing today with 200–300+ mile EVs and good charging available. I consider it left over from first-generation EVs, like a friend’s early Nissan Leaf with less than 70 miles of range.
Is it cleaner?
Finally, what about the minerals and energy used to make the batteries, and the source of the electricity?
Multiple life-cycle (well-to-wheels) analyses, such as this current one from the Argonne National Laboratory, show that BEVs are cleaner because they are much more efficient, even on a coal-heavy electric grid. The orange “Upstream” part of the bars for EVs represent their electricity, and the “error bars” the range of values, ranging from straight coal at the top to the clean, renewable grid we’ll concurrently move toward at the bottom. Also see similar ICCT and UCS analyses.
New battery chemistries keep being announced. Already Tesla has changed to nickel- and cobalt-free lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries for their standard-range Models 3 and Y. LFP batteries have less energy density, but the benefit of regularly charging to 100% without degradation.
Here are the other three posts in this series:
(Updated 3/18/22)
