Top questions from ICE drivers

[Gullwingdmc]

how long does it take to charge?

My standard reply to this is, “I guarantee I spend less time charging than you do getting gas.”. Inevitably they look at me confused. I then say “It takes me about 5 seconds to plug in when I get home, and another 5 before I leave. How much time does it take you to stop at the gas station, pump, and then go back to your day?”.

Most people only think about the time it takes for the battery to charge, not the time it impacts your day. When you think about it that way EVs are way faster to “fill up” than ICE vehicles.

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[SpaceEVDriver]

A couple of months ago someone asked me about it...And now they own one.

 

[timbop]

I was at a WaWa earlier this year getting milk, and I popped the hood to put it in the frunk. There was a guy sitting in his truck with the window rolled down - when he saw me open the hood with milk in my hand he said "That thing runs on MILK?"

True story

 

[Otto klub]

My standard reply to this is, “I guarantee I spend less time charging than you do getting gas.”. Inevitably they look at me confused. I then say “It takes me about 5 seconds to plug in when I get home, and another 5 before I leave. How much time does it take you to stop at the gas station, pump, and then go back to your day?”.

Most people only think about the time it takes for the battery to charge, not the time it impacts your day. When you think about it that way EVs are way faster to “fill up” than ICE vehicles.

As a non ev owner and here to learn I am going ask you to think about your answer above. They asked how long to charge , not how long to plug in and out. They have plugged in a cord before. They want to know how long it is going to spin the meter on the back of their house. An answer like x hours might bring a second question like circuit size or cost.
If they are being an ass, then be an ass back. How long does it take to charge deserves a better answer than the one above. Please. Not for me but the sell of ev's

 

[Gullwingdmc]

As a non ev owner and here to learn I am going ask you to think about your answer above. They asked how long to charge , not how long to plug in and out. They have plugged in a cord before. They want to know how long it is going to spin the meter on the back of their house. An answer like x hours might bring a second question like circuit size or cost.
If they are being an ass, then be an ass back. How long does it take to charge deserves a better answer than the one above. Please. Not for me but the sell of ev's

Wow, well that was rude. I don’t think my response was being an ass, yours on the other hand….

I have actually had several positive interactions based on that response. The question people intend to ask when they ask “how long does it take to charge?” is really, “how long will this inconvenience me?”. People assume they will be waiting for an EV to charge, when in fact you rarely ever wait to charge your EV unless you are charging at a fast charger.

 

[sotek2345]

I usually say it doesn't matter for daily driving, just takes a few seconds to plug in at home.

For road trips I say it goes longer than my bladder and for charging it takes as long as a bathroom stop and grabbing some road snacks.

 

[JamieGeek]

Back in 2014 I did a drive electric event with my Focus Electric. I got lots and lots of questions then (DCFC didn't exist at that point).

Of course that was a captured market: These were people that were interested in electric vehicles in the first place. The questions there were very similar to now but there was no "10-80% in 30 minutes" it was more like "My range is 70 miles and I charge up overnight. Most days I come home less than 10% and by after dinner I have enough charge to go somewhere that evening".

 

[glenthompson]

As a non ev owner and here to learn I am going ask you to think about your answer above. They asked how long to charge , not how long to plug in and out. They have plugged in a cord before. They want to know how long it is going to spin the meter on the back of their house. An answer like x hours might bring a second question like circuit size or cost.
If they are being an ass, then be an ass back. How long does it take to charge deserves a better answer than the one above. Please. Not for me but the sell of ev's

The real point is that studies have found that an EV owner spends less idle time charging their cars than ICE owners spend gassing up. Something like 90% of charging is done at home where you don’t have to wait for it. I have about 4k miles on my MME over 6 months and haven’t need to use public charging yet.

 

[ChuckA]

I tell them 300 miles per charge and that cost is probably higher then ICE due to the vehicle cost.

Also that my savings is that I always “fill-up” at home. It saves my time.

 

[SprManKalEl]

First and most common - “how many miles do you get?” When I’m feeling snarky I want to ask how many miles their ICE gets. I could be lazy and quote the EPA estimate, but that seems like a disservice to people who are genuinely curious about EVs, but don’t know what they don’t know. Do I tell them it depends on the temperature, driving speed, wind speed or whether I’m driving up hill? Do I tell them it doesn’t matter because it’s way more than I need 99% of the time?

I say it's rated at about 225 on a 100% charge and depending on how you drive, you may get more or less.

Second question, often a follow-up to the first -“how long does it take to charge?” Again, I could quote the published specs, but do I explain that it depends on the battery temp and where you are on the charge curve? Do I explain that (almost) nobody drives an EV from 100% down to 0%? Do I tell them that 99% of the time it doesn’t matter because I charge at home, at night, and the car charges much faster than I sleep?

I say, I get home from work about 5:30PM and plug it in and it is done charging at about 9:30PM and is ready for me in the morning. If they ask about public charging and how that goes, I ask if they are regularly taking long road trips. If the answer is no which it is 100% of the time, I tell them that charging at home is more than sufficient. I don't even let them get into the charging infrastructure conversation. I am coming up on a year of ownership and have used public charging 3 times and only 1 time was needed.

As early adopters and EV enthusiasts I feel like we have a responsibility to educate the general public, but people want simple answers. Owning and driving an EV every day has really simplified my life, but I find it’s a bit complicated to explain the details to someone who has driven ICE their entire life.

Give them the most simple answer you can. Don't go into the nerdy stuff. Remember, you were an ICE driver your entire life until you bought an EV. Tell them how it simplifies your life and relate it to their own lives.

Eventually, everyone will need to buy an EV anyway.

 

[Teslaeata]

Questions I get are:

Q: Is it a Jaguar?
A: The clue is in the badge, isn’t a Jaguar some kind of cat??‍

or

Q: Is it a Tesla?
A: No, this car is good looking ??‍??‍

???

 

[Vulnox]

As a non ev owner and here to learn I am going ask you to think about your answer above. They asked how long to charge , not how long to plug in and out. They have plugged in a cord before. They want to know how long it is going to spin the meter on the back of their house. An answer like x hours might bring a second question like circuit size or cost.
If they are being an ass, then be an ass back. How long does it take to charge deserves a better answer than the one above. Please. Not for me but the sell of ev's

I don't think they were being an ass, their response is the better one if you really give it some thought. People come at EVs with questions that matter for ICE vehicles because it's all any of us have really known for most of our lives. Their response changes the thought process and shakes people out of the ICE way of thinking and that is important, more so for non-EV owners than anyone.

The people that ask aren't asking because they want to know how long it's going to "spin the meter", because very few people pay by time spent meter turning. If they wanted to know what it costs to charge, that would be a different question, and that's based on state of charge and rate of electricity delivery, just like how long it takes to get gas in my F-150 depends on level of fuel and rate of pump flow, and every one of us has encountered that drip slow fuel pump.

So no, those aren't helpful ways of answering because it's something ICE owners already know, and there is no "easy" answer.

What they respond with matters, because if you are an MME owner, you aren't "waiting" for it to charge, and that's a huge selling point. I tell people I will spend more time waiting for my F-150 gas tank to fill up this month than we have waited on our MME to charge since we got it, including road trips, and that's absolutely true. Aside from road trips we are never "waiting" on our MME. That type of answer helps people better understand that it's a different, and freeing in many ways, method of vehicle ownership.

I don't think they were being an ass, they were in fact being more helpful than most because the people that ask a question like that don't even understand why they are asking the question, they only ask it because charge time and range are talking points everyone brings up but to a large majority of BEV owners are things they don't typically worry about. In fact they worry less about them than the average ICE owner does, the person late for work but on E so they have to get gas, and suddenly the "Few minutes to fill up" feels like an eternity, while the BEV owner drives on by without a thought.

 

[Beerbronco]

I get the same questions. My answers are similar to the above.
I usually add that the rated milage is X but that is like any car if you are driving in perfect conditions at just the perfect speed. I bought the car to have fun so I don't get what it is rated. I have never had an issue with not enough juice I either charge at home at night that cost me basically nothing due to my solar panels. On road trips the battery outlasts my bladder so I have to stop before the car and I charge a little while I balance my fluid levels.

 

[dmastro]

As to the charging question, I think the answer is nuanced. While you can answer with either "I spend 10 seconds" - which I think is overlooked by a lot of uninformed ICE owners - or "it takes about 4 hours to charge to 250 miles from nearly empty", IMO the more comprehensive answer would be "it takes about 4 hours to charge when it's almost empty, but all I have to do is plug in and leave it while I'm sleeping at night and I wake up with a full battery".

This answers both questions that the person is probably wanting to understand... how long does it take to charge the battery, and how long will I be inconvenienced actively waiting.

 

[Teslaeata]

So, people, at almost 2 yrs and 58,158 miles I just collated my “fuel” cost & usage stats.

58,158 = total miles covered
£4,920.44 = total cost of electricity
19,459kWH = Total power bought
2.9988 = Overall average miles/kWh
8.4p/mile = Overall cost/mile

EOE

So, 75% of power used charging at home cost just 45% of total charge cost which means if all charging could be done at home where most EV owners probably would, and/or partly free at employer’s/other charge venues would bring cost/mile down significantly.

Further, converting charge cost to fuel bought at (very conservative for UK) average ICE fuel at £1.50/gal means total cost saving on fuel alone is £3,318.61 which represents 40% saving on fuel.

AND

C£25,000 = Business mileage charged
£100,000. = Perceived value of driving MME

Net result = Unconditional love for the ‘Stang, never to return to ICE

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