These Are The Three Silliest Electric Vehicle Questions Owners Ask

Owners of electric vehicles are very active on social media and they want to learn more about the cars they now own. Three questions seem to dominate the forums. While all three questions are certainly good ones, the answers are meaningless as we will explain. Without further chit-chat, here are three questions that EV owners often ask, and why the answers won’t help.

How Much Did Your Charger Installation Cost?
Electric vehicle chargers are the key to a happy EV ownership experience. Charging publicly may be helpful in a pinch, but almost every EV owner primarily charges at home. If you own a battery-electric vehicle, you need that vehicle to recoup all the range you use in a typical daily commute or other daily use, or you will fall behind. So, a good charger is a must.

Having a charger installed can cost anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to many thousands of dollars. The range is so wide because everyone’s home electrical setup is very different. If you have a modern 200-amp service panel located in your garage near where your charger will be located you will end up on the less expensive end of the scale. However, if you need a charger in a detached garage via a new underground line, and your service panel needs to be upgraded to accommodate the amp draw of the new 240-volt circuit, your cost is going to be many thousands of dollars to install a charger on your property.

Electric vehicle chargers also operate on circuits ranging from 20 amps to 80 amps. The material cost and cost of running the line from the panel to the charger will vary dramatically depending upon what setup you are choosing to install. What someone else paid to have a charger installed tells you nothing about what you will pay.

Related Story: Everything You Need To Know About DIY Electric Vehicle Charger Installation

How Much Did You Pay For Insurance On Your New EV?
How much you pay for car insurance is almost entirely based on you and where you live, not which model car in a given price range you choose. Sure, some models do cost a bit more than others to insure, notably Teslas, but for the most part your age, driving record, and address are the three most important factors that will determine your insurance policy premium.

If you are a married pastor in your 50’s with a spotless driving record who commutes sedately a few miles to work each day in an affluent rural neighborhood your policy cost will look nothing like that of a single 20-nothing with a DUI conviction living in a downtown area working for Door Dash.

The only way to determine a fair price for auto insurance is to shop around and see what companies offer you to insure your car where you live. The insurance options you select can also have a large impact on your premium. What others pay is entirely meaningless.

Can I Charge My EV Battery To Full Every Night?
Many new EV owners are concerned that they may damage their batteries by charging them up every night. This is a sad concern. Imagine paying tens of thousands of dollars for a new electric car and then being afraid to power it up.

While some automakers do warn that charging frequently to full on a DC fast charger may have an impact on long-term battery performance, you don’t do that in your home. You use AC power as the source, and your vehicle will regulate the incoming power in a way that will preclude you from harming the vehicle. Automakers don’t build electric cars that you can damage by charging them. It saddens us that some EV owners are wringing their hands in worry over out-of-date EV charging info from spurious sources.

Would you like to tell us how much you paid for your EV charger install, paid for your insurance policy, or how often you charge to full? Feel free to do so in the comments below.

John Goreham is a long-time New England Motor Press Association member and recovering engineer. John's interest in EVs goes back to 1990 when he designed the thermal control system for an EV battery as part of an academic team. After earning his mechanical engineering degree, John completed a marketing program at Northeastern University and worked with automotive component manufacturers, in the semiconductor industry, and in biotech. In addition to Torque News, John's work has appeared in print in dozens of American newspapers and he provides reviews to many vehicle shopping sites. You can follow John on TikTok @ToknCars, on Twitter, and view his credentials at Linkedin