November 29, 2025 • 30 mins
My Journey with Electric Vehicles: The Realities and Challenges
In this episode of 'The 10th Man,' we explore the practical challenges and realities of owning an electric vehicle (EV). From dealing with unexpected accidents and rushed purchases to navigating the complexities of charging infrastructure and utility scams, this discussion covers a broad spectrum of EV ownership experiences. We delve into the hidden costs, the benefits, and the lifestyle changes that come with transitioning to electric vehicles. Tune in to understand what the EV industry delivers versus what it promises and where the future might take us.
00:00 Introduction: The Unexpected Car Crisis
00:33 Deer Accidents and Car Replacements
02:13 The Electric Vehicle Dilemma
03:46 Choosing the Right EV: A Personal Journey
08:01 The Charging Experience: Trials and Tribulations
12:13 Home Charging Challenges
20:11 Traveling with an EV: The Realities
25:01 Conclusion: The EV Learning Curve
Commentary on trending issues brought to you with a moderate perspective.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
The Body Shop just called to saythat, dear, you hit totaled your
new electric vehicle and youneed a new car.
Think fast.
Would you buy another EV today?
On the 10th, man, we talkedearlier about the plague of deer
(00:35):
sweeping across America and thereal hazards they bring
destroying cars and even takinglives.
And while I've never caused atraffic accident in my life.
I've now totaled three cars intwo years.
A little over two years ago, myChevy tracks hit a deer and
every airbag detonated, so theinterior was wrecked and the car
(00:58):
was totaled.
We replaced that with a BuickRegal, which is a really nice
re-badged opal built in Germany,then one night.
We encountered a man drunk, orallegedly drunk, I'm forced to
say, sitting in the middle ofthe road popping up just like
the deer out of nowhere.
And that car was totaled too.
(01:19):
For the second time we had tomake a rushed purchase.
So now.
Two weeks ago, another deer,second one in two years, third
lifetime.
So during the ruing season, thisdough is sprinting across the
road, no doubt chased by a buck.
And our 2024 Hyundai Ionic six,our battery electric car took
the hit, the original purchase,and now replacement of that car
(01:42):
being the topic of this episode.
It was a small deer end.
It didn't look like that muchdamage.
But after a couple weeks and anassessment, and maybe in part
because it is an ev, theydeclared it unrepairable.
Now one more dear fact you'llnever hear in the news is you
are more likely to be killed bya deer than you are in a mass
(02:03):
shooting.
Around 400 Americans a year diein car deer collisions.
So I recommend you go listen tothe last episode of the 10th Man
and be careful.
So once again, we're back in carbuying mode, but forced car
buying mode, because shoppingfor a car can be fun.
When it's your dream and youplan for it, and it's optional,
(02:24):
but when it's mandatory and it'sholiday season and you've gotta
pay a rental car bill every dayyou search, unless you get it
done in the two weeks, theyallow you, it becomes a chore.
Very fast.
Now after the Regal was wreckedlast year, 2024, we wanted
another big fast sedan, butwe're kind of a GM family, and
Buick and Chevrolet don't makecars anymore.
(02:48):
They only make those shrunkenminivans that they call SUVs.
And if you like them, that'sfine.
But the funny thing is it's thesame thing everywhere.
The car business is almosthilarious in its uniformity.
Have you ever noticed that youcan watch any movie scene with
traffic in it for any movie andinstantly know the approximate
(03:10):
year the film was made?
Because all the cars look thesame for any given year and from
manufacturer to manufacturer.
There's very little differenceat all.
And not just in the lookseither, but also in the
mechanicals.
Now, the year 2024 was the eraof vanishing sedans and of
(03:31):
companies going all electric.
And while our punch list sedan Vsix, 300 horse all wheel drive
didn't seem that tough, but itno longer existed in GM's lineup
or hardly anywhere else.
Fine.
We said, everyone's saying youshould go electric and a lot of
people are recommending theplugin, hybrids, P EVs, or Fevs.
(03:57):
Uh, FEV gives you a smallerbattery, good for about 30 miles
of electric driving, you know,for everyday use.
Get you to work and back or towork where you plug in again and
drive home, plus a gas enginefor that.
Uh, time when the electricityruns out and the original modern
FEV was the Chevy Volt andpeople mocked.
Its 30 mile electric electricrange.
(04:19):
Ignoring the most importantpart, the absence of any range
anxiety, because it had a gasengine too.
But GM apparently took thecriticism very personally.
So then in 2024, they wereactually the only manufacturer
offering zero plugin hybrids.
Everybody else had at least one,so we looked elsewhere.
(04:41):
But that's when we found thegreat FEV bait and switch.
We ended up at Hyundai becausewe liked the Tucson.
I think that was the one.
But you'll find that when youtry to locate one, you'll either
see on their website that it'snot sold in your state, or you'd
find that there's none in stock.
Well, okay.
'cause then you see where Kiamakes the same vehicle under a
(05:02):
different name and they've gotone Exactly.
One in the state and it's 200miles away and the color is
refrigerator white.
Well, they call it somethingelse, but.
Yeah, that's what it is.
So it seems none of thecompanies actually want to sell
plugin hybrids and GeneralMotors is just the one that's
most honest about it.
(05:24):
But while we were at the dealer,we saw this Hyundai Iion six and
it's a, it was in the showroomand it's a very nice looking
car, resembles a four doorPorsche.
And the salesman said, well, youmight as well test drive it
'cause you're here.
So we did.
And this car checked every box.
It was fast, it was all wheeldrive.
It was fast.
It was a three box sedan in aworld of two box SUVs, and it
(05:48):
was fast.
So here we were on Monday, we'dnever heard of the car, and by
Wednesday we owned one or leasedit actually.
And with that time pressure, weactually wondered whether we had
rushed the purchase, but anybuyers' remorse evaporated.
A few days later when I wasdriving down the road and heard
a noose commentator say that EVsare not gonna catch on until
(06:09):
they can go 300 miles.
On a charge and they can chargein under 30 minutes and they
cost under$50,000.
And there's only one car inAmerica that meets all three
criteria.
The Hyundai Iion six.
Well, what do you know?
I had not known any of that, buthere I bought the right car.
Anyway.
Now let me give you a little tipabout EV attitudes in others out
(06:31):
where we live.
They're not exactly treehuggers.
And all of our friends that haveEVs, they always say, we didn't
buy it to save the planet.
They wanna be very clear onthat.
We just really like the car.
And that's one of the safethings to say when people ask
you how you like your car.
'cause you might find yourselfin that position and whether you
think it saves the planet ornot.
(06:53):
So if someone asks you how youlike it.
Don't really go all in and takea strong position and tell them
you love it.
Just shrug and say, well, it's acar.
It's okay.
In fact, that's gonna be kind ofmy point to give it away, but it
gets us from point A to point B,things like that.
Because most of the people whoask you, they just want their
chance to say, I would never buyone of those.
(07:15):
Most, but not all.
'cause the other kind of personis the cult member and those are
the Tesla owners, at least someof them.
They're the ones who are gonnaask you why you didn't buy a
Tesla instead.
And the best answer to that isbecause they're ugly and they're
not eligible for the governmentrebate.
Eight.
Of course, you could also sayit's because only the Tesla
owners have to worry aboutsomeone setting their car on
fire because they'reautomatically more controversial
(07:37):
since.
All Teslas are electric, but ifyour EV is a Hyundai or a Ford
or a Chevy, no one really knowsthat it's an EV until they look
close at the badges.
And now since I gave you thathot tip, you do me a favor and
tell a friend about the 10th ManPodcast.
You can trust me and yourfriends trust you.
So.
You need to let them know about.
(07:58):
Face it.
This juicy nugget of a podcast.
So what about charging?
Now, when we picked up theionic, it was fully charged.
So we took it for a drive,showed it to family, took them
for a spin, and then on the wayhome we said, well, let's use
the onboard navigation.
Since we were a little ways fromhome, you know, maybe 40 miles.
(08:18):
And so there would be plenty ofdifferent.
Buy ways we might take to find acharger and then basically get
our ticket punched on gettingthrough our first charge.
So that's where our educationbegan.
We asked for a charger in thenavigation system and it showed
up with dozens of them.
Dozens.
I was surprised.
So where were we gonna go?
(08:39):
We picked one and I think Iended up driving by it by
mistake, but we went, went to adifferent one.
It wasn't that far so close, buthere's what we found.
All of these chargers that arelisted are basically the same
low level power charger thatcomes free with a car.
It just looks like a cord with abrick in the middle.
(08:59):
It's called a level one charger,and it plugs into household
voltage.
And some of the charging pylonsyou see are apparently to me,
just a level one charger insidea big cabinet.
Now, a low capacity charger suchas this might be useful to top
up or to leave it plugged inwhile you go shopping.
You might as well if it's cheapand you're gonna be parked there
(09:21):
anyway.
Or if it were one of thoseplug-in hybrids that we talked
about with the 30 mile rangebattery, not the 300 mile, but
these chargers are really justGreen New Deal window dressing
people put'em in into look goodto say we installed a new EV
charger down at the librarybecause to get any charging done
(09:43):
quickly, you must find a fastcharge.
And that's a level.
Three charger, and we'll talkabout level two in a minute.
So you need a level three, andthe apps are terrible at telling
you which is which.
Oh, it's in there, but you'vegotta manually sort them out.
But this was my first time, so Iplugged into this thing and it's
plugged in for a while and I'msquinting at the screen and
(10:04):
saying, huh, 12 amps.
I don't think that's very fast.
Probably sound like a rube ifyou've got an EV now.
And then I look at the timingand it says how many minutes it
would be, or, or hours.
And I convert that to, to, todays.
And it's going, oh, that's a dayand a half.
And shoot, I wasn't desperate.
I didn't have to charge rightthen.
So I just drove it on home andplugged it into the free level
(10:25):
one charger while the car was inthe garage and just drove it for
a couple days.
So now, a few days later, Isaid, well, we're getting low.
I, I need to go charge it up.
I'll just drive down to the mallwhere the nearest fast charger
is.
So I go down there, go out back,back where the semis and the
loading docks are, and I'm outin the middle of the parking lot
in a bitter wind, figuring outhow the charger interface works.
(10:49):
So I download the app, jointheir club, punch some buttons,
and I start charging.
Now you actually can just swipea credit card and we'll talk
about that later in part two.
So with that done, I walked ahundred or 200 yards to the mall
and, and that's'cause the fastcharging seems to always put you
at the coldest, darkest, wettestand windiest corner of America.
(11:13):
That's the EV experience.
If you're driving a gas car,you're gonna pull into a
brightly lit.
Uh, depending on where you are,a Speedway or a Circle, KA seven
11, or a Wawa or a regularChevron mobile, but there's no
charges in those and there'snone at Bucky's either, by the
way.
Well, maybe few of'em have themnow, but generally speaking, no.
(11:36):
Generally you're gonna bedriving into a wilderness behind
Walmart where you're gonna haveto find a bay and back into it.
Then either sit in the car orhike around the building uphill
with no sidewalk.
What about the handicapped To dosome shopping while it charges
with more time than you need tojust go to the bathroom, but not
enough time to do any realshopping.
(11:58):
But on the other hand, most ofthe time you're gonna be
charging at home indoors.
So you really don't have to goto the charging station much
unless circumstances dictate.
But we didn't have a homecharger, at least not yet.
And let's talk about that wordcharger anyways.
When we talk about a fastcharger, a little bit of techno
here, that's the only truecharger because that delivers DC
(12:21):
straight to the battery, takesacs from the power lines, from
the utility company, converts todc, shoves it right into the
battery fast.
A battery can only take or givedirect current, so that fast
charger, also known as a levelthree charger, delivers that
direct current, and we'll showhow important this is for future
growth.
(12:42):
Now, the home charger, whetherit's the big one, you hang on
the wall, a level two or thelittle level one you keep in the
trunk.
They just deliver AC to the car,and the car is converting it
internally, and the reason thatmatters is that box you hang on
the wall, the thing that we'recalling a charger, it's not
doing any charging at all.
It's just kind of a glorifiedsmart switch, like the free
(13:03):
level one that comes with a car.
It just regulates the power,turns it on and off according to
programming, which makes youwonder why it doesn't work
better, is more reliable andcost less.
And lemme throw out a little tipfor you.
If you get an EV and alreadyhave any two 40 volt outlets in
your garage safe for yourstationary power tools, you can
(13:23):
get a convertible charger.
Looks like a level one, but itcan also plug into 240 volt.
So the charge speed nearlytriples and you may not need
anything else.
But we were all in, so we boughtone.
It's by NL X-ray a juice box.
A very popular, highly ratedcharger.
(13:43):
In fact, this was the brand soldby both of the utilities in our
our area, depending which sideof the road you live on in some
cases.
I wired it in temporarily to setit up, and as I'm configuring
it, the application says, oh,there's an update to the x-ray
app.
Do you want to install it?
And I said, sure.
Instantly the juice box wasbricked.
(14:04):
It never worked again.
Actually, it never did work.
So we eventually got a warrantyreplacement and I got it
installed.
But a few months later, inOctober, 2024 and L x-Ray
announced they were pulling outof the US market entirely.
A European company, and theyjust pulled outta the us leaving
all the customers with nosupport and no updates.
(14:26):
The app you use to control itwith on your phone just stopped
working.
So the smart features, like thescheduling, the nighttime
charging, that was just frozenin place, so most people had
them programmed to charge atnight when the rates were
slightly.
But you see if you come homefrom a long trip and need to go
out right away or in a few hoursbecause your battery's low,
well, you wanna pull out yourphone and say.
(14:48):
Hey, override the timer settingsand turn on the charger.
Can't do it.
Your charger's permanentlylocked into a time lock and some
people gave up and bought newones.
Others just live with it.
I suppose.
We found out how to force afactory reset and make it into a
dumb charger, so all thefeatures you're paying for
aren't there.
It just works all the time.
You plug it in, it's charging.
(15:10):
And people are out four to$600for these things.
We all became orphans instantly.
Now, don't you wonder here,where is our great government?
Where are all the Green New Dealpeople?
The people who love this stuffand love regulations when things
like this happen?
And that's not to mention theshenanigans of the utility
companies.
(15:31):
Now we are on the border betweentwo utilities and one utility
requires you to buy a smartcharger, like the juice box, so
that they can both monitor itfor the time of use to see when
you're charging, and in anemergency they can turn it off
remotely by wifi.
For load shedding and then yougive the, uh, get a much lower
electric rate.
Now our company sells the juicebox, but they don't have that
(15:52):
system.
Instead, they require you to buya separate meter that meters it
separately.
Now that can be expensive,especially if your meter is a
long ways from the point of use,and in our case, unnecessary
because we already have 2 40volts available in the garage.
So again, where's thegovernment?
Because there ought to be a lawrequiring them to use whatever
option is cheaper.
(16:14):
These things are expensiveenough, and, uh, actually why
does, does the customer evenhave to pay for the upgrade if
they want us to do it?
But at least you get a rebate onthe cost of installation, right?
Yes.
There's the rebate scam.
Your utility company.
To show how green they are, andwe can't blame'em.
They offer you a$500 rebate onthe cost of installing your EV
(16:35):
charger.
Now this rebate, just likeanything the government does, as
soon as you offer free money foranything, it instantly becomes a
scam.
Whether it's the electricvehicle chargers or food stamps,
they all become a scam.
And let me explain this one toyou.
I went through the applicationprocess, consuming much valuable
time, filled out theirapplications, sent plans,
(16:58):
photos, told'em how fareverything away was, how far
from the meter to the panel mappanel to sub-panel to
installation, spot bought, and Iexpected them to pad the actual
cost of, I guessed a thousanddollars and to charge me 2000.
But if I could get away withdoing it for 2000 and getting a
$500 rebate or a total of 1500,then I would do it.
(17:21):
And I think those numbers areabout right.
So after waiting, I get a quotefrom the utility approved
electrical contractor saying,we'll install your charger for
$5,000.
Now this just amounts to hanginga box on the wall 10 feet from
the electrical panel and runningwires to it.
They wanted$5,000 for that.
(17:41):
Here's what I'm sure thosesuppliers are doing.
They glance at the specs andthrow out a quick estimate, and
it's the same one for everybody,$5,000, and then they expect to
make a ton of money on most ofthem, and a little money on all
of them.
Well, I would've done it for1500, but even though I did not
need another project, I wasn'tgonna spend 5,000 just so I
could get 500 back and filepaperwork and have to babysit
(18:06):
the electrician while he washere.
So I went to the electricalsupply house, bought some one
inch conduit, a couple of boxes,the proper NEMA outlet.
I actually already had a 50 ampbreaker, so I think I spent 150
bucks in parts and I put it inmyself in, I don't know, three
or four hours hating everyminute of it.
By the way, the outlet, just tonote on that, I'm not an
(18:27):
electrician.
Do not do anything just'causeI'm doing it.
But if you decide to do thisyourself, the electric vehicle
outlet looks just like anelectric range outlet.
It will plug into one, but thereceptacle for your stove, your
range, it's not designed tosupply maximum current
continuously for six to 10 hoursat a stretch.
Your elements in your stovecycle on and off intermittently
(18:48):
and might all be on at once, butare not usually.
So get the correct receptacle,it's expensive, and avoid
burning your house down.
Now think about this.
I installed this in my garage,but remember supposing you, you
live somewhere else, some kindof community housing, some sort
of apartment, or a trailer parkor a condo, or maybe there's a
(19:08):
homeowner's association.
This whole process becomesimpossible in many cases.
That's'cause the whole usagemodel for EVs.
It's a complete lifestyle shift.
The whole history of motorvehicles.
You went and bought your gassomewhere, then you came home
and parked your car anywhere youwanted in your yard or your
driveway, in the garage, on thepatio, or down by the beach if
(19:32):
you wanted to hear music.
The fueling process neverregulated your parking
situation, but now parking yourvehicle, it has to be next to
the charger.
And it becomes more complicatedif you have two EVs, or for
example, in our case, in thesummer, our collector car goes
in the garage and I put in alittle fixture so that the cord
(19:52):
can snake under the garage door,made sure the cord was long
enough and mounted a bracket onthe wall outside to hang up the
nozzle when it's not being used.
And while all this ismanageable, some of it is
unnecessarily annoying and someof it is a scam.
And it seems that none of it hasbeen taken into account by the
people promoting these vehicles.
So let's talk about travel.
(20:15):
People worry about taking a longtrip in an ev and I know some
people who never do in theirs,and there are some frustrations,
but they're not deal breakers.
But they're bad enough to makeyou grumble a little bit.
But here's the biggest shock andanother scam.
Electricity pricing.
You know, I never knew myelectric rate until I owned an
(20:38):
ev.
I could have taken an educatedguess at it, I suppose, but I
sure know it now.
It's about 16 cents a kilowatthour at home off peak.
It could go down to 13 cents ifI put in the special meter, but
it's already lower at night foreverybody.
But on the road, do you have anyidea what you're gonna pay?
Now remember, you have economiesof scale, so we should be
(20:58):
thinking low, a low number,right?
Uh, they're, and they're buyingin bulk and they're taking the
electrical load off of thesubdivisions.
There's a lot of benefits.
So when you pull up to the pumpwith your ev, okay, it's 16
cents at home.
So on the road, what would itbe?
20.
25, 30?
Nope.
52 cents.
52 cents a kilowatt hour.
(21:20):
Uh, it varies actually, butthat's a number I see a lot.
Three to four times what you'repaying at home.
It's about the same price asgasoline.
And with our Hyundai Lease, wedo get two years of free
charging at the ElectrifyAmerica stations.
And, but the lease is threeyears and the nearest Electrify
America is nowhere close to ourhouse.
(21:40):
Uh, but there are some on theway to places that I go and I
have made use of them.
But apart from the rant aboutthe price.
It's just that people don'tunderstand the whole paradigm
shift, and that is what happenswhen you are stopping the charge
on the road on the way back froma trip.
So I make a trip to seerelatives regularly, and I come
back and I can make it there andhalfway back to the house on the
(22:02):
original charge.
That means when I stop, I'm notgonna stop and say, fill her up,
not at 52 cents when I can getit for 16 cents at home.
I only want to charge enoughjust to get home with about 15
miles to spare.
Then I'll plug it in at home andgo in inside the house and put
my feet up.
As a matter of fact, I don'teven go to the free charger
(22:25):
because it's about three to fourmiles out of my way, and I don't
need a full charge.
So I go to the more convenientlocation'cause there are
actually some, this one is at agas station and it has nice
restrooms, a well-lit parkinglot, convenient location to the
pump.
And most important, it hasexcellent pizza.
So I pull in and plug in.
(22:46):
But here's the thing, with allof the computers involved in
this situation, none of them,not the Hyundai navigation, not
the phone.
Not Google Maps or AppleCarPlay, not the display on the
pump.
None of them tell me how long doI plug in just to get enough
charge to get home.
They all tell you so many moreminutes until you get full.
(23:07):
Well, full is the last thing Iwant.
It's not like with gas whenyou're in this situation, you
just want to get in and get out.
So I find myself sitting with apencil and paper saying, okay,
it looks like it's chargingabout 10 miles every two
minutes.
I haven't done this in a while.
That might be the wrong number.
So I've got, uh, 80 miles to go.
That means I need to sit hereabout, and, and it's usually
like 12 to 15 minutes, and I'vecome pretty close every time
(23:31):
and, and managed to get home.
Now, to be fair, the Teslaowners might say that Tesla has
this all figured out, but thereare other disadvantages to the
Teslas and their cars are stillugly.
So now here's another thing.
They don't tell you the ioniccharges quickly, and that's
important, like we said, andthat's because it can take 300
amps at a time.
(23:51):
I think it's actually 311, but.
The Chargers capacities areoften smaller and they're all
different, and I've never onceseen the meter flow at 300 amps
no matter what the actualcapacity of the unit was.
And many of these chargers maxedout at 150 amps and some at
less.
And I know these numbers mightbe meaningless to you now, but
(24:13):
they will become more meaningfulas you as we go along.
So.
You've got your charger maskingout at 150 amps and some of
those, including the one that Istop at the most, it's actually
150 amps if no one else is usingthe other station.
150 amps total.
It's shared between two stalls.
So if someone is else ischarging next to you and they're
(24:33):
also capable of drawing all thepower, you're both just gonna
get 75 amps.
But the good news, if you'rejust topping off, not on a long
trip, even at half speed, I canstill walk in, use the restroom,
get a slice of pizza, anddepending on how fast it's
going, I might eat the pizza inthe car or eat it at the little
cocktail table and walk back outand the car's ready to go.
Now.
(24:53):
I haven't done any charging forthe last couple weeks, and I
kind of missed it yesterday as Iwas gassing up the rental car in
a snow storm.
So you're probably wondering,would I buy another ev?
Well, I'm gonna tell you this.
Electric vehicles.
They're not a miracle car, butthey're not evil either, and
they're certainly not thesalvation of the planet.
They're simply a new set ofmachines with a new set of
(25:16):
rules, which aren't thatcomplicated, and yet the experts
on them don't seem to understandtheir own product.
The media and the politicianstalk about range.
They talk about emissions andclimate control, and advocates
talk about the future.
But almost nobody talks aboutthe infrastructure nightmare,
the utility games, the chargerscams, or in general, just don't
(25:38):
respond to the real issues.
Last but not least, they don'thave a grasp of the lifestyle
rewiring and the generallearning curve baked into the
ownership experience.
I mean, it's not hard, but it isa curve.
EVs are good.
Not great, just different.
And in part two, we'll dive intomore of the unmet expectations,
(25:59):
what the EV industry promisedversus what it delivers and
where the technology couldrealistically go, including what
it could deliver.
But the industry has oddlyfailed to anticipate for that,
you need the 10th man.
The Body Shop just called to saythat, dear, you hit totaled your
new electric vehicle and youneed a new car.
Think fast.
Would you buy another EV today?
On the 10th, man, we talkedearlier about the plague of deer
(00:35):
sweeping across America and thereal hazards they bring
destroying cars and even takinglives.
And while I've never caused atraffic accident in my life.
I've now totaled three cars intwo years.
A little over two years ago, myChevy tracks hit a deer and
every airbag detonated, so theinterior was wrecked and the car
(00:58):
was totaled.
We replaced that with a BuickRegal, which is a really nice
re-badged opal built in Germany,then one night.
We encountered a man drunk, orallegedly drunk, I'm forced to
say, sitting in the middle ofthe road popping up just like
the deer out of nowhere.
And that car was totaled too.
(01:19):
For the second time we had tomake a rushed purchase.
So now.
Two weeks ago, another deer,second one in two years, third
lifetime.
So during the ruing season, thisdough is sprinting across the
road, no doubt chased by a buck.
And our 2024 Hyundai Ionic six,our battery electric car took
the hit, the original purchase,and now replacement of that car
(01:42):
being the topic of this episode.
It was a small deer end.
It didn't look like that muchdamage.
But after a couple weeks and anassessment, and maybe in part
because it is an ev, theydeclared it unrepairable.
Now one more dear fact you'llnever hear in the news is you
are more likely to be killed bya deer than you are in a mass
(02:03):
shooting.
Around 400 Americans a year diein car deer collisions.
So I recommend you go listen tothe last episode of the 10th Man
and be careful.
So once again, we're back in carbuying mode, but forced car
buying mode, because shoppingfor a car can be fun.
When it's your dream and youplan for it, and it's optional,
(02:24):
but when it's mandatory and it'sholiday season and you've gotta
pay a rental car bill every dayyou search, unless you get it
done in the two weeks, theyallow you, it becomes a chore.
Very fast.
Now after the Regal was wreckedlast year, 2024, we wanted
another big fast sedan, butwe're kind of a GM family, and
Buick and Chevrolet don't makecars anymore.
(02:48):
They only make those shrunkenminivans that they call SUVs.
And if you like them, that'sfine.
But the funny thing is it's thesame thing everywhere.
The car business is almosthilarious in its uniformity.
Have you ever noticed that youcan watch any movie scene with
traffic in it for any movie andinstantly know the approximate
(03:10):
year the film was made?
Because all the cars look thesame for any given year and from
manufacturer to manufacturer.
There's very little differenceat all.
And not just in the lookseither, but also in the
mechanicals.
Now, the year 2024 was the eraof vanishing sedans and of
(03:31):
companies going all electric.
And while our punch list sedan Vsix, 300 horse all wheel drive
didn't seem that tough, but itno longer existed in GM's lineup
or hardly anywhere else.
Fine.
We said, everyone's saying youshould go electric and a lot of
people are recommending theplugin, hybrids, P EVs, or Fevs.
(03:57):
Uh, FEV gives you a smallerbattery, good for about 30 miles
of electric driving, you know,for everyday use.
Get you to work and back or towork where you plug in again and
drive home, plus a gas enginefor that.
Uh, time when the electricityruns out and the original modern
FEV was the Chevy Volt andpeople mocked.
Its 30 mile electric electricrange.
(04:19):
Ignoring the most importantpart, the absence of any range
anxiety, because it had a gasengine too.
But GM apparently took thecriticism very personally.
So then in 2024, they wereactually the only manufacturer
offering zero plugin hybrids.
Everybody else had at least one,so we looked elsewhere.
(04:41):
But that's when we found thegreat FEV bait and switch.
We ended up at Hyundai becausewe liked the Tucson.
I think that was the one.
But you'll find that when youtry to locate one, you'll either
see on their website that it'snot sold in your state, or you'd
find that there's none in stock.
Well, okay.
'cause then you see where Kiamakes the same vehicle under a
(05:02):
different name and they've gotone Exactly.
One in the state and it's 200miles away and the color is
refrigerator white.
Well, they call it somethingelse, but.
Yeah, that's what it is.
So it seems none of thecompanies actually want to sell
plugin hybrids and GeneralMotors is just the one that's
most honest about it.
(05:24):
But while we were at the dealer,we saw this Hyundai Iion six and
it's a, it was in the showroomand it's a very nice looking
car, resembles a four doorPorsche.
And the salesman said, well, youmight as well test drive it
'cause you're here.
So we did.
And this car checked every box.
It was fast, it was all wheeldrive.
It was fast.
It was a three box sedan in aworld of two box SUVs, and it
(05:48):
was fast.
So here we were on Monday, we'dnever heard of the car, and by
Wednesday we owned one or leasedit actually.
And with that time pressure, weactually wondered whether we had
rushed the purchase, but anybuyers' remorse evaporated.
A few days later when I wasdriving down the road and heard
a noose commentator say that EVsare not gonna catch on until
(06:09):
they can go 300 miles.
On a charge and they can chargein under 30 minutes and they
cost under$50,000.
And there's only one car inAmerica that meets all three
criteria.
The Hyundai Iion six.
Well, what do you know?
I had not known any of that, buthere I bought the right car.
Anyway.
Now let me give you a little tipabout EV attitudes in others out
(06:31):
where we live.
They're not exactly treehuggers.
And all of our friends that haveEVs, they always say, we didn't
buy it to save the planet.
They wanna be very clear onthat.
We just really like the car.
And that's one of the safethings to say when people ask
you how you like your car.
'cause you might find yourselfin that position and whether you
think it saves the planet ornot.
(06:53):
So if someone asks you how youlike it.
Don't really go all in and takea strong position and tell them
you love it.
Just shrug and say, well, it's acar.
It's okay.
In fact, that's gonna be kind ofmy point to give it away, but it
gets us from point A to point B,things like that.
Because most of the people whoask you, they just want their
chance to say, I would never buyone of those.
(07:15):
Most, but not all.
'cause the other kind of personis the cult member and those are
the Tesla owners, at least someof them.
They're the ones who are gonnaask you why you didn't buy a
Tesla instead.
And the best answer to that isbecause they're ugly and they're
not eligible for the governmentrebate.
Eight.
Of course, you could also sayit's because only the Tesla
owners have to worry aboutsomeone setting their car on
fire because they'reautomatically more controversial
(07:37):
since.
All Teslas are electric, but ifyour EV is a Hyundai or a Ford
or a Chevy, no one really knowsthat it's an EV until they look
close at the badges.
And now since I gave you thathot tip, you do me a favor and
tell a friend about the 10th ManPodcast.
You can trust me and yourfriends trust you.
So.
You need to let them know about.
(07:58):
Face it.
This juicy nugget of a podcast.
So what about charging?
Now, when we picked up theionic, it was fully charged.
So we took it for a drive,showed it to family, took them
for a spin, and then on the wayhome we said, well, let's use
the onboard navigation.
Since we were a little ways fromhome, you know, maybe 40 miles.
(08:18):
And so there would be plenty ofdifferent.
Buy ways we might take to find acharger and then basically get
our ticket punched on gettingthrough our first charge.
So that's where our educationbegan.
We asked for a charger in thenavigation system and it showed
up with dozens of them.
Dozens.
I was surprised.
So where were we gonna go?
(08:39):
We picked one and I think Iended up driving by it by
mistake, but we went, went to adifferent one.
It wasn't that far so close, buthere's what we found.
All of these chargers that arelisted are basically the same
low level power charger thatcomes free with a car.
It just looks like a cord with abrick in the middle.
(08:59):
It's called a level one charger,and it plugs into household
voltage.
And some of the charging pylonsyou see are apparently to me,
just a level one charger insidea big cabinet.
Now, a low capacity charger suchas this might be useful to top
up or to leave it plugged inwhile you go shopping.
You might as well if it's cheapand you're gonna be parked there
(09:21):
anyway.
Or if it were one of thoseplug-in hybrids that we talked
about with the 30 mile rangebattery, not the 300 mile, but
these chargers are really justGreen New Deal window dressing
people put'em in into look goodto say we installed a new EV
charger down at the librarybecause to get any charging done
(09:43):
quickly, you must find a fastcharge.
And that's a level.
Three charger, and we'll talkabout level two in a minute.
So you need a level three, andthe apps are terrible at telling
you which is which.
Oh, it's in there, but you'vegotta manually sort them out.
But this was my first time, so Iplugged into this thing and it's
plugged in for a while and I'msquinting at the screen and
(10:04):
saying, huh, 12 amps.
I don't think that's very fast.
Probably sound like a rube ifyou've got an EV now.
And then I look at the timingand it says how many minutes it
would be, or, or hours.
And I convert that to, to, todays.
And it's going, oh, that's a dayand a half.
And shoot, I wasn't desperate.
I didn't have to charge rightthen.
So I just drove it on home andplugged it into the free level
(10:25):
one charger while the car was inthe garage and just drove it for
a couple days.
So now, a few days later, Isaid, well, we're getting low.
I, I need to go charge it up.
I'll just drive down to the mallwhere the nearest fast charger
is.
So I go down there, go out back,back where the semis and the
loading docks are, and I'm outin the middle of the parking lot
in a bitter wind, figuring outhow the charger interface works.
(10:49):
So I download the app, jointheir club, punch some buttons,
and I start charging.
Now you actually can just swipea credit card and we'll talk
about that later in part two.
So with that done, I walked ahundred or 200 yards to the mall
and, and that's'cause the fastcharging seems to always put you
at the coldest, darkest, wettestand windiest corner of America.
(11:13):
That's the EV experience.
If you're driving a gas car,you're gonna pull into a
brightly lit.
Uh, depending on where you are,a Speedway or a Circle, KA seven
11, or a Wawa or a regularChevron mobile, but there's no
charges in those and there'snone at Bucky's either, by the
way.
Well, maybe few of'em have themnow, but generally speaking, no.
(11:36):
Generally you're gonna bedriving into a wilderness behind
Walmart where you're gonna haveto find a bay and back into it.
Then either sit in the car orhike around the building uphill
with no sidewalk.
What about the handicapped To dosome shopping while it charges
with more time than you need tojust go to the bathroom, but not
enough time to do any realshopping.
(11:58):
But on the other hand, most ofthe time you're gonna be
charging at home indoors.
So you really don't have to goto the charging station much
unless circumstances dictate.
But we didn't have a homecharger, at least not yet.
And let's talk about that wordcharger anyways.
When we talk about a fastcharger, a little bit of techno
here, that's the only truecharger because that delivers DC
(12:21):
straight to the battery, takesacs from the power lines, from
the utility company, converts todc, shoves it right into the
battery fast.
A battery can only take or givedirect current, so that fast
charger, also known as a levelthree charger, delivers that
direct current, and we'll showhow important this is for future
growth.
(12:42):
Now, the home charger, whetherit's the big one, you hang on
the wall, a level two or thelittle level one you keep in the
trunk.
They just deliver AC to the car,and the car is converting it
internally, and the reason thatmatters is that box you hang on
the wall, the thing that we'recalling a charger, it's not
doing any charging at all.
It's just kind of a glorifiedsmart switch, like the free
(13:03):
level one that comes with a car.
It just regulates the power,turns it on and off according to
programming, which makes youwonder why it doesn't work
better, is more reliable andcost less.
And lemme throw out a little tipfor you.
If you get an EV and alreadyhave any two 40 volt outlets in
your garage safe for yourstationary power tools, you can
(13:23):
get a convertible charger.
Looks like a level one, but itcan also plug into 240 volt.
So the charge speed nearlytriples and you may not need
anything else.
But we were all in, so we boughtone.
It's by NL X-ray a juice box.
A very popular, highly ratedcharger.
(13:43):
In fact, this was the brand soldby both of the utilities in our
our area, depending which sideof the road you live on in some
cases.
I wired it in temporarily to setit up, and as I'm configuring
it, the application says, oh,there's an update to the x-ray
app.
Do you want to install it?
And I said, sure.
Instantly the juice box wasbricked.
(14:04):
It never worked again.
Actually, it never did work.
So we eventually got a warrantyreplacement and I got it
installed.
But a few months later, inOctober, 2024 and L x-Ray
announced they were pulling outof the US market entirely.
A European company, and theyjust pulled outta the us leaving
all the customers with nosupport and no updates.
(14:26):
The app you use to control itwith on your phone just stopped
working.
So the smart features, like thescheduling, the nighttime
charging, that was just frozenin place, so most people had
them programmed to charge atnight when the rates were
slightly.
But you see if you come homefrom a long trip and need to go
out right away or in a few hoursbecause your battery's low,
well, you wanna pull out yourphone and say.
(14:48):
Hey, override the timer settingsand turn on the charger.
Can't do it.
Your charger's permanentlylocked into a time lock and some
people gave up and bought newones.
Others just live with it.
I suppose.
We found out how to force afactory reset and make it into a
dumb charger, so all thefeatures you're paying for
aren't there.
It just works all the time.
You plug it in, it's charging.
(15:10):
And people are out four to$600for these things.
We all became orphans instantly.
Now, don't you wonder here,where is our great government?
Where are all the Green New Dealpeople?
The people who love this stuffand love regulations when things
like this happen?
And that's not to mention theshenanigans of the utility
companies.
(15:31):
Now we are on the border betweentwo utilities and one utility
requires you to buy a smartcharger, like the juice box, so
that they can both monitor itfor the time of use to see when
you're charging, and in anemergency they can turn it off
remotely by wifi.
For load shedding and then yougive the, uh, get a much lower
electric rate.
Now our company sells the juicebox, but they don't have that
(15:52):
system.
Instead, they require you to buya separate meter that meters it
separately.
Now that can be expensive,especially if your meter is a
long ways from the point of use,and in our case, unnecessary
because we already have 2 40volts available in the garage.
So again, where's thegovernment?
Because there ought to be a lawrequiring them to use whatever
option is cheaper.
(16:14):
These things are expensiveenough, and, uh, actually why
does, does the customer evenhave to pay for the upgrade if
they want us to do it?
But at least you get a rebate onthe cost of installation, right?
Yes.
There's the rebate scam.
Your utility company.
To show how green they are, andwe can't blame'em.
They offer you a$500 rebate onthe cost of installing your EV
(16:35):
charger.
Now this rebate, just likeanything the government does, as
soon as you offer free money foranything, it instantly becomes a
scam.
Whether it's the electricvehicle chargers or food stamps,
they all become a scam.
And let me explain this one toyou.
I went through the applicationprocess, consuming much valuable
time, filled out theirapplications, sent plans,
(16:58):
photos, told'em how fareverything away was, how far
from the meter to the panel mappanel to sub-panel to
installation, spot bought, and Iexpected them to pad the actual
cost of, I guessed a thousanddollars and to charge me 2000.
But if I could get away withdoing it for 2000 and getting a
$500 rebate or a total of 1500,then I would do it.
(17:21):
And I think those numbers areabout right.
So after waiting, I get a quotefrom the utility approved
electrical contractor saying,we'll install your charger for
$5,000.
Now this just amounts to hanginga box on the wall 10 feet from
the electrical panel and runningwires to it.
They wanted$5,000 for that.
(17:41):
Here's what I'm sure thosesuppliers are doing.
They glance at the specs andthrow out a quick estimate, and
it's the same one for everybody,$5,000, and then they expect to
make a ton of money on most ofthem, and a little money on all
of them.
Well, I would've done it for1500, but even though I did not
need another project, I wasn'tgonna spend 5,000 just so I
could get 500 back and filepaperwork and have to babysit
(18:06):
the electrician while he washere.
So I went to the electricalsupply house, bought some one
inch conduit, a couple of boxes,the proper NEMA outlet.
I actually already had a 50 ampbreaker, so I think I spent 150
bucks in parts and I put it inmyself in, I don't know, three
or four hours hating everyminute of it.
By the way, the outlet, just tonote on that, I'm not an
(18:27):
electrician.
Do not do anything just'causeI'm doing it.
But if you decide to do thisyourself, the electric vehicle
outlet looks just like anelectric range outlet.
It will plug into one, but thereceptacle for your stove, your
range, it's not designed tosupply maximum current
continuously for six to 10 hoursat a stretch.
Your elements in your stovecycle on and off intermittently
(18:48):
and might all be on at once, butare not usually.
So get the correct receptacle,it's expensive, and avoid
burning your house down.
Now think about this.
I installed this in my garage,but remember supposing you, you
live somewhere else, some kindof community housing, some sort
of apartment, or a trailer parkor a condo, or maybe there's a
(19:08):
homeowner's association.
This whole process becomesimpossible in many cases.
That's'cause the whole usagemodel for EVs.
It's a complete lifestyle shift.
The whole history of motorvehicles.
You went and bought your gassomewhere, then you came home
and parked your car anywhere youwanted in your yard or your
driveway, in the garage, on thepatio, or down by the beach if
(19:32):
you wanted to hear music.
The fueling process neverregulated your parking
situation, but now parking yourvehicle, it has to be next to
the charger.
And it becomes more complicatedif you have two EVs, or for
example, in our case, in thesummer, our collector car goes
in the garage and I put in alittle fixture so that the cord
(19:52):
can snake under the garage door,made sure the cord was long
enough and mounted a bracket onthe wall outside to hang up the
nozzle when it's not being used.
And while all this ismanageable, some of it is
unnecessarily annoying and someof it is a scam.
And it seems that none of it hasbeen taken into account by the
people promoting these vehicles.
So let's talk about travel.
(20:15):
People worry about taking a longtrip in an ev and I know some
people who never do in theirs,and there are some frustrations,
but they're not deal breakers.
But they're bad enough to makeyou grumble a little bit.
But here's the biggest shock andanother scam.
Electricity pricing.
You know, I never knew myelectric rate until I owned an
(20:38):
ev.
I could have taken an educatedguess at it, I suppose, but I
sure know it now.
It's about 16 cents a kilowatthour at home off peak.
It could go down to 13 cents ifI put in the special meter, but
it's already lower at night foreverybody.
But on the road, do you have anyidea what you're gonna pay?
Now remember, you have economiesof scale, so we should be
(20:58):
thinking low, a low number,right?
Uh, they're, and they're buyingin bulk and they're taking the
electrical load off of thesubdivisions.
There's a lot of benefits.
So when you pull up to the pumpwith your ev, okay, it's 16
cents at home.
So on the road, what would itbe?
20.
25, 30?
Nope.
52 cents.
52 cents a kilowatt hour.
(21:20):
Uh, it varies actually, butthat's a number I see a lot.
Three to four times what you'repaying at home.
It's about the same price asgasoline.
And with our Hyundai Lease, wedo get two years of free
charging at the ElectrifyAmerica stations.
And, but the lease is threeyears and the nearest Electrify
America is nowhere close to ourhouse.
(21:40):
Uh, but there are some on theway to places that I go and I
have made use of them.
But apart from the rant aboutthe price.
It's just that people don'tunderstand the whole paradigm
shift, and that is what happenswhen you are stopping the charge
on the road on the way back froma trip.
So I make a trip to seerelatives regularly, and I come
back and I can make it there andhalfway back to the house on the
(22:02):
original charge.
That means when I stop, I'm notgonna stop and say, fill her up,
not at 52 cents when I can getit for 16 cents at home.
I only want to charge enoughjust to get home with about 15
miles to spare.
Then I'll plug it in at home andgo in inside the house and put
my feet up.
As a matter of fact, I don'teven go to the free charger
(22:25):
because it's about three to fourmiles out of my way, and I don't
need a full charge.
So I go to the more convenientlocation'cause there are
actually some, this one is at agas station and it has nice
restrooms, a well-lit parkinglot, convenient location to the
pump.
And most important, it hasexcellent pizza.
So I pull in and plug in.
(22:46):
But here's the thing, with allof the computers involved in
this situation, none of them,not the Hyundai navigation, not
the phone.
Not Google Maps or AppleCarPlay, not the display on the
pump.
None of them tell me how long doI plug in just to get enough
charge to get home.
They all tell you so many moreminutes until you get full.
(23:07):
Well, full is the last thing Iwant.
It's not like with gas whenyou're in this situation, you
just want to get in and get out.
So I find myself sitting with apencil and paper saying, okay,
it looks like it's chargingabout 10 miles every two
minutes.
I haven't done this in a while.
That might be the wrong number.
So I've got, uh, 80 miles to go.
That means I need to sit hereabout, and, and it's usually
like 12 to 15 minutes, and I'vecome pretty close every time
(23:31):
and, and managed to get home.
Now, to be fair, the Teslaowners might say that Tesla has
this all figured out, but thereare other disadvantages to the
Teslas and their cars are stillugly.
So now here's another thing.
They don't tell you the ioniccharges quickly, and that's
important, like we said, andthat's because it can take 300
amps at a time.
(23:51):
I think it's actually 311, but.
The Chargers capacities areoften smaller and they're all
different, and I've never onceseen the meter flow at 300 amps
no matter what the actualcapacity of the unit was.
And many of these chargers maxedout at 150 amps and some at
less.
And I know these numbers mightbe meaningless to you now, but
(24:13):
they will become more meaningfulas you as we go along.
So.
You've got your charger maskingout at 150 amps and some of
those, including the one that Istop at the most, it's actually
150 amps if no one else is usingthe other station.
150 amps total.
It's shared between two stalls.
So if someone is else ischarging next to you and they're
(24:33):
also capable of drawing all thepower, you're both just gonna
get 75 amps.
But the good news, if you'rejust topping off, not on a long
trip, even at half speed, I canstill walk in, use the restroom,
get a slice of pizza, anddepending on how fast it's
going, I might eat the pizza inthe car or eat it at the little
cocktail table and walk back outand the car's ready to go.
Now.
(24:53):
I haven't done any charging forthe last couple weeks, and I
kind of missed it yesterday as Iwas gassing up the rental car in
a snow storm.
So you're probably wondering,would I buy another ev?
Well, I'm gonna tell you this.
Electric vehicles.
They're not a miracle car, butthey're not evil either, and
they're certainly not thesalvation of the planet.
They're simply a new set ofmachines with a new set of
(25:16):
rules, which aren't thatcomplicated, and yet the experts
on them don't seem to understandtheir own product.
The media and the politicianstalk about range.
They talk about emissions andclimate control, and advocates
talk about the future.
But almost nobody talks aboutthe infrastructure nightmare,
the utility games, the chargerscams, or in general, just don't
(25:38):
respond to the real issues.
Last but not least, they don'thave a grasp of the lifestyle
rewiring and the generallearning curve baked into the
ownership experience.
I mean, it's not hard, but it isa curve.
EVs are good.
Not great, just different.
And in part two, we'll dive intomore of the unmet expectations,
(25:59):
what the EV industry promisedversus what it delivers and
where the technology couldrealistically go, including what
it could deliver.
But the industry has oddlyfailed to anticipate for that,
you need the 10th man.
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