Are you confident enough in your DIY skills that you’d feel comfortable installing a high-voltage charging station in your home to maintain your electric vehicle? A recent survey shows that 25.5 per cent of Americans that own an electric car with a Level 2 charger think they are.
The study came out earlier this week conducted by PlugShare Research, the research division of the fee app that tells you where you can find charging stations in your area. One quarter of U.S.-based EV drivers are taking on a big electrical project within their own home, which is generally something homeowners avoid. It’s possible to safely work with wires, but you really have to know what you’re doing to avoid messing things up in a big way.
Level 2 high-voltage chargers produce 208-240 volts. The same plugs are also used for powering ovens or stoves, central air conditioning systems, water heaters, and other appliances that take up a lot of power. To install a plug can require a person to modify electrical panels and even excavate. In a nutshell, it’s generally not something you’ll fiddle around with at home. The fact that a quarter of EV owners in the States have done it is really interesting.
But, according to PlugShare’s Chief Strategy Officer Norman Hajjar, that quarter of people is actually very electrically handy. 96 per cent of that group have installed lighting, electrical switches, or power outlets in their home before.
There isn’t much data beyond that point, but the implications here are interesting and deserve some deeper study. One in four people buying an electric car seem to have an electrical background of some sort. Does that background make them more interested in EVs? Or does that background simply provide one less hurdle for people to jump over in the conversion from an ICE to an EV, knowing you’ll be able to install an at-home charger yourself?
PlugShare doesn’t say. But it’s an interesting statistic ripe to dive into.