This is Technology Bytes, episode 111 for April 20th, 2025.
Technology Bytes is a microcast where I share brief bytes on interesting technology.
Enjoy, and here we go.
So this week I got some bad news at work.
Really it’s not about work, but I think I’ve mentioned before that there are electric vehicle chargers at work that are free to use.
And I thought they were free for the complex, and so I have been using them on the regular to charge up my new Kia EV6.
But I found out this week that they are only for the employees of one of the companies in that complex.
And so now I am no longer able to charge my car there for free.
And so now I have to come up with a solution, and today I’m going to talk about the home charger solution that I found.
So when I bought the electric vehicle, I really hadn’t done any pre-planning.
It’s not very smart on my part to figure out how I’m going to get this vehicle charged.
When I went to work and told my boss about my purchase, he said, oh, those chargers over there are free.
So now I had a solution, and it worked for a few months until it doesn’t.
And so now it’s a matter of how do I get my vehicle charged when I’m at home.
And home chargers can be super expensive.
And I was just going through some things.
The electric company in the area will give you a rebate on a unit, but it’s like maybe 20% off still costs $400.
And then you have to permit and then get an electrician to do the work to install a 240-volt outlet.
That could run another $1,200 to $1,400.
And the next thing you know, you’re spending $2,000 to be able to charge your electric vehicle at your house.
While that still means you’re saving on gas, I don’t know.
I think I might save, say I save $50 a week.
Well, that’s a lot of time that it’s going to take for me to pay back that $2,000 for the home charging setup.
So I was looking for something less expensive, trying to figure out what to do.
And so then I decided, wonder what I could do for, you know, on the cheap.
What is available?
And looking at just 120-volt charging options.
And so I found a portable EV charger on Amazon for $150.
And I’m like, the box says, hey, this is free returns.
And I’m like, okay, let’s give it a shot.
And so I got that and plugged it into an outlet on my front porch, which is where my car gets parked in the driveway there.
And so I plugged it in and it says, you know, to go from 60% to 100%, it’s going to take 25 or 26 hours.
I’m like, wow.
Yep, that’s really slow, but that’s kind of what I signed up for.
So then I was just looking at it and thinking, well, I use about 20% of my battery every day to go to work and to come home.
And so when I come home, I don’t generally go anywhere after that on the work days.
And so if I plug in when I get home at 6 and I unplug when I leave at 6, I should get that 20% that I need to get back and forth to work.
And then on the weekends, maybe I end up having to use my wife’s car more and we travel together in her car instead of in the electric vehicle.
And then we’re able to leave it charging for a longer period of time.
But in addition, the charger that I bought will also plug into a 240-20 amp, which will at least double.
So then I can do that 40% instead of in the 25 hours, it would happen in 12.
And then my overnight charging would clearly meet more than I need for my general commutes back and forth to work.
That’s still going to cost some money.
I’m not sure exactly how that works.
I don’t know if I need to get it permitted.
I’m going to have to figure that out.
You know, is it a do it and better to ask for forgiveness than permission?
I’m not sure.
But right now, no wiring, super slow, inexpensive, and my vehicle does get some charge just from a standard house outlet.
Not sure that’s a good solution, but it’ll hold me over until I figure out the best way to go from there.
Well, that’s all I have for today.
As always, I want to thank you for listening.
And if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, you can send them to technologybytesatmarigfamily.com.
I look forward to the next time we are together taking another bite of technology.
