The 4 Most Surprising Differences Between Owning an Electric Vehicle and a Gas-Powered Car that I Didn’t Understand Until Making the Switch

It has been less than 6 months since I bought a used 2020 Chevy Bolt. Truth be told, very little surprised me about the car.

It’s pretty common knowledge that EVs are quiet. We have laws on the books requiring EVs to make noise when traveling slowly to alert pedestrians – mine sounds a bit like a hovering UFO. I had already worked out that most of my charging would happen at home. I had spent some time tracking my daily driving and knew that the Chevy Bolt EV would have plenty of range for my needs. Having owned the electric and gas versions of a number of tools, I knew that maintenance would be far simpler. And, I was looking forward to never stopping at a gas station again (except to fill up my kids’ car or my wife’s car – both still ICE vehicles.)

Even though I became an EV owner with a pretty clear understanding of what to expect, there were still a few surprises.

Home EV Charging Requirements

The day I brought home my 2020 Chevy Bolt EV I had not made a single change at my house to get ready for home charging. Based on all my research I expected to need a Level 2 charger installed pretty quickly to avoid having to charge my car at charging stations (there are several convenient local options for that, if needed.)

Like most EVs, my Chevy Bolt came with an EVSE charging cord that connects up to a regular 120v wall outlet. The car defaults to drawing 8 amps when charging from a 120v outlet to avoid tripping the breaker or overheating the wiring if other devices are drawing power at the same time. The outlets in my carport are not on a dedicated circuit, so I needed to respect this limit. This is Level 1 charging at its worst and resulted in a very pathetic .96 kW charge speed!

My first big surprise, level 1 charging at .96 kW completely covered my daily charging needs! Like most average drivers in the US, my daily driving rarely exceeds 50 miles and is usually closer to 30 miles. My car spends about 10 hours parked at home every night and 8 amp Level 1 charging can keep it nearly full all the time if I want.

Before I bought my EV, I spent a lot of time planning out my optimal home charging solution. I was planning to spend at least a couple thousand dollars to install a 60 amp 240v circuit in my carport to support a 48 amp charger (constant draw appliances can only use 80% of the available amps to avoid overheating wires.) This is about the fastest Level 2 charger you can install at home. But my first week driving my Chevy Bolt made it clear that upgrading to the biggest, fastest charger was not urgent – or even necessary.

Instead of rushing out to install a bunch of new electrical wiring, I repurposed an unused 30 amp 240v electric dryer circuit and re-routed the wiring to a spot closer to where I park the car. The charge cord that came with my car (sometimes called an EVSE – Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) is dual voltage, so I’ll get 3.84 kW (16 amps @ 240v) of charging speed for a few hundred dollars worth of electrical parts and wires. Eventually I’ll add a dedicated charger and leave the portable cable in the back of the car.

The biggest benefit of having Level 2 charging at home is the ability to compress charging times into a shorter window. Our local power utility offers a rebate to EV owners who charge at home between 9pm and 5am. I have programmed my car to restrict home charging to those hours. This further reduces the cost of ownership for an EV.

Having time to live with the car before deciding on a long term home charging solution was a welcome surprise.

EV Driving Performance

The Chevy Bolt EV is a small car. Over decades of driving I have owned and driven Nissan Sentras, Ford Escorts, and a number of other small cars. I have expectations for how these low-end little cars handle. The acceleration is sluggish (even with a manual transmission and the ‘sport’ package.) Normally they have lots of body roll going around curves, and you tend to get blown around on the highway by semi trucks and other large vehicles.

My 2020 Chevy Bolt EV handles more like a high-end sedan. The extra weight of the traction battery pack is all positioned low and feels evenly distributed. As a result, the car has a very low center of gravity and the extra weight makes it feel like the car is glued to the road. The car also has amazing acceleration (even on the steep hills around my neighborhood.) All this results in a very satisfying car to drive that also happens to be extremely quiet!

One Pedal Driving

The Chevy Bolt EV offers one-pedal driving. This setting engages the regenerative braking system any time you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal. There is also a small paddle on the left side of the steering wheel that will engage the regenerative brakes more aggressively when activated. This allows you to operate the car without using the brake pedal in most situations.

I wasn’t sure I would like one-pedal driving before I tried it. The reality is I love it and miss it every time I have to drive an ICE vehicle.

The learning curve was about 20 minutes of driving, and now I rarely take my foot off the accelerator pedal except when fully stopped at lights (the brake lights automatically come on when the car slows down, but when you are completely stopped they turn off – so I use the brake pedal to make sure the lights are on for the drivers behind me.) The biggest adjustment was getting a feel for how much distance is needed to stop without using the brake pedal.

The most surprising aspect of one-pedal driving was how much I missed it my first time back driving an ICE vehicle. I drove my daughter’s car to the gas station and found it unsettling when the car didn’t slow down when I lifted my foot off the accelerator – I did NOT like that!

One-pedal driving with regenerative braking is a now my preferred way to drive.

Cold Weather Range

I’ll end my list of surprises with a negative, because life with an EV isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. It is no surprise to learn that cold weather has an impact on battery range. One of the most important systems in a modern EV is the thermal managment system connected to the traction battery. But, a recent trip during some cold weather revealed that my range losses were at least 25% – that surprised me.

For daily commuting, a 25% drop in range is completely manageable. My battery charged to 80% still has more than 3 times the range I need to get around. But, that radically altered the schedule for a 387 mile roadtrip I took.

I made this exact trip in September when the weather was warm. I was able to make the entire trip with just 2 charging stops – one to top up the battery and the second one a full 10%-80% charging session. The spacing of DC fast charging stations on this route is not perfect, so it’s best if I can make it from my first stop to my second stop on one charge.

The temperatures dring this trip dropped well below freezing and I found that I lost at least 30 miles of range. That meant I needed 2 extra ‘top-up’ charging stops during the trip. My actual charging speeds during the trip were pretty good for my little Chevy Bolt. Most of my charge sessions hovered around 50 kW, which is near the maximum rate for the car. But, I had to make those extra stops and the first one was in an area with no convenient charging locations. The first location I found had 2 chargers not working and 2 chargers occupied with other cars. The second location was 7 miles away from my travel route and added at least 45 minutes to my trip beyond the charging time thanks to holiday traffic. The return trip went more smoothly because I knew where the extra stops were needed, but I still had to make the extra stops to top-up the battery pack.

I did not choose my 2020 Chevy Bolt EV because of it’s long distance travel features (256 mile EPA range and 55 kW maximum charging speed,) but I was still a bit surprised at just how much the cold impacted the battery capacity. Winter trips will require extra stops. Fortunately, new chargers seem to be popping up in Pilot/Flying J truck stops on a regular basis so those coverage gaps keep getting smaller.

The Bottom Line On EV Ownership Surprises

There have been a few surprises as a new EV owner, and most of them have been good.
I did a lot of research before purchasing my Chevy Bolt EV, so I had a pretty decent idea of what the ownership experience would be like. I understood the strengths and weaknesses of the specific car I purchased. But, there were still a few surprises.