24 Simple Tips For New EV Owners (everything you wish you knew BEFORE buying an electric car)

Here are some unexpected things to understand about EVs: tips and tricks relating to charging, driving, maintaining and living with an electric car.

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[darbinorvar]

Thanks for watching! Check out darbinorvar.com for more info on me and my shoppe!

[dascathea]

just wanted to let you know that your video inspired me to get an EV. got my Kia EV5 delivered yesterday. loving it so far!

[lindseyoverthinking]

This was extremely helpful. I got my first EV yesterday. Thank you.

[familyplans]

having had an E.V. for a while now one thing i would say is that if youre thinking about buying an E.V. then watch a few videos on what actually happens when you run out of charge, people seem to think that the car is going along and just stops!
It Doesnt !! Basically its really hard to run out of charge as the car warns you for ages then it restricts your speed, it does this with approx 30 miles of range so you can easily find a charging port

[praveenpanicker]

One advantage for EV owners is also low maintenance costs as there is no oil change, no filter change, no spark plug change and no timing belt change required

[nickborrrego]

Thanks! As an owner of a 2012 Leaf over the last two years (best commuter ever!) it's great having videos like yours explaining how it all works out.

[l__eeanne]

This was incredibly informative, and I really enjoyed the format and delivery of your list. Thank you for the time and effort you put towards making this video!

[zampaever]

A lot of the charging tips are for older cars. Newer cars like mine MGZSEV SR have LFP batteries which are happy to be consistently charged to 100%. This is something that needs to be addressed more as a lot of reviewers fail to distinguish between the different battery chemistry available depending on the model and age of the car.

[JimMcLaren]

Very well explained, Lots of good tips and comparison to gas cars. We did a dealer trade today. Drove back EV with 80 percent charge. Like you say takes longer from 80 to 100. We drove to the next dealer and did a fast charge 25 minutes to get us back home. Range was 400 kilometers fully charged. this EV had Google maps and showed how much left on arrival 11 percent and ended up with 57 K left on charge. Driving for the first time was totally different. When you take your foot off accelerator it started braking, which really feels weird. Rather than charge again turned off the air conditioning to save. Plus put on cruise control.
Like you mentioned you cant hear it running. Although you can hear a humming sound that's what I heard from another EV going by.
Excellent video.

[jaseastroboy]

I have a very similar Leaf to the one in the video and looking at the service history (I am the second owner), the only items replaced so far is the 12volt battery and the cabin air filter. Service costs are tiny compared to gas cars which have a list of items that get replaced regularly, spark plugs, spark leads, engine oil, transmission fluid, fuel filter, oil filter, none of which are on an EV. Also the brake pads and rotors/disks are replaced regularly on a gas car but on an EV they are hardly ever used and so rarely wear out. Most braking is done using regenerative braking. Sort of like in the old days when Dad would down shift through the gears trying to save the brakes but instead of generating heat it generates some electricity that goes back into the EV battery.
Another thing I noticed with moving over to an EV. When charging at a public charger, if there is somebody else there they will often get out of their car and have a chat. I have met so many nice people while charging. They seem to have such a hopeful/excited outlook on the future. Totally the opposite to refuelling a gas vehicle where it is like standing in an elevator. You are three feet away from another person and it is a rarity to see anyone speaking to each other unless it is to complain about the fuel prices.

[toner]

I've been talking to a co-worker who owns the Bolt and he's never regretted it. He says 2 yrs later and it owes him nothing. He even did a winter test at his place by letting it run as it were for a full hour. Using the heat and radio and such. He used one battery bar for the full hour. I am keeping an eye on things for the EV that I'd be into. Currently living in an apartment and talked to the property manager. They were intrigued at the cost(very little) with a standard plug in. I look forward to the day when no more gas, oil changes and any other maintenance that a regular car would need over the years.

[ArielBatista]

Really nice well done. I hope others get to see this. It is very refreshing to see you embrace the Leaf. We now have 2 EVs for our house. It started with a 2015 Leaf S. Had only 65 miles of range. I got the car due to work I did for a company. The owner wasn't able to pay so he was not using the car. So it was my payment. After 6 months of driving it. It really saved me a lot of money. I am a computer field tech. Now retired but still it started me in the right direction. I think you should also do one of these videos showing how you found the free charge. I use plugshare. Plus I have 2 Nissan dealerships within 6 miles. Plus many public transportation parking with Lvl 2 locations. Another one is local Harley Davidson dealers have CCS charging not super fast. But works. I have a 2021 Bolt now, and my wife drives a 2021 Leaf S Plus.

[leoluv]

Hey! Thank you for this, I just bought my first ever EV. I could not understand how one pedal braking works, until you explained it in much more simple terms. Thank you! And I’m also in Richmond!

[vincentrolfe]

I have talked with EV owners who were driving the early Toyota EV cars and they all said you can do a partial replacement of a dead battery cell for a low cost vs. the $$$ complete battery change at a dealer. And, the brake pads on EV's last for 100K to 160K miles compared to an average of 40K miles for low priced pads and city driving. Glad you made the EV particulars available to us.

[Duaneoca]

I’ve had a couple of commutes where my range actually went up after 20+ minutes of sitting in stop and go traffic. A lot of the energy used driving the car at highway speeds is spent pushing the air out of the way. When you’re moving slowly, less air needs to get moved out of the way, so better range. It’s a tough concept to wrap your brain around, when it’s the opposite for gas cars.

[ygstuff]

It is almost the end of 2023 and I have been contemplating buying an EV. Thank you so much for the advice; it is really helping my understanding and final decisions.

[donnavotino]

Great video! I've had mine for 2 weeks now and so far no complaints!

[williamhurst]

Excellent. As an owner of a 2019 Nissan Leaf SL+, this is the best video I have seen for non-EV owners.

[nyinfamousk]

We recently bought a new Tesla model Y. we get 300 miles per charge. Thats on par with a gas powered cars range. But they way I explain it to people is, when you charge at home, image waking up every morning with full tank of gas. Just doing everyday running around ive only had to use an outside charger once in 6 months and thats because we didnt charge up for a few days. BUT the best thing about Teslas are their super chargers. You can charge from damn near a completely dead battery to fully charged in 20 min, if you want to . or you can get 25% Battery ( 1/4 tank of gas) in 5 min, and go home and charge over night. THE Absolute best thing about charging teslas with the super chargers is road trips. We have done a good amount of 400 mile trips from NY to the mountains of Vermont and when you enter your road trip destination the tesla map, automatically maps out all the tesla superchargers you will stop at for your trip. and it wont have you fully charge every time, no, you will charge maybe 5 min, which will get you enough to get to the next super charger on the route. Normally the NY to Vermont trip in my Dodge ram, I will have to Fill up before I leave and Fill up again 3/4 of the way there at $90 (now $130) to fill up. with the telsa we stopped twice for 5 -10 min both times and was maybe $10 to charge. I still have my Dodge ram, but the Tesla is now our main family car.

[JoshuaMichail]

I absolutely love my 2023 Ford F150 Lightning Lariat extended range. EVs tend to cost more upfront, but they're so much less expensive because of both costing around 1/4 to drive and costing less than half in maintenance and I think people need to understand that. Don't let the sticker price put you off, it's going to pay for that upfront difference and more with all the savings in operational costs. So, the F150 Lightning is a regular pickup truck doing all the normal pickup truck things, but it also has the performance of a sports car with 0 -to-60 in 4 seconds, low center of gravity so it can corner fast, with independent rear suspension if floats over speedbumps and potholes, and in the Lariat I've got luxury too. Now that I've owned and driven my F150 Lightning I will never go back to anything else, it's the best vehicle I've ever been in, let alone owned or driven.