- A Level 1 charger is sometimes bundled with a new EV.
- It can come in handy for emergencies and it can even work as a main charger in ideal conditions.
- If you have to park outside in the freezing temperatures, it's barely effective.
It's general knowledge that charging an EV at home is the best way to lower fuel bills and increase ownership satisfaction. But what happens if you buy an EV and don't have a Level 2 charger? Typically, new EVs come with a Level 1 charger in the trunk, which can be handy in emergencies.
But you really shouldn’t rely on one as the main source of power for an EV. Throw in some freezing temperatures, and you’ll have a very bad time. The FrozenTesla video embedded below showcases just how bad winter charging can be if you only have Level 1 access.
As a reminder, a Level 1 charger is typically plugged into a 110-volt outlet and can draw a maximum of around 15 amps, leading to charging speeds of approximately 1 to 2 kilowatts. If the car's battery pack has 70 kilowatt-hours, it could take up to 80 hours to get a full charge. That's an extremely long time.
In the video, a facelifted Tesla Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive was parked outside through a freezing Canadian night with temperatures dropping to -15 degrees Fahrenheit (-26 Celsius). During this time, it was plugged into a Level 1 charger to try and increase the state of charge.
The Tesla remained outside for 14 hours, during which the battery level went from 65% to just 70%. That's pretty terrible, but there’s an explanation. The charger was plugged into an extension cord that was too thin, forcing the charger to throttle the current to just 9 amps. The maximum possible is 12 amps which would have made a difference in this case.
According to a smartphone app monitoring this particular charging session, the car used most of the energy—roughly 15 kWh—simply to keep the battery warm. This resulted in a gain of just 1.14 kWh for the session. In other words, only 7% of the power from the outlet actually made it into the battery.
Using a thicker gauge extension cord would have allowed the charger to dispense its maximum output of 12 amps. Plugging into a 240-volt outlet would have helped even more, effectively doubling the amount of energy going into the battery.
Can you live with a Level 1 charger? Absolutely, but there’s additional planning involved which may not suit everyone.
