04-22-2025, 01:27 PM
macphanatic wrote:
China's electrical system is 220 v, as are many other countries. Their electrical infrastructure is much newer than ours, and they burn a ton of coal. Makes it much easier to have faster charging.
A work acquaintance was being given a company EV to drive. He couldn't charge it at home as his electrical panel was maxed out. The company spent close to $20k to upgrade his service and another $12k to install the quick charger.
FYI - The US uses 110/120 volt as we built our grid much earlier than other countries. When we did so, wiring insulation wasn't as good and could only handle 120v. By the time the rest of the world started their grids, insulation had improved enough to support 220/240v.
Well, first of all, our grid - that is, our system at the end of the line - is 240V center tapped. It is a simple matter to have a 240V circuit. Most houses do, and all (or almost all) houses can.
Secondly, China has installed the most utility-level solar of any country in the world - over twice as much as the US has. And that’s increasing in a near-exponential way.
Says who? Says the US Energy Information Administration.
…which is good, because they are currently the largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world. But (if you can believe them), they intend to have peaked emissions by 2030, won’t build any more coal plants outside China, and may not build any inside China after 2027. So if they keep to this, they’re more serious about this than some countries.