Do not charge like a cellphone
An electric car can be charged at home, but not like a cellphone. Yes, it can detect a fault and stop charging, but bad wiring may not warn you until it starts to smoke.
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An electric car can be charged at home, but not like a cellphone. Yes, it can detect a fault and stop charging, but bad wiring may not warn you until it starts to smoke.
One of the most useful slides I saw during the launch of ACMobility’s Drive Electric EV Safety Program showed a wall-mounted home charger.
The instructions beside it told owners to use a qualified electrician, check whether the wiring could carry the load, avoid homemade solutions and never use adapters or extension cords.
Another slide was more likely to attract buyers because it placed the estimated cost per kilometer at P8.94 for diesel, P7.69 for gasoline and about P1.70 for an EV charged at home, based on the fuel and electricity rates used.
Over a 500-kilometer round trip between Manila and Baguio, the presentation placed the EV’s energy cost at P847.50 compared with P3,845 for the gasoline car. As the speaker put it, “Mas mahal pa yung toll fee kaysa sa energy cost.”
Those numbers can help sell an EV, although the attractive P1.70 assumes that the owner has somewhere safe to plug it in.
Most of us learned how to charge electrical devices by using the nearest socket. When the cable does not reach, many of us reach for an extension cord.
That may work for a cellphone, but an electric vehicle asks much more from the same wall.
A phone charger draws a small amount of electricity. An EV, however, can pull thousands of watts continuously for several hours.
A loose connection or undersized wire can heat up under that prolonged load, and the problem may be hidden behind a wall while the owner sleeps.
The ACMobility presentation later covered what drivers should do when something goes wrong.
Occupants who see smoke are told to pull over, switch off the vehicle, get everyone out and move at least 15 meters away.
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Drivers were also warned not to touch exposed orange cables because these identify parts of the high-voltage system.
One damaged battery cell can produce enough heat to affect the cells beside it. This chain reaction is called thermal runaway.
Energy may also be left inside the battery after the visible fire has been extinguished, which creates a risk of it starting again.
The presentation also showed a flood warning familiar to Filipino drivers. Water levels were marked against a tire, with an instruction not to proceed once the water rose above its midpoint.
An EV battery may be protected against rain and normal water exposure, but that protection does not turn the vehicle into the Salamander amphibious tricycle I wrote about several weeks ago.
If water enters the vehicle, drivers are advised to switch it off, leave calmly and move away.
ACMobility plans to bring its safety sessions to companies and communities around the country, and I hope the program teaches safe charging instead of simply assuring people that EVs are safe.
An electric car can be charged at home, but not like a cellphone. Yes, it can detect a fault and stop charging, but bad wiring may not warn you until it starts to smoke.
