🧰 Every Electric Car Owner Should Know These Hacks

Good Day, this is your Electric Daily. The email that gives you a daily jolt of electric vehicle trends, insights, and predictions, in 5 minutes or less.

In Today's Email:

• 🧰 Every Electric Car Owner Should Know These Hacks

• 🤨 Will the Apple EV be a Porsche?

• ▶️ Video of the Day

• 🗒️ Five Nuggets

—Riz Nwosu

Every Electric Car Owner Should Know These Hacks

The secret to life is discovering the hacks! The same is true for electric vehicles, as you will derive maximum benefit from them after cracking the code. I'd like to present you with different hacks that can make your electric vehicle ownership experience even better. The best thing about these tips is that they are not difficult to implement nor do they cost you money!

✅ Save time by unplugging at 80 percent

When you are charging in public using a DC fast charger, the last 20% charges slower. This is due to the way batteries work which I will get into in another post. So if you need to get back on the road quickly, perhaps you have stopped over to charge while on a long trip, stop charging at the 80% mark to save you some time.

Another hack is to use fast chargers as sparingly as possible because they make your battery degrade and lose capacity faster. All batteries will eventually lose capacity, but you don’t want to accelerate the process.

✅ Precondition your car while plugged in

Heating or cooling your electric car takes from the battery. A cool EV hack is to either warm or cool your vehicle as dictated by the weather while it is still plugged in to charge. Then after starting your trip, you can use localized climate control like heating the steering wheel and your chair instead of the car heater. That way, your battery will last longer.

✅ Use regenerative braking

It might take some practice to drive in such a way that you use regenerative braking as much as possible. However, it is worth it because you will extend your battery and make your brake pads last longer.

Here's a quick illustration of how regenerative braking works to the benefit of your EV battery.

✅ Use vehicle-to-grid tech

If your car has vehicle-to-grid, V2G, you can hack your way to reduce your electricity bill by taking advantage of free charging opportunities. For example, if you can charge for free at work, switch your home supply to your car battery when you get home. If your household does not consume power like a welder’s workshop, you will still have enough to get to work the next day.

✅ Join online forums for EV owners

Having the correct info at the proper time is invaluable. Many forums online are created for EV owners, and they often pass on helpful information. Some are based on geographical location, while others are based on EV brands.

It is a fun way to interact with people with similar interests as you, and get tips or EV hacks like how to score better electricity, where to find free chargers, etc. You can also ask a question you need an answer to and somebody who has been in your situation will help out.

Side Note: I built a Chrome Extension for this very purpose called Sidechat. It allows you to chat in real-time with like-minded people visiting the same page as you. Perhaps you are reading an article about EV's online, Sidechat will show you who else is also reading that article and you can chat with them 🔥.

Will the Apple EV be a Porsche?

Speculation about the long rumored electric car from Apple has hit a fever pitch again as its been reported that Apple had recent discussions with Porsche, maker of the widely successful and very expensive Porsche Taycan.

There are no specifics, but Porsche CEO Oliver Blume stated during a video conference on the company's annual results call last year that his team met with Apple's team in California to explore cooperative projects. Blume stated that Porsche and Apple "continue to discuss" but acknowledged it was too early for any specifics.

We were able to get a quick clip of the iCar prototype being tested 😂 :

These encounters between representatives of the two much beloved brands have sparked speculation about a future alliance to jointly build automobiles, similar to Apple's cooperation with Goldman Sachs for the Apple credit cards.

It wouldn't be the first time Apple and Porsche have collaborated. In the past, the two companies have collaborated on initiatives such as Apple CarPlay, which allows a vehicle radio or center console unit to serve as a mirror display and controller for an iOS smartphone.

Porsche, like all of the other automakers, intends to phase out the internal combustion engine in the foreseeable future. Blume stated that by 2030, he expects more than 80% of the company's freshly sales automobiles to be totally electric.

Video of the Day

This process of using your electric car battery to supply your home with electricity (V2G) is also called Bi-Directional charging. Here's an explainer video just for you ⚡️:

5 Nuggets

• It's Not Where You Charge An EV, It's What You Do While Charging - [Read more here]

• EV scooters catching fire in India: The incidents that prompted Govt. to order a probe - [Read more here]

• EV batteries should last 15 years, says former Tesla CTO Straubel - [Read more here]

• Tesla to soon open Supercharger network to all EV owners in the UK, says Govt. official - [Read more here]

• Why Cathie Wood Just Dumped Tesla for This Hot EV Stock - [Read more here]

Consider yourself 80% charged. Why 80%? Well, according to legend, charging your battery to 100% repeatedly will degrade it faster than normal. See ya tomorrow!

What'd you think about today's email?

• ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡ Fully charged

• ⚡⚡ Meh - was ok

• ⚡ Not even close

Written by Riz Nwosu

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