Over the past couple of months I have had family and friends make comments that electric vehicles are a passing fad. It will take 24 hours to charge the vehicle at home (think 2011 Chevrolet Volt). The other most common comment is they do not want to stand around for 20 minutes waiting for their car to fill up. Both comments are true — but as Paul Harvey would say, there is “the rest of the story.”

True, it will take 24 hours to change an empty electric vehicle using a 110 V, single-phase electrical source. A 110V charger is a Level One charger. It uses the same type of power as your electric blender or hand circular saw. There is a Level Two charger; this type uses 220 V, single phase. This type of power is used in your electric oven or clothes dryer. This type will charge an empty electric vehicle in six to eight hours. Whether it is 24 or six hours, it is a long time to wait.

This brings up the discussion related to where you fill up the car. Now we have to go to a specific location (gas station) and pump a hazardous liquid, gasoline. With electric vehicles your refueling station is at your home or in your garage. The person who owns an electric car will plug it into their home-located charging station. It will charge at night while you are cooking dinner, helping the kids with homework or sleeping. Taking the extra 5 or 10 minutes to fill the tank up will be in the past. You will always leave your home in the morning with a full tank/charge and at night when you return it will get plugged in and topped off and ready for the next day.

The key thing to remember with electric vehicles is that the primary refueling station is your home — always accessible and available to you.

What about the 20-minute charger? This topic will be addressed in another letter.