Illustration by Glenn Harvey
If you can drive, you can drive an electric vehicle: Same steering wheel, same brake pedal, same traffic laws. That said, EVs come with a learning curve that, for me, was steep.
When I picked up my EV, a Hyundai Ioniq 5, in early 2022, the guy at the dealership walked me through various details about the car and many of the settings on the dashboard touchscreen.
He then sent me on my way, car on, with my head spinning. The amount of information I retained: Zilch.
I had a difficult couple of weeks ahead of me, faced with the technical complexities of a vehicle that has more in common with my current iPhone than my previous gas-burning car – an entry-level 2011 hatchback whose whiz-bang features topped out at power windows.
A neighbour who has owned an EV for several years assured me I would adapt quickly to my new car. I wasn’t so sure, though.
Embarrassing admission: After I had driven my new EV home from the dealership and parked it in my driveway, I struggled to restart it. I dived into the owner’s manual to figure out that I needed to keep my foot on the brake.
I consulted the owner’s manual obsessively after that in pursuit of further details on everything from battery-charging practices to efficiency tips to regenerative braking - capturing energy when slowing. Much of this part of my education was fun, which is why I suspect I’m not alone in embracing EV ownership as a strange new hobby.
I searched online forums for further help with every button and beep. One night, after I parked the car, I noticed that an amber light on the dashboard went on, raising fears that I had done something terribly wrong. I embarked upon a frenzied investigation to discover the source: The car’s main battery was charging the standard 12V battery you find in gas-powered cars. I think.
My learning curve with EVs also included gaining comfort with charging. The journey began with figuring out where public chargers are located in my neighbourhood, since I don’t own a home-charger. I used apps as a starting point, then drove around – and around.
From there, I slowly figured out when to charge and when not to bother. Initially, I plugged the car in whenever I had a chance: 20 minutes here, 40 minutes there, at slow chargers that might add just 5 per cent to my battery’s state of charge each session.
Now, I can’t be bothered with brief sessions. Usually, I charge the car for several hours at a time when using a slow charger close to where I live, and then I’m good for about a week.
If I’m organized, I charge the car overnight on weekdays – when my local public charger isn’t busy – and cut my costs by as much as 75 per cent. This approach took me months to figure out.
On-the-road fast charging, where you stop for a quick boost to get you to your destination, requires learning yet another skill that is key to EV ownership: patience.
I never used to get upset when queuing at busy gas stations with my old car, and I never screamed at the injustice of seeing few options along lonely stretches of highways. I planned ahead, and blamed myself when the fuel gauge turned dangerously low.
But EVs are still relatively new. The charging infrastructure is still being developed and tweaked, which can create anxiety among newish drivers, like me.
Yes, things can go wrong. You arrive at a charger, and sometimes it doesn’t work. You think the charger will get you going in 20 minutes, and you’re there for an hour. An app tells me there is a charger around here somewhere, apparently, but you can’t locate it.
The first time I drove to my family cottage, which is a three-hour journey north from Toronto, I stopped at about six charging stations along the way – mostly to map out options and develop contingencies in case of an emergency one day.
I discovered that what an app said was a fast-charger was in reality a slow charger; that another charger’s cable was incapable of reaching the port on my car unless I parked creatively; and that, in one case, the electricity for some reason wouldn’t flow.
Still, I also discovered that the current charging infrastructure – though sometimes frustrating – will get me to where I want to go, and it will surely improve as the number of EVs rises.
The trip also did wonders for easing my anxiety about long-distance travel in an EV. With one trip behind me, I felt I had moved well up the learning curve.
There’s still more to learn.
I haven’t used navigation software to plan charging stops during long road trips. That may change this summer if I live up to a promise and drive to Nova Scotia.
And since cold batteries take longer to charge than warm ones, I’ve discovered that in the winter I have to do something called preconditioning my battery prior to using high-speed fast-chargers along the highway.
I don’t know how to do that yet, but that’s not a big concern. My EV was a source of anxiety over the first week or so of owning it as I worked through its complexities. Now, though, learning about these vehicles has become one of the joys.