PHEV and public Chargers

 As a new PHEV user and having time to wait and think of the advantages of driving on pure electric power, it's easy to start planning your trips, both local and longer road trips around chargers. I know I did, downloading ChargePoint, Flo and other EV Charging apps to help me locate where I can charge my car.

Now that I have driven my PHEV for about a month, I think about it a lot less.  For driving around day to day, often my range of 56 KMS seems to cover my needs.  More often than not I am finding myself coming back home not using any gas and running purely on EV.  Other times, the use is minimal.  What amazed me was how efficiently my 2024 Kia Niro PHEV runs.  I was happy to find that I was able to run my A/C on EV, and how efficiently the motor charges the battery along with the regenerative braking which helps slow down the vehicle in stop-and-go traffic and saves your brakes as well.

In the end, I found how efficient it is to simply plug it in when getting home and let it charge overnight.   My Kia Niro gives me the option to schedule my charging to optimize low peak hours and save some money on charges.  It's very tempting to look at the 220V Level 2 and have priced out how much it will take to wire one in my garage.  However, after a month of ownership, I found Level 1 more than adequate.

The first weekend I owned the car I took it on a road trip to Fargo, North Dakota.  I had a hotel room booked at the Days Inn and arrived later in the evening.  During check-in, I asked about EV charging as I had my Level 1 charger along.  They told me they didn't have charging at the hotel or any 120V outlets outside the building for charging.  After unloading the car, I took a drive around the building and found some parking along the side where my factory charging cable reached the outlet and I was able to charge my vehicle.  The nice thing about the 2024 Kia Niro PHEV is once you lock the door you also lock the cable into the car, which lowered my anxiety about having my cable stolen.  The next morning I had a full battery and each day I was able to use my vehicle just like at home, on EV   power during the day and charging at the hotel in the evening.  I had done my research and knew wher
e the Level 2 Free chargers were in case I needed to charge there but having my Level 1 charger along made things on the road a lot easier.

I have found a level 2 near one of the parks in my area.  I do some weekly walks with a friend of mine, so we have moved our walks to walk there.  Found that if my battery is a bit low, will charge it there, and enjoy the speed of getting my car charged on level 2.  It's a nice luxury but something that can be lived without if you aren't able to find one close to you.

I think the beauty of PHEV is the ability to charge when you can and not worry too much about range or finding chargers.  I'll will be shopping for and will purchase an additional Level 1/2 combo charger cable like this and leave my factory charger plugged in at home in the garage.   It is nice to have everything wrapped up nice and neat in the garage and not have to take things apart when travelling for a weekend or longer.