Originally Posted by
globecanvas
We just bought a Chevy Bolt fully electric vehicle. We already had 100A service to an outbuilding at the end of the driveway so I figured it would be straightforward to install a level 2 charger there. So I bought a charger on Amazon.
But the subpanel didn't have space for the new circuit. So I spent Thursday installing a new subpanel. But the charger didn't have enough cable length to reach where we park the vehicle. So I spent Friday and Saturday digging a 40' trench and laying conduit. But I wasn't able to run a pull wire through the conduit. So I bought a reel of fish tape this morning, pulled the wire, and installed the charger. Yay it works. I just filled the trench. I am 100% completely physically destroyed.
It's been 25 years since I worked in the trades and probably 15 years since I did any job of this size. I needed reading glasses to do anything with any tool smaller than a shovel, and I've completely lost the habit of keeping the work space organized. I probably burned 3 hours over the course of the job just looking for stuff that I had in my hand just a few minutes earlier.
But it's done!
Seeing the cars in the shop I'm convinced that electric cars, running on solar harvested power (hydrogen cells?), are the wave of the future. Not sure of battery technology but the rest of it... an electric motor swap shouldn't be super tricky, a gas engine has just so many parts/systems it's ridiculous. Tires work the same, suspension similar, some controls for charging/discharging, etc, but overall the cars should be much less complicated to manufacture. If Tesla had to design all the stuff related to gas engines I think he'd have had a much harder time getting started. With electric it was probably a bit easier. Not easy, of course, just "easier".
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