‘EV is the biggest scam’: Driver warns against Chevy Equinox after charging at gas station. Then he reveals why
Life Coach and TikToker Andrew Cipriano (@lifecoachandrew) has a message for folks contemplating purchasing an electric car: Don't.
In a viral TikTok with over 135,000 views, he documented his frustrating Chevrolet Equinox EV charging experience. In the video, he shows the difficulties he has in setting the EV up to fast charge. Even when he finally gets the car charging, he says the charging rate is equivalent to the price of gas. Additionally, he explained that outfitting one's home for Level 2 charging also comes with its own set of expenditures.
Charging trouble
Cipriano begins his clip seated inside his sibling's Chevy Equinox. He says, "Y'all are lying about these damn electric cars. My brother got the electric Equinox and he's like, 'Hey Andrew, can you charge this thing 'cause I can't go to work and back on this charge.'"
At this point in the video, a text overlay pops up detailing how inconvenient he found it to charge the vehicle: "Took 15 minutes to get it to charge properly after typing in all card info."
He continues, "I'm like yeah, whatever, he took my car. So my dumb[expletive] is sitting here watching this thing charge like the Dickens. I'm on a fast charger. Not only does it cost just as much as gas does right now to fill these up. But you also have to like go and spend an hour to an hour and a half of your time."
In another overlay, he adds that it costs an additional 50 cents just to use the charging plug. Cipriano goes on to vent more of his frustrations.
"10-15 minutes just to figure out how to use this thing cause the card readers never work. You have to download an app," he rants. "Submit, then you have to actually unplug the car, plug it back in, then it resets."
Passing time
He looks out the car's window and shows the station's gasoline pumps.
"25 people have gotten gas since I've been sitting here," he shares. "Just for me to allow my car to get plugged in. And then it wasn't working so I had to turn off everything, restart, no shortage of five times."
He also cited the costs of installing home charging solutions. EV charging speeds are generally graded by three different levels. Level 1 charging is a standard 12-volt plug, which hardly adds any power to one's car. For instance, when I previously owned a Tesla Model 3 standard range plus, 8 hours of level 1 charging added 10% of its battery capacity.
Furthermore, the car needed to be off to actually store any battery power with Level 1 charging. Level 2 charging works much more quickly, it takes around 8-10 hours to charge most EVs from 0 to 100%. This can be a convenient solution if you have level 2 charging access at home. However, this necessitates a NEMA-1450 outlet with a higher voltage capacity.
Cipriano says these installations don't come cheap. "By the way if you don't want to spend $2,500 on installing a car charger in your garage. You literally have to plug it into the 120 outlet that comes with the car," he says. "And guess what? You get one mile per hour per charge. One mile per hour, so you can charge your car overnight and get 12 miles."
Slow energy
He says these standard wall plug adapters are effectively useless. This means you'll have to rely on fast charging solutions if you don't have a level 2 charger at home.
Furthermore, Cipriano states the costs of level 2 charging don't stop at NEMA-1450 installations, either. That's because the more electricity you consume, the higher your power bill will be.
This potential jump in costs, combined with electrician service fees, could negate any savings you'd see on an EV.
"And once you do that, you're spending more on electricity anyways," he says. "The technology's just not there people. Do not do it. Don't let some dumb salesman rope you into it because of the rebates on these cars. The reason why they're such good rebates on these cars is cause the infrastructure's not set up for them sustainably."
@lifecoachandrew Watch this before you get an electric vehicle. I don’t care what the salesman or the company is advertising. This experience has been horrible for the last 4 months #electriccar ♬ original sound - Andrew Cipriano
TikTokers weigh in
One user shared Cipriano's criticisms. "EV is the biggest scam in recent times," they penned.
Someone else pointed out that going on an extended drive in an electric vehicle sounds like a nightmare. "Can you imagine going on a road trip?" they said.
Another highlighted the controversies associated with lithium ore mining. "People dont do research on how these effect the environment — way worse than gas cars from battery to tires," they claimed.
One user said EV ownership experiences sound unnecessarily frustrating. "Sounds like a giant hassle to deal with an electric car," they wrote.
However, someone stated they had pleasant fast-charging experiences with their EV. "My Tesla charges to 80% quickly. Maybe it is specific to your car. Not to Tesla," they said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Cipriano and Chevrolet via email.
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