I spent several days of frustration getting my car to charge off 110V household outlets. It’s simple, as long as you know how. And, of course, no one told me how.

First, and most important, there is a light on the top middle of the dash. Sometimes it glows green, sometimes blue. When it is flashing blue, the car is charging. If it is green or not at all, it is not charging. I did not know that. I found out on the internet. I am sure it is buried in the instructions somewhere, but there are many instructions and the print is small and my eyes don’t see small print as they used to.

Second, if you plug the charger into an outlet that has a faulty ground, it will blink green and it will not charge the car. This is actually a good thing as it is for safety purposes. When I first saw it blinking, I had no idea why. If the there is no problem with the outlet, the green light will glow steady. I did figure it out until after I went through three outlets. Oddly, it’s the two outdoor outlets that are faulty. Now I plug an extension into an indoor outlet and it works fine. I have tried to contact an electrician to fix the two outdoor outlets without much luck.

If I can ever get an electrician to install an outdoor 210 volt outlet, I will be able to charge the car at least twice as fast.

Fact is, the outlet problem is mine and certainly is not a fault with the car. I just wish someone could have explained to me about the green light on the charger and blue light on the dash of the car.

Finally, when charging on one of the level 3 chargers, the car will automatically start charging immediately and it goes from about 25% to 100% in about 45 to 50 minutes, about long enough to enjoy a lunch. To charge off a level 1 or 2 charger, the car charging timer must be configured to accept the charge. The timer is set up through the car’s computer. I would explain how to do this but quite frankly I forgot how. Only reason I succeeded is that I stumbled onto it and now I forgot. However, it is configured to accept a charge from 7 in the evening to 7 in the morning. So now, that is when I charge my car.

I am sure I could get back to the screen for changing the charge time, but right now I don’t have to. I just plug it in after 7 at night. and it turns the charger off at 7 in the morning.

As I have said, the car is ideal for me. I rarely go over 10 or 15 miles a day. Sometimes I might go 35 miles or so, but not that often. In these conditions, I generally put the car on the charger about every 3rd day and for my purposes, that is fine.

Someone else who might really like the car is someone who has a motor home. They, as most RVers could hook the car up to the RV when traveling and disconnect it for short trips when the motor home is parked.

For those who are going to use an electric car for everyday going to and from work, I’d suggest getting the one that has a 300+ mile range, which would normally be more than adequate, unless you are one of those that drives 200 miles just getting to and from work.

Of course the other car is more expensive, but if I could have afforded it, I would have bought it when I bought the 200 mile one. It not only has more range but also some nice features that I would have really liked.

The problem is that I was barely able to manage the credit for the one I bought. If I needed even a couple of hundred more, I don’t think my credit would have cleared. I have not bought anything on credit for about 15 years.

As I said though, for my purposes, this one is fine. And I suspect it will not be long there will be many more level 3 charging stations that I will be able to use. Then, perhaps I will be able to drive it to my son’s home in Ft. Worth. I am kind of looking forward to that. I suspect, once I get on the interstate, I’ll seldom need to touch the accelerator or brake until almost there. Two things I have noticed, with the cruise control on, I seldom have to touch the accelerator or brake. Also it is very comfortable. However, I would have to stop at least 4 times on the way to recharge the batteries. It would mean a mandatory rest stop every three hours or so.