Andrea:
Welcome to Live Wire, a podcast powered by Kosciusko REMC. We are a member owned and locally operated cooperative that supplies electricity to portions of Kosciusko, Fulton, Wabash, and Whitley Counties here in northern Indiana. Live Wire is a program where we come together to discuss co-op matters, energy, community topics, and to communicate with KREMC members. I'm your host, Andrea Melton.
Welcome to Live Wire. Today we are going to be talking about electric vehicles or EVs as we refer to them, and a very cool EV test drive event that we have coming up on October 14th. Joining me today is Dalton Caley, who is KREMC's key accounts, and GIS specialist and engineering technician. That's a lot of roles you fill Dalton.

Dalton:
Yeah, definitely got a lot of hats. Makes it fun.

Andrea:
Awesome. Well thank you so much for coming in today. I appreciate it.

Dalton:
Absolutely. Looking forward to it.

Andrea:
Dalton is here because he's considered to be our in-house EV expert and while I'm excited to tell you about the EV event later in the episode, we thought it was important to have some discussion about EVs, what the industry is looking like, how EVs are currently impacting and might be predicted to impact our community. And so let's get started. All right, Dalton, for those who are maybe newer to the concept, maybe give us a brief overview of what electric vehicles are, how they're different from our traditional vehicles and how they work.

Dalton:
Yeah, so they operate pretty much like a golf cart, like you're on the gas and then you don't really have to hit the brakes to slow down. I think you can set them up a little differently depending on your own personal preferences. Obviously the big thing is you can't just stop at a gas station anywhere. You got to know where you're going and have a route planned out. So it takes a little while to charge. It's not just a five-minute stop. You may be stopping for 20 to 45 minutes depending on how low you are on battery and where you're going.

Andrea:
Absolutely. Where are people charging EVs? Where are they doing this? Are they charging them at home? I know there's some infrastructure that is being developed. There are stations. Tell us more about where the EVs are being charged.

Dalton:
You got different levels of chargers. So a level 1 is basically just a 120 outlet. You could plug it into anything, any outlet that's in your garage or whatever. Level two is going to be a little faster. Usually those do a full charge in about four hours, depending on the size and how low you are obviously. Those are pretty common. You'll see those in homes. You might see those at destination points like a hotel or restaurant. Level 3s will be superchargers, which those go pretty quick and can get a full charge in 20 to 45 minutes. Again, depending on how low your battery is and how far you're going, those are usually up along state routes or interstates. Tesla, which was what we have here at the office. It kind of maps out everywhere you need to stop based on where you're coming from.

Andrea:
Okay. With the EVs, are there different models? Are there different types of batteries? Do we have some EVs that might charge more quickly than another? Are there differences there in that way?

Dalton:
I believe that might vary on brand. I know that at the beginning 10% of a battery, your charging rate on a supercharger will be like 128KW if you're at a Tesla supercharger, just from my experience. But then as you get up into that upper 10%, that 90% it really slows down. It might only charge pull 16KWs, so your last 10% takes a little bit longer. As far as variation in batteries, I'm not sure if there's a difference between Chevy Bolt or Tesla. I'm not sure on that.

Andrea:
Okay. So people who drive EVs in Kosciusko County, where are they likely charging them? Are people locally charging them at home or do we have stations where they can charge an EV here in Kosciusko County?

Dalton:
So I would say most of it's going to be done at home. If somebody was going from Warsaw to Indy, I know there's some superchargers along the way, not just Tesla. I know there's some other brands and if you're just going around the county, again, you probably wouldn't need to charge until you got home. If you're going to Florida like I did, it was about exactly a thousand miles from here to Florida. It was supposed to take 15 hours in a normal car is what the map said. After charging and with cold weather impacting battery, it took me about 19. So you kind of factor some of that in, but I had to charge a little more often than I was thinking.

Andrea:
That's good to hear that firsthand experience of a trip like that, for sure. So if you're looking to take a long trip but you need to get somewhere as quickly as possible, driving an EV is probably not the preferred way to go.

Dalton:
I would say not. They'll say they have a 300 mile range. I tend to get like 90% out of a battery, which I know there's different things that can impact that, like cabin temperature or music or heated seats and a little bit of everything uses little power. So 90 percent's kind of what I've been getting.

Andrea:
Okay. And then if you are somebody who likes a good road trip, your family likes to stop off and see stops along the way, take some time, walk the dog, take a break from being in the car, you might very well enjoy a trip in the EV and those stops for charging aren't going to matter as much for you.

Dalton:
Absolutely. Some of those supercharging stations there, they could be under a mall. I had one in Georgia that was underneath a city, so you could stop off and go shopping or get a quick bite to eat.

Andrea:
Ah, I like the sound of that.

Dalton:
Yep.

Andrea:
Dalton, have you noticed an increase in your experience and your time here at KREMC in EVs locally? Is it noticeable over the past few years?

Dalton:
We definitely get a lot more calls on them now. I'd say when I first started in 2018 might've had one or two calls on them a year and now we get quite a few a month I'd say. People asking what they should do or what they should put in or where there is stuff located.

Andrea:
Okay. So if somebody has been considering looking into buying an EV, they're interested in it, should they ultimately make that purchase, they should call us?

Dalton:
They should definitely reach out and let us know because then we can verify that all the equipment that's in place can handle what they're putting in. Sometimes if you're off a shared transformer, it could be over capacity, it could be over capacity for your wire. So putting in something like that, letting us come in and make sure everything is up to size, prevents broken equipment and outages.

Andrea:
Very good. I've heard a little bit about EVs coming with various levels of autonomy and advanced driver assistance systems. Can you explain any of those features and maybe how they are evolving in the EV industry?

Dalton:
So I think a pretty standard for a new car, will have lane assist and it'll guide you back. This does pretty much that exact thing. It'll drive, it'll turn a little more than that. It obviously doesn't stop at stop signs or stop lights, but if something was to pull out in front of you and you have it on a full self-driving mode, it will stop. It hits the brakes automatically before you, sometimes a little too early. It kind of freaks you out. Yeah, so it's getting better. I know that there's some brands somewhere that have a full self-driving car. It's definitely progressing. Ours just does the full self-driving with the lane assist keeps you on the road. It stops for random things, but it won't stop for stop signs or stop lights. So if you're on the interstate, it's pretty nice. It just kind of guides and follows the lanes for you.

Andrea:
Very cool. That would be interesting to experience. I guess I'll get the chance to at our test drive event here soon.

Dalton:
Absolutely.

Andrea:
Are there any specific tips or advice that you would offer to someone who's considering making the switch to an EV for the first time?

Dalton:
Yeah, I'd go to chooseev.com. You can type in what exactly model you have, what you're looking at getting and what you have, current price of gas and it can show you what you should expect to save per month. The only thing to take into consideration past that point would be the cost of an in-home charger and what the price would be to replace batteries once that comes to that point, so batteries aren't like a ultimate failure. They don't just quit working one day, they just slowly don't hold as much charge as they used to. So I think you can push that out kind of far, but most of them come with a hundred thousand mile warranty on the batteries, so that is nice.

Andrea:
Very good. And that was chooseev.com?

Dalton:
Exactly.

Andrea:
Awesome. Is there anything else that we should talk about? Anything I haven't asked that you think maybe listeners should know before we talk about the event?

Dalton:
Yeah, so as of now, electric vehicles, if you charge them on peak, that's usually when you have other things running in your house. 5:00 to 8:00 PM is our on peak hours Monday through Friday. If you can charge outside of those hours, it not only helps not having extra equipment out there or bigger equipment for just that higher peak, it also helps our costs, which us being a not-for-profit company ultimately in return helps each member. So if they could just wait to set their car to charge at 9:00 PM or midnight or whatever it is, because typically people after driving only need a couple hours worth of stuff to get back up to max capacity. Some people don't even charge every day. So if you could just avoid those hours from 5:00 to 8:00 Monday through Friday, that helps us and eventually I'd like to get us a time of use rate to where it benefits the member and we can show you some cost savings for that.

Andrea:
Awesome. So a great message there for current EV drivers. I appreciate that. Well, let's talk about our EV event that we are so excited about because you're going to be there that day, right, Dalton?

Dalton:
Exactly.

Andrea:
Fantastic. We are having an EV test drive experience and I'm newer to the co-op, but I know that last year was the first time for this event and it went really well. So our EV test drive experience is going to be Saturday, October 14th. It is from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM here at our facility, and you will get an opportunity to test drive an EV with KREMC and without the pressure to buy. So we're going to have Dalton and some other very knowledgeable folks on hand to share knowledge and answer questions that anyone might have about EVs. We're going to have a few different vehicles available for a test drive. We've got the KREMC Tesla, we also have Kankakee Valley REMC, our great friends over there are bringing their Chevy Bolt and a Tesla from Wabash Valley Power.
We're going to have Laura Matney from Wabash Valley at our event again. She was there last year. Wonderful person, wonderful resource. And they'll be bringing a Tesla. So anyone who does drive an EV by the way, who participates in the test drive is going to get a free meal from Armando's Tacos at our event. The tacos look delicious. To test drive an EV at our event you must be over 18 years old, have a valid driver's license, of course. And when you get here, we are going to ask you to sign a waiver. So keep that in mind. Now, one thing we're going to do differently this year is we are going to have people pre-register mainly to pick a time, a time for your test drive. That way folks aren't showing up all at the same time, standing around twiddling their thumbs and waiting for the opportunity to test drive one of these EVs. So if you want to test drive an EV, head over to our website, kremc.com.
At the top of our website, you will see the community tab, click or tap on that community tab and look to the bottom for the EV test drive experience. We have a page set up there on our website and a link where you can go to register for the event and you can choose your time and you can even choose the vehicle that you would like to drive. You have the option between the Chevy Bolt or one of the Teslas. So we're really excited to do it that way this year. You can choose a time that's going to work for you that day. It's going to be a great event. And I've never driven an EV, but Dalton, I did drive a golf cart all day long it seemed like at the Chamber golf outing recently, and it was really fun. I love driving a golf cart and it occurred to me as I was driving across the green at Stonehenge that day, I bet there's some similarity here because I know in an EV you don't have a brake pedal, you lift your foot up off the gas or the-

Dalton:
You still do have a brake pedal, but you can just let off the gas and it'll come to the stop. You can set them for different things if you want them to coast. Yeah, you can set it to where it doesn't even move once you let your foot off the accelerator. So it just holds its spot in traffic. And then when you want to go again, you just press the gas. Saves money on brakes and oil changes.

Andrea:
Absolutely. So what'll happen if you do want to participate, you want to test drive an EV, we will send you out with a staff member, with somebody in the car with you to go on a predetermined route and you will drive one of the vehicles. So we are very much looking forward to our EV test drive experience. You can visit our website kremc.com or follow us on social media to get some more information and to register for your spot to test drive an EV that day. Dalton, thank you so much for taking the time to come in and talk with us about EVs today.

Dalton:
Absolutely. Thanks for having me. And if anybody's got any questions, they can always call KREMC and ask for me.

Andrea:
Perfect. Appreciate that very much, and I look forward to seeing you at our event October 14th.

Dalton:
Looking forward to it.

Andrea:
Have a great rest of your day.

Dalton:
You too.

Andrea:
You've been listening to Live Wire, the official podcast of Kosciusko REMC. To learn more about KREMC, visit our website kremc.com and follow us on social media. Thanks for listening.