> Also our infra not being 240v is hurting us. The rest of the world can just plug in overnight to any regular outlet and it is good enough for almost any commute.

US homes don't need any significant accommodations for 240 volt infra. Plenty of US home appliances are already 240 volt; this is a solved problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMmUoZh3Hq4

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com2kid 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

In other countries every outlet is 240, a regular extension cord to outlets in a apartment complex garage is 240. It is less overall amps than the beefy 240v an American dryer plugs into, but it is good enough.

Meanwhile $3k to get 5 feet of 240 ran in a conduit and an outlet installed in the US.

For many apartment and condo complexes, it just isn't doable as a reasonable retrofit.

	▲	kibwen 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Meanwhile $3k to get 5 feet of 240 ran in a conduit and an outlet installed in the US. If you're the homeowner you can do this work yourself, and the permits and inspections will cost a tenth of that. If you live in one of the few states where this isn't true, that's a you problem. > For many apartment and condo complexes, it just isn't doable as a reasonable retrofit. The problem with charging in apartments and condo complexes is not that US outlets are not 240 volts, it's that if those places provide places to park at all then there's little chance those parking spots are electrified at all in the first place.

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irishcoffee 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah this confuses me. I was under the impression that every electric oven and clothes dryer in the US was 240 (220) volts already. I was not aware or tracking that 240v was an issue. Is that the case in places in the US?

	▲	kibwen 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Keeping in mind that US electric infrastructure is the oldest in the world and fragmented across a slew of jurisdictions with their own building codes that electrified in different decades, thus making it impossible to say anything with 100% certainty: US homes already have 240 volt service, but split-phase so it often appears to be 120 volts. I edited the prior comment with an informative video.
	▲	mikeyouse 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Nearly all US homes have 240V to the electric panel, and some have it for specific places in the house (though many places are almost entirely gas dryers/ovens), but you would need a special outlet run to charge your car at 240V since almost all regular receptacles are 120v. Even the heavy duty receps in garages and utility spaces are most often just 20A/120V instead of the standard 15A/120V. Quotes for a new 240V line are often >$1K which is affordable in the context of a household improvement but not exactly pocket change.