Co-op Currents invites members to write in with their honest experiences buying and installing hot water heat pumps, cold climate heat pumps, electric vehicles, and other new electric tech. Your tips and advice are valuable to fellow members considering similar purchases.
Submit your stories to currents@wec.coop. Stories will be published as time and space allow. Co-op Currents will contact you to confirm before publication. Please keep stories to 500 words or less. If you have a longer story you’d like to share, please email first to inquire.
Joe Truss: EV Lithium Battery Risks
Hi my name is Joe Truss. I am a firefighter and have taken a class on lithium ion batteries with Gary Moore of Bradford, who is also on the state hazmat team. It is scary when a lithium battery catches on fire: it can not be put out. They make their own oxygen. They even burn under water. In the class they showed a person with a drone flying. When it came to rest, the battery was smoking. He immediately took it off the drone and threw it in the swimming pool and watched it burn.
There was a hybrid in Thetford, VT that burnt up, cause unknown. My son-in-law and I were coming home and stopped at a rest area: in the southbound rest area there was a car fire. We watched and noticed about 10 fire extinguishers near the car, and it was still burning.
Shortly after the class, at Dartmouth there was a fire at a dorm. The firefighter reported it as a bicycle fire. The bike was electric and parked in the doorway so it would not be stolen. Now the college does not allow any EV apparatus in the buildings. They provide a locked metal container for storage.
The EV batteries are made up of multiple cells about the size of your finger. Each cell is capable of producing 5 to 6 liters of toxic gas. About 45% is hydrogen, about 20% is carbon dioxide, the rest is also no good.
My suggestion is if you are going to purchase one, don’t park it next to the house. Put the charging station about 20 to 30 feet away. Just keep in mind that the fire department can not put it out.
Joe Truss – East Corinth
David Kreindler: EV Road Trips and Tires
I bought my first EV in the summer of 2022, fully aware of the possibility of “range anxiety” and the challenges that might arise from the need to recharge multiple times on long trips. Before my first road trip in my new EV — to the coast of Maine with my girlfriend — I carefully mapped out each stop at a Level 3 charger along the way. Because I had little experience with the car and was unsure of its actual range, I was conservative about charging — we planned to stop twice on our way East. What was surprising was that stopping for half an hour a couple of times made the trip much more enjoyable. We sat and talked while the vehicle swallowed electrons. (On the way back, we stopped just once, having gained experience and confidence about the vehicle’s range.)
A little over a year later, I was surprised by something that no one had warned me about: my EV wore out its first set of tires in just 15,000 miles — three or four times as fast as any other car that I have ever owned. It turns out that the vehicle’s 5,000-lb weight and powerful torque (which a driver might be tempted to take advantage of) are really hard on tires.
So my advice to new EV owners is: hold onto some of the money that you are saving on fuel and by avoiding oil changes and the other routine maintenance that an internal combustion engine-powered vehicle would need; you might need that money for tires.
David Kreindler – Hardwick
Update: After this letter was written, VW changed the tires that come on the ID.4 (and they appear to be the same tires that Hyundai is now using on the IONIQ 5). There is a good chance that this change is evidence of EV manufacturers responding to the need for more durable tires. -DK
Ian Buchanan: Good Experience with Heat Pump Water Heaters
I sympathize with the reliability challenges that Board Member Don Douglas outlined regarding his heat pump water heater in the February-March issue of Co-op Currents. We had a propane boiler that required significant repairs two years in and lasted only six years before self-destructing. Whether fossil fuel or electric, if you get a faulty unit, you get a faulty unit, and items produced during the pandemic appear more susceptible to issues than average.
We installed heat pump water heaters in two buildings for reasons similar to Don’s. We wanted to turn off our boilers in the summer, reduce basement humidity, use residual waste heat more efficiently, and reduce pollution. Installing them in two significantly different basements has demonstrated that they can be effective across a range of environments. This said, while not required, basic sill insulation in your basement helps, as heat pump water heaters work most efficiently in spaces above 40° F. Also, heat pump water heaters have a compressor and make some noise. Locating it away from the living space or operating it on a timer is recommended if noise is a concern.
From a reliability perspective, our pre-pandemic Bradford-White (assembly date in 2019) heat pump water heater hasn’t needed anything beyond the recommended filter and condensate drain cleaning (a 5-minute job). Our four-year-old Rheem (built during the pandemic) required replacement of some thermistors, which Rheem sent under warranty. The thermistors were relatively straightforward to replace, but their location highlighted the benefits of selecting a heater with more clearance to the ceiling than the 7” we have.
We use about 150 gallons less propane and 1200 kWh more electricity a year with the heat pump water heater than our prior fossil-fuel units, which saves a couple of hundred dollars most years. While 120 V heat pump water heaters are available that plug into an existing standard outlet, most heat pump water heaters are 240 V. The additional electrical circuit and condensate pump can make the initial installation cost exceed the cost of replacing a failed tank in an existing fossil-fuel-based system. Efficiency Vermont has expanded heat pump water heater incentives since we got ours, which helps.
Would we install another heat pump water heater? We would. While minor maintenance is required and we did experience a warranty issue with one, the improvements in energy consumption, dehumidification, and pollution reduction have provided value.
Ian Buchanan – East Montpelier