Let's unload a video that an audience sent in. What's going on, and why you don't need to fret about it suddenly going bananas and beginning a fire.
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No, Your EV Charger Won’t Get Hacked And Start A Fire
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15 responses to “No, Your EV Charger Won’t Get Hacked And Start A Fire”
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Of all the things to worry about being hacked this is not anywhere near the top of the list lol
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“No, Your EV Charger Won’t Get Hacked And Start A Fire” LMAO
Hilarious and sad…. That this is what this poor EV channel, has been relegated to ;(
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Just don’t say anything if you have nothing nice to say. There’s enough YouTube channels for everyone
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Definitely a very minimal concern if it is set up properly. To answer the question about “why you would want an internet connected EVSE,” some utility companies offer special rates that require the use of an internet connected EVSE that links to them or they supply. For example, FPL in parts of Florida offers unlimited overnight charging at a flat monthly rate, and that agreement uses a connected EVSE they have installed. I believe there are better ways to monitor or verify how much usage was through the charger and during what hours, but that is how they choose to do it.
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What you mention, and also the GM Ultium cars lack a couple forms of scheduled charging. If you absolutely don’t want the car to pull power at given times, or you want the car to start charging at the same time each day, the car doesn’t support these modes. GM Volt and Bolt charging could do this, but with Ultium GM changed how scheduled charging works. Need a smart EVSE to supplant the vehicle modes, if you need this type of timed charging.
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Focus perfectly locked on the background. 😀
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I’d worry more about correctly sizing the wire and choosing a suitable breaker, wire and outlet for the duty cycle of an EV which is much more strenuous than a dryer or oven. If you don’t believe me go over to the state of charge channel on YouTube where he shows many examples of improperly installed EVSEs that have resulted in melted outlets. Even some licensed electricians make mistakes that result in the 14-50 melting. I’m a EE and I still used an electrician to install my EVSE for peace of mind. Thankfully our Tesla store recommended an electrician that knew what they were doing. I’ve had 5 years of service with my 14-50 with no signs of melting or charring.
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We’ve only ever had a JuiceBox. Got it because whatever we chose had to be wifi capable for the rebate. Never connected it and we all know what happened with Enel X so yea. News to me, or fake news to me. No concerns.
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Thanks for this video.
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Although it is mostly fear mongering, it’s a bit more possible and likely than Alex mentions. Plenty of 80A vehicles in the wild now with the GM and Ford trucks – and most of the GM Ultium fleet offering 80A (19.2kW) charging as an option also. My Lyriq has an 80A onboard charger, though I charge it with much less.
Also, plenty of so-called professional EVSE installs fail even without being hacked – just see State of Charge and Tom’s Recharge Rescue ongoing series. The NEMA 16-50 outlet is a weak point in many installs, and is almost always ready to fail in so many homes (at higher power draw) unless you have a commercial grade outlet and properly torqued connections. Hack the EVSE to kick it up from 40A to 50A and even more strain – and you’ll have an eventual issue there with no circuit breaker trip. Not shown in the video, but would be the more likely issue. And you don’t need a 80A vehicle, would be an issue with the vast majority of cars that now can draw 48A (11.5kW) – even the base models.
But the issue being shown here is a weak EVSE vehicle cord, plus an EVSE hack. As an example, the EVSE cords to the vehicle are typically smaller gauge than the EVSE feed. Might only have an 8AWG or 10AWG 48A cord rated cord for the intended use, where a 48A EVSE uses a 6AWG feed (given the 80% de-rate for continuous use). Then the EVSE gets hacked to go to 60A – instead of 48A. The 60A breaker and circuit are fine and never trip, but the 48A vehicle cord will melt and overheat over time with the higher full-time current. Especially in a high ambient temperature environment, or half coiled as shown and without good airflow. Additional heating occurs at the vehicle terminals and EVSE wire connections, which will also go to heat up the cable from each end. So the scenario is definitely possible – not an instant thing, but a failure that could brew over a long time.
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BS is correct because electricity doesn’t push its way somewhere, it is drawn to the load that is consuming it. Even if this was attached to a breaker that was overrated and a vehicle capable of accepting more power than the EVSE could deliver: The first failure point would be the EVSE, the second would be the NEMA1450 and lastly would be the cable unless it was damaged before looped in a coil. Besides a NEMA1450 should only be put on a 50 amp breaker at 80% duty cycle of 40A and if you want the full 48A or more a EVSE could deliver it has to be direct wired which is precisely why I said it would be the second point of failure. AC has one characteristic to be noted which is it will conduct regardless of how bad a connection is until it has consumed or burnt it in half unless a safety device has cut the flow of electricity. In this video, we see exactly where the weak point is which is much lower than the plug failure point and the EVSE failure point that are already known. The cable, unless damaged, is typically more resilient than all of those because it’s simply just copper that’s
correctly rated for the amount of electrons that will flow through it. This video only proves that a damage cable is a weak point. 💡 -
Great information on the EV charger and.,.. please use a camera that has Eye/Face Detection enabled for better content experience… if possible.🙏
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Thank you for providing a sound, reasonable and logical analysis. 🤓👍
It’s refreshing compared with the typical media hype train. 😕
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A lot of the technology we have today is touted as “fool proof”, meaning that if the user followers the instruction, everything will be OK. Never underestimate the ability of a fool to take something usually safe, and convert it into a disaster of epic proportions. (If I take the circuit breaker out of the system, I can get unlimited power if I need it). Follow the safety rules. Don’t try to out think the manufacturers. And don’t try to use a 100 foot long, 14 gauge extension cord to power your 48 amp device. Good info here. Keep de-bunking the crap!
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My 2025 Lucid Air can charge at 80A Level 2 AC charging, but I have it limited to 40A as I use a 40A charger.
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