Most people never seriously consider charging their electric cars from a standard wall socket. You can safely only get a little over 1kW from a (US 110v) receptacle and Joulee the Free Salvage Tesla requires about 300 Watt-hours to go a mile. In other words, in an hour of level 1 charging you only add about 3 miles to the range. I’m told that in really cold weather, it’s possible the battery conditioning system will use up all that energy just to keep the battery at an appropriate level for charging, and you won’t add any range at all. We’re in the tropics, though, so even if level 1 charging is very slow, it’s also reliable.
Though it doesn’t seem practical, it can actually be useful. I keep a long heavy-duty extension cord in the car with a charging adapter. We had a weekend trip planned, but had two days of heavy overcast and rain. (Rain!?! Hooray… we really need it.) Consequently, we had enough charge to get where we were going, but not all the way back. We’re staying with a friend, though, who’s on the electric grid and we arrived in the early morning and won’t be leaving for hours. Even at 1kW, we’ll make up the difference while we’re parked and be able to make it home without having to stop for a stay at a level 2 charger during the trip home.
—2p