It’s Monday and I need to do a short blog post, so I thought I’d better tell you about something I discovered on the BMW i3 forum: The Harry Potter Sorting Hat. People are installing it on their electric cars, and I’ve never seen it before. So let’s talk about that.
It’s clearly not a Literal The Harry Potter Sorting Hat I’m talking about. Firstly, I’m not sure why Gryffindor house would need a Hyundai Ioniq 5; It seems to me that brooms and hippogriffs are more efficient ways of getting around. Secondly, I’m not sure what the EV infrastructure at Hogwarts looks like. And three – most importantly – fancy sorting hats.
However, these EV charging port covers are very similar to a sorting hat, and more importantly, I’m using the “sorting hat” analogy because my colleagues asked me to call it a condom, and I didn’t want to do that since my mom reads. I preferred “sock” or “glove,” but they thought that was boring. And here we are, meeting in the middle, with Harry Potter’s sorting hat.
With that long intro behind us, let’s talk about charging an electric car in the rain, because that’s a thing a lot People were concerned about the early days of electric cars, and a popular search on Google is still – “Is it safe to charge my electric car in the rain?” The answer is yes. Mazda, which doesn’t even make any electric cars for the US market (but does sell plug-in hybrid electric cars), has an entire webpage dedicated just to answering this question:
Here’s what the company has to say:
Yes, it is safe to charge an electric car in the rain. Electric vehicle charging equipment is designed to be weatherproof and meet stringent battery charging safety standards as outlined in the Code of Federal Regulations and the National Electric Code, so rain or snow should not pose a hazard while charging.
Mazda digs a little deeper into the writing;
In particular, the NEC requires that electric vehicle chargers be properly installed and operated safely, including weather and rain considerations. NEC standards may include requirements for weatherproof enclosures, waterproof connectors, and proper grounding to protect against electrical hazards caused by exposure to water.
Compliance with NEC regulations helps ensure EV drivers are protected when operating their vehicles, even when outside conditions are not ideal.
Shipping guarantees
Electric vehicle charging stations are designed with safety in mind, with features like weather-resistant enclosures and ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs), which instantly cut off power when water comes into close contact with live electricity.
These charging elements are also designed to resist dirt, water, dust, and other environmental factors that can affect an electric vehicle’s electrical current and its ability to conserve power.
It is recommended that outdoor EV chargers have ingress protection, or an IP rating, such as IP65 or IP66, which means the charging equipment is designed to operate safely in rainy and humid areas. Electric vehicle charging equipment is made of high-quality materials that withstand exposure to moisture and adverse weather conditions and is rigorously tested to ensure its durability.
§ 571.305 Standard No. 305; Electrically powered vehicles: electrolyte spillage and electric shock protection.
In short, the chargers themselves are designed to be waterproof; They will not begin sending current to the battery until a “handshake” occurs indicating that the charger is inserted into the port; And even if some water gets into it all, the GFCI should take care of business. Here’s more about GFCIs from OSHA:
A ground fault occurs when there is a break in the low-resistance grounding path from a tool or electrical system. The electrical current may then take an alternate path to ground through the user, resulting in serious injury or death. A ground fault circuit interrupter, or GFCI, is a fast-acting circuit breaker designed to shut off electrical power if a ground fault occurs in less than 1/40 of a second. It works by comparing the amount of current going to And Back from Equipment along the circuit conductors. When the amount Going It varies from amount back At about 5 mA, the GFCI interrupts the current.
The GFCI is rated to trip quickly enough to prevent an electrical accident. If properly installed and maintained, this will occur as soon as the faulty tool is connected. If the grounding conductor is not intact or has low resistance, the GFCI may not trip until someone provides a path. In this case, the person would receive a shock, but the GFCI would have to trip very quickly for the shock to not be harmful.
GFCI will no Protecting you from the dangers of line contact (i.e. someone holding two “hot” wires, a hot and a neutral wire in each hand, or touching an overhead power line). However, it protects against the most common form of electrical shock hazard, which is ground fault. It also protects against fires, overheating and destruction of wire insulation.
Watch YouTuber “All EV by Steele Auto Group” put it all to the test (we don’t recommend it):
So, with all this safety built into electric car charging, what’s up with Harry Potter’s weird hats? Well, the Amazon seller wrote that the charging port cover “prevents rain, snow and ice, and especially prevents the charging port from being jammed with snow and ice in winter, saving you the pain of cleaning in the morning.”
Indeed, the device seems to do the job well, according to reviewers. Check out what Alex Thimble has to say:
You’ll notice that the cover envelops the entire door itself, so not only is the charger handle button you no longer need to unfreeze, but you don’t have to worry about jamming the door.
The device is very simple. It looks like a kind of conical, waterproof synthetic fabric with a larger end that has a magnet running its circumference. This magnet sticks to the car body, closing the large end, while the smaller hole on the charging cord is closed via a type of Velcro tape:
The downside to the flexible magnet is that this sorting hat will only work with vehicles that have steel body panels. So the BMW i3 and Chevy Bolt EV won’t work, but the Tesla Model 3, Bolt EUV, and Hyundai/Kia EVs should.
Here you can see a Tesla Model 3 owner happy with his sorting hat:
Here, let me use Google to translate this from Swedish:
This has made it much easier for me now with the snow and ice, even when it rains. It should be standard equipment for Tesla, that’s how good this product is!
However, I never knew about these Charge Port covers, and I’m not convinced they’re really necessary in most places. But I guess if you have a lot of snow that can fill your charging port and make closing the door difficult — or if you live somewhere that gets icy rain, which can make detaching the charging handle from your car difficult — I can see the value. Although I’m curious how difficult it is to pull that sorting hat out of the car when it’s covered in snow. I’m curious about a review I read about car scratches. Hmm.
Either way, I may have been living under a rock, but I didn’t know it existed something. And since you probably haven’t either, I decided to share it with you.
Body Pictures: LZSTEC Store/Amazon; Topshot Image: Warner Bros. Pictures
