[rtkwe]

Most of the time if you're not at your own home you'll be on 110V chargers. To get 220V charging at someone else's you're likely either at another EV owners house who's gone through the trouble of installing a 220V port or you're lucky and they have a conveniently placed dryer in the garage you can steal 220V power from.

[samwillis]

Unless you are not in North America. Most of the rest of the world have a base voltage of, and all domestic outlets are 220-240.

[pandaman]

In the US "220V" refers to a high current outlet normally, in a country where household outlets are 220V, you still need a high current outlet and, for safety reasons, most outlets are not high current, just like in the US.

[devwastaken]

U.K. is 220v @ 13A for an average socket. That's almost double what a common 120v 15A does in the U.S.

[pandaman]

In the US it's 30A minimum for an average "220v" (it's actually 240 V) outlet such as a dryer or AC, that's more than double what 13A 220V gives in the UK.

[devwastaken]

You will not find a 240 in the u.s. outside of specific installations, while in the UK a common plug already is 220 13a.

[pandaman]

It depends on what you call "specific installations", in my house I have two 240V 30A outlets for the dryer hookup and for an electric oven and one 240V 40A for the air conditioner.

[john-radio]

Wait, this is terribly confusing. Why would "220 volts" not refer to a completely objective measurement of current?

[kergonath]

The Volt is a unit of electric potential. The SI unit of current is the Ampere. You can have very large potential differences (in V) with very small current (in A). The unit of power is the Watt, and 1 W = 1 A*1 V.

So, a given power can be obtained using any voltage, with the proper current. In practice, high currents are unsafe so we tend to avoid that in unprotected sockets. Different norms correspond to different tradeoffs.

[rtkwe]

The voltage and current combined is the actually important number which is the total wattage available on that circuit. The US standard 220/240V outlet will provide ~30A of current usually while a UK outlet usually has a 13A fuse in the plug matching the circuit's rough availability.

[8note]

A 220V outlet will always give you more power for the same current limit than a 120V

[pandaman]

A 220V outlet won't always have the same current limit though.

[sgerenser]

True, but in the US most 240v outlets are 30-50A, whereas in countries that use 240v for their normal household outlets, the current limit is usually 13-15A. Still double the wattage of a typical US outlet but not up to the standards of a “Level 2” charger.

[Scoundreller]

> conveniently placed dryer in the garage

That’s only a warm climate thing. Plumbing (of the associated washing machine) that’s prone to freezing is unlikely to be in the garage in cooler climates.

[vosper]

There’s no particular reason that a dryer and washer have to go in the same room. I have my dryer in my garage, because it’s a hybrid heat-pump model that is very efficient when the garage is warmed up from the afternoon sun, but can provide its own heat in winter. It captures all the water in a tank, so doesn’t put any moisture into the room. Modern dryers are really quite neat :)

[Scoundreller]

> There’s no particular reason that a dryer and washer have to go in the same room

Uhhhh convenience? People prefer them right next to each other so that clothes washing isn’t a long journey. At least that’s why the plumbing and electrical/gas connections are usually built close to each other.

[EdwardDiego]

Serious question, do Americans use clotheslines? Our dryer is only really used for towels/sheets in wet weather.

The rotary clothesline [0] was standard in Australia and New Zealand for decades, although with the move to smaller sections, people tend to install compact linear lines instead.

[0]: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/hills-hoist-iconic-ro...

[acdha]

Some do but it was considered a poor thing for much of the 20th century to the point where many cities and HOAs had rules against them. This is changing but it amazed me when I lived in California where in the summer you could line dry in similar times at zero cost.

[rtkwe]

Generally no. Line drying has a connotation of poverty in the US and many cities have ordinances like this that make it tough to do. Also houses being generally larger and detached in the US we have an easier time installing them compared to row houses in Europe. They're also just built more recently so they have accommodations for them built in already.

"No person shall place or allow to remain exposed to the elements laundry, clothing, rags, or other cloth items hung or stored on a front porch or front or other street yard of a dwelling."

[EdwardDiego]

Oh wow. I did wonder why dryers were so frequently used in the US. Don't you have to worry about it shrinking clothing though?