What do you wish someone had told you NOT to do in your first month with an EV?

Eight years in, so here's what actually cost me something versus what I worried about for nothing. First month I charged to 100 every night out of habit from filling up a gas tank — nobody told me that's the one actually worth not doing daily on an NMC pack, doesn't need to be full unless you're driving that day. Also treated the fast charger on my commute like a regular stop for about three weeks before I did the math on what that costs versus plugging in at home overnight. Neither one broke anything. Both were dumb in hindsight.

Circling back to this one since it's been on my mind — wish someone had told me to call my utility about a time-of-use rate before I settled into a routine. I plugged in whenever was convenient for the first six weeks, mostly early evening, which turned out to be the worst possible window rate-wise. Would have taken one phone call to avoid that. Small thing, but on a fixed income small things add up faster than you'd think.

This is the mistake that actually strands people, not the ones that just cost money. If you're planning a winter trip on the manufacturer's rated range number, you're planning on a number that assumes mild weather and no cabin heat running. Real cold cuts into that meaningfully — budget the shortfall into your stops before you leave, don't discover it mid-trip.

ok the utility rate thing — how do you even find out if yours has one of those? do i just call them or is it usually on the website somewhere

One worth adding from the install side — the first time you get an actual error code or a charge session that stops early, write down exactly what it said and when, then report it, don't just unplug and try again and forget about it. It's common for the same error to show up a dozen times before it becomes a real problem, and it's usually only caught in hindsight. Early instances are the ones that actually help a tech diagnose something before it gets worse.

Nobody warned me off this one either — tried a 300 mile trip about ten days in, before I actually knew how my own car behaved on the highway or how I liked to plan stops. Wasn't a disaster, just way more stressful than it needed to be for a trip I could've waited a month on.