Brian Martucci is an award-winning independent journalist with a passion for transforming complex ideas into accessible, relevant and engaging stories.

Expertise

Local & Regional Coverage

News and trends across the Twin Cities, Minnesota, and the Upper Midwest.

Home Improvement & DIY

Practical advice, born more often than not of painful personal experience.

Real Estate & Finance

Stories driving the commercial real estate sector and the woolly world of real estate finance. 

Decarbonization & Energy Transition

The green economy is, increasingly, *the* economy.

Personal Finance

Sensible, relatable money management coverage with zero judgment.

Consumer Technology

Product reviews and hot takes on everything from OLEDs to EVs.

Housing Trends & Policy

Education — and the occasional reality check — for homebuyers, homeowners, and mom-and-pop real estate investors.

Blog

Level 1 vs. level 2 vs. level 3 charging — what?

People talk about level 1, level 2, and level 3 chargers all the time without clarifying what they mean. The distinction isn’t super complicated, but it’s important to understand early on in your EV journey.

Non-Tesla EV sales surged from 2020 to 2023, but normies still aren’t buying

I spoke earlier this month with Karl Brauer, executive analyst for iSeeCars. We talked about iSeeCars’ latest EV dealers study, which found non-Tesla new EV sales grew by 800% from November 2020 to November 2023. We also chatted more broadly about the state of the electric vehicle market as 2023 draws to a close.

I don’t regret buying a used BEV (yet)

If you're seriously considering buying a used electric vehicle — particularly a full EV (battery-electric vehicle, or BEV) rather than a plug-in hybrid — then you've probably heard or read advice against doing so. Battery life: the strongest argument against buying a...

Should we have bought a plug-in hybrid instead of an all-electric car?

I'm the first in my close friends-and-family network to purchase a full battery-electric vehicle. Several friends have plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles though. Before we pulled the trigger on our new car, a few of these expressed reservations about our going full...

We had one car until we needed two

This is the prologue, the tl;dr on why I'm writing about electric vehicle ownership in the first place. It was with great smugness that I sold my 10-year-old subcompact to a dealer in early 2022, at the height of the post-pandemic used car shortage and well before the...

Contact Brian

You can find me in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I live and work — except when I'm in the field, which honestly isn't too often.

If you want to learn more about what I do, or discuss what you think I can do for you, use the contact form to get in touch. Or reach out to me directly on Twitter @Brian_Martucci. I personally respond to every inquiry.