> wasn't just safer but also visibly more powerful

All that energy that used to go into heating up the extension cord, are now getting to your tool.

I personally argued with the guy who installed my EV charging station, because I wanted thicker wire and was willing to pay for it. I don't want wires heating up, I don't care if it's code compliant it is energy wasted that could go into my EV. And the thicker wire is not much more expensive nor difficult to work with.