Call to Action: Colorado EV Charging Fees

[dgpcolorado]

According to the Chargepoint website, Craig, Fairplay, Rifle, Crested Butte, Creede, Lake City, Estes Park, Grandby, Fraser are still the old expensive rate but Montrose now has a reasonable rate of 30¢/min plus an idle fee of 40¢/min after a ten minute grace period. Pagosa Springs has 30¢/kWh plus an idle fee of $2/hr after 30 minute grace period. Steamboat Springs is a flat 25¢/kWh with no idle fee that I can see.

Not sure which of these are part of the State EV Corridor plan.

I'll verify the Montrose rate next time I'm there.

 

[Tectonic]

Too bad, the Granby site apparently started out at $0.20 per hour (with no extra charger per kWh). Guess that bargain couldn't last!

Dinosaur, CO is another site that adjusted their price structure at some point. The rate is now $0.20/kWh, with parking free for the first 45 minutes (after that, it's $0.25/minute). Much better than the original rate!

 

[Feathermerchan]

On a side note we found every Tesla Supercharger was ~29¢ / kWh.
Trinidad 29¢
Centennial 29¢
Idaho Springs 29¢
Lone Tree 18¢
These appear to include tax.
The Lone Tree may have been low price because it was off peak.

 

[dgpcolorado]

I verified that the Montrose Chargepoint DCFC station pricing has been lowered to 30¢/kWh, with no "parking fee," plus an idle fee of $24/hour (40¢/minute), with a grace period of ten minutes.

I'd sure like to see this pricing model spread to the other stations!

 

[sdoorex]

Too bad the ones that just opened in La Junta are even dumber!

$0.35/kWh and $0.25/min and $2.50/fee! Then they have $0.50/min while not charging after 15 minutes grace.

 

[Tectonic]

Too bad the ones that just opened in La Junta are even dumber!

$0.35/kWh and $0.25/min and $2.50/fee! Then they have $0.50/min while not charging after 15 minutes grace.

Oh good golly. They must have a competition going with Wolf Creek ($1.20/kWh) for dumbest charging rates.

 

[SageBrush]

Oh good golly. They must have a competition going with Wolf Creek ($1.20/kWh) for dumbest charging rates.

What is a decimal point shift to a downhill skier ?

 

[sdoorex]

What is a decimal point shift to a downhill skier ?

Oh good golly. They must have a competition going with Wolf Creek ($1.20/kWh) for dumbest charging rates.

Wolf Creek replied to my ChargePoint tip about the price with this so at least it’s not permanent pricing.

Hello, our pricing structure is temporary while we pull data from SLVREC to determine the correct pricing for these units based on our monthly demand charge. We apologize for any inconvenience, but I promise you our chargers will be much more affordable in the very near future.

 

[PLUS EV]

Wolf Creek replied to my ChargePoint tip about the price with this so at least it’s not permanent pricing.

Of course with the outrageous pricing, they will get an inaccurate prediction of what their demand charge will be.

 

[SageBrush]

Wolf Creek replied to my ChargePoint tip about the price with this so at least it’s not permanent pricing.

Well done !!

I really have no idea how to price these chargers in the face of demand charges since the cost affects the utilization, which affects the per use cost ...

 

[dgpcolorado]

Well done !!

I really have no idea how to price these chargers in the face of demand charges since the cost affects the utilization, which affects the per use cost ...

Demand charges can be modeled by assuming all stalls in use at the maximum power they can supply (including efficiency losses). That would give the maximum demand charge for the month. The energy charge would be subject to actual usage of the station but that would generally be more than covered by the fee charged to users.

Demand charges are usually based on the highest power draw in any fifteen minute period during the month. It is not a cumulative fee like the energy charge. (Energy charges are generally lower for the demand rate structure than a typical residential flat rate.)

So, the electric rate paid by the charge station owner would be the service charge + the demand charge + the energy charge.

If the demand charge was, say, $20/kW and the highest power usage in any fifteen minute period during the month for two stalls was 150 kW, the demand charge for the month would be 150 x $20 = $3000 for the month, regardless of how much energy was used.

¿Claro?

 

[SageBrush]

¿Claro?

Yup.

I was saying that it is hard to model how many slices in that $3,000 example

 

[SageBrush]

Durango has opened its first DCFC this week. Users will pay 30¢ a kWh
Below are more details


Durango opened its first DCFC site this week, a 2 car at a time Chargepoint that shares 125 kW, but max 62 kW per plug.

Installation
$306,000 total installation cost
-- 11k paid by City of Durango, who will be the owner
-- 250k grant from CEC
-- LPEA (local co-op) made 'in kind' contribution

Customer Charge
30¢ per kWh

Utility Charges
'DCFC rate'
$100 monthly fee
No demand billing
TOU billing: 7¢ per kWh off-peak, 26¢ per kWh on peak

An LPEA manager named Dominic was responsive and open to contact. He mentioned that LPEA structured the rate to cover utility expenses without profit. He also provided this chart. Ironic that LPEA instituted TOU, but TOU is not customer facing. It is just a behind the scenes revenue generator.

 

[SageBrush]

The Durango Electric Co-op LPEA published its minutes last year that decided on a DCFC rate. I post it here because the minutes say that ChargePoint recommended that customer charges be 25¢ per kWh

Link

 

[Feathermerchan]

FWIW we paid 30¢/kWh at each Supercharger we used in Colo in June this year. AFAIK its the highest we've paid.

 

[dgpcolorado]

30¢/kWh seems reasonable for a road-tripping cost. In an efficient EV that's about 7¢/mile (or less). In my relatively inefficient EV it is about 9¢/mile. This cost is offset somewhat by any overnight destination charging that is available.

My concern for these new DCFC stations is the lack of redundancy and capacity. Just two stalls at a slow 62 kW? I realize that there are hardly any non Tesla EVs doing actual road trips at present, but I think that's about to change and the new EV drivers are going to be mighty frustrated with full or broken stalls. At least the Chargepoint ones have good real-time usage information available on the net.

 

[Feathermerchan]

Tesla opening their charge network is a really great thing. It will up the competition dramatically.

 

[PLUS EV]

Tesla opening their charge network is a really great thing. It will up the competition dramatically.

Might be GREAT for EV adoption in general, but you'll be singing a different tune when you are lined up behind a bunch of Nissan Leafs or whatever.