Condo ChargePoint charging costs are the same as ICE gas cost

[Uncle Paul]

Like everything else in life...you gotta shop around.

I can make great coffee at home for about 5c a cup, but it cost $5.00 at Starbucks, plus the cost of parking.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

yup. this is happening to me. at my work i pay 2 bucks for 18 miles. and even at home its expenisve since i live in california and my rates are up to 47 cents per kwh.

Are you not on an EV rate plan? I’m in CA also and paying $0.125 per kWh from 11PM-7AM.

 

[cwerdna]

Are you not on an EV rate plan? I’m in CA also and paying $0.125 per kWh from 11PM-7AM.

Yeah, but the rates the rest of the day are pretty horrible. I'm in Pacific Gouge & Extort land and I'm not an EV-A nor EV-B.

 

[ucmndd]

Yeah, but the rates the rest of the day are pretty horrible. I'm in Pacific Gouge & Extort land and I'm not an EV-A nor EV-B.

Take a hard look at the numbers, you might be surprised depending on how much you drive. If solar is a possibility for you that’s the best way to offset the high daytime costs.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Take a hard look at the numbers, you might be surprised depending on how much you drive. If solar is a possibility for you that’s the best way to offset the high daytime costs.

Also, if you work during the day, you probably aren’t using that much then anyway. Between charging and just setting dishwasher/washing machine to start at 11, you can drive your Peak/partial peak pretty low.

 

[cwerdna]

Take a hard look at the numbers, you might be surprised depending on how much you drive. If solar is a possibility for you that’s the best way to offset the high daytime costs.

Almost ALL of my EV charging is NOT done at home. The vast majority is done at work for free. A smaller amount is done on Fridays and weekends on free public L2 charging. Rarely do I charge at home at all. I've gone weeks w/o plugging in my L1 EVSE at home (that's all I have, which is another long story).

PG&E has a comparison tool (PG&E, Pacific Gas and Electric - Gas and power company for California) and it tells me my annual electricity cost based upon my current usage patterns on E-6 is $675/year. The lowest is E-6 SmartRate at $660 (too late this year to change to that and I don't like how it works, been on it before). EV-A isn't as bad any more. I think it used to be worse for me. It's estimated at $685. The worst for me is ETOU-B at $815/year.

Also, if you work during the day, you probably aren’t using that much then anyway. Between charging and just setting dishwasher/washing machine to start at 11, you can drive your Peak/partial peak pretty low.

I do, but the problem is I have some networking equipment, UPSes, a TiVo and security camera NVR system that run 24/7. I also have some lights on photocells that will come on automatically when dark but will be running before the cheapest rates. Was burglarized in Jan 2015. Am now taking steps to make my place look and sound occupied.

 

[Pinot.Noir]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a home with the dryer in the garage. It goes in the laundry room.

Is this a common thing somewhere?

It's common in our neighborhood, where the houses were all built in 1957. We have since added on and moved the washer and dryer out of the garage, but most of our neighbors still have the laundry in the garage.

 

[cwerdna]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a home with the dryer in the garage. It goes in the laundry room.

Is this a common thing somewhere?

Not sure how common it is but the house my parents live in is in San Jose, was built in 1975 and has the washer and dryer in the garage.

 

[Magellan55]

Some people work from home, or have a spouse that does, so the EV rate doesn't work out.

 

[ucmndd]

Some people work from home, or have a spouse that does, so the EV rate doesn't work out.

I have at least 3 people in my house, basically 24/7. Even before we got solar, with the amount I drive, the EV plan was far and away the best option.

Depends greatly on how much super off-peak charging you’re doing.

 

[turtlebud]

quite an interesting thread. would be good to know the chargepoint stations pricing structure for the one that op is using. see some that are near that address, but can't see the specific one that op is using. did some calculations and generally seems like the cost/hr is a little over $2/hr. Also calculated with the assumption that it's $1/hr for the first 4 hours, then $3/hr for each hour after that. it didn't line up with all the longer charge times, but it was pretty close for the 8 hrs ones. The real outlier are the 1h 48m and the 40m ones. The 40m one had a rate of almost $3.50/hr from the get go, while the 1h 48m one had a $2.55/hr rate.

This feels like I'm back in high school or college trying to figure out a math problem.

In any case, there has been some really good advice given in this thread and hopefully if cost is a concern for op, can save some $$ by adjusting charge schedule.

 

[pinball_player]

Chargepoint does not set the price of charging. It is up to the owner of the station to determine that.

For example, when I work, the price is free for 4h 20m, then it costs $2.50/hr But you can bypass that by unplugging and reconnecting after the 4 hours, and then you get another four hours.

 

[ciparis]

I believe if theres a parking fee it will continue to charge even when you "end" it as it knows you are still connected.

It doesn’t, in my experience. I was in exactly this situation in my last apartment. Manually explicitly ending the session from the chargepoint app stopped the fee from accruing. If they disable that option, then yeah, you’re gonna have to go unplug ( which generally what people should be doing anyway of course).

 

[Magellan55]

I have at least 3 people in my house, basically 24/7. Even before we got solar, with the amount I drive, the EV plan was far and away the best option.

Depends greatly on how much super off-peak charging you’re doing.

Also depends how much electricity your house uses compared to how much your car uses. My Tesla only added about 20% to our load, even less in summer (it's very hot / humid in NC, so AC runs 24/7 for about 7 months of the year).