Hawaii: How many EV owners pay to charge or charge for free?

[Akikiki]

I wonder how many EV (Tesla) owners have enough solar to offset the cost of charging their battery.

I recently read a LA Times article that discussed the issues with charging EVs in public and at home across the country. The article singled Hawaii out by stating “where electricity is expensive, could actually pay more to charge an EV than run a car on gas”…

In Hawaii how many EV owners pay to charge or charge for free?

For the question “do we pay more to charge an EV than run a car on gas” I believe we EV owners fall into one of two categories; 1) PV/public charging for free or 2) pay for charging/electricity. Is your electricity bill ZERO? Or you can say that you have enough PV to charge your EV for free but not enough PV for your house use. You can simply answer with. Electricity cost is for my:

PV/public charging for free
1. EV and house is Zero
2. EV is Zero, House is not PV covered.
3. Own EV and charge exclusively at public/free chargers.

Pay for charging/electricity.
4. Own EV, but no PV/Solar therefore pay for electricity.

A little background for you, if you have the time to read it.
Discarding the arguments about the cost of the EV, cost of the PV/Solar, cost of EV charging circuit/equipment; how many EV owners or future owners have sufficient PV/Solar to offset the cost of electricity to charge your EV? Some EV owners live in condos or apartments and don’t home charge, so they charge free (public or work) or pay because they have no PV/Solar.

We are not counting the HECO grid administrative fee of $19.50 a month. We are not asking how much your total electric bill is.

 

[gmtom1]

Sounds like we may have another google doc brewing here....

I'll go first - I'm in category #1a - I have PV and charge 95% of the time at home, but if there's a free charger available where I happen to be, I'll use it. My bill varies, but it has almost never been zero.

However my HECO bill is also way less than it was before I had PV and an EV. When I first got my S and PV a couple of years ago, I used to maintain a spreadsheet that calculated my cost of driving the S based on my kwh usage per the trip meters and my HECO bill. I came out with around $0.03 - $0.04/mile. My cost per mile on my prior ICE vehicles was always at least $0.15/mile.

If you are interested in tracking your home vs. public charging and the cost/savings of each, check out teslafi.com. It's amazing the amount of info that's available from our vehicles.

 

[dsmith2189]

3

 

[RodF]

I'm a 1. Never pay more than the administrative fee.

 

[nanimac]

2 I guess? Way more than enough PV to cover EV charging but not enough to cover all house usage

 

[Akikiki]

Hmm, I started this then, I failed to report my own. I'm a 1 also. In another year or so, all my PV will have paid for itself, so I can say, I recharge for free. Someone is going to argue that its not 100% free. Okay, I will concede it may not be. But its close and it surely is satisfying to say, "I DRIVE AND CHARGE FOR FREE!!"

 

[G'sinHawaii]

Once in my life I am #1 lol, I charge at home for free, but I'll never pass up an open FREE charger (time permitting, I am going to be there long enough to make it worth plugging in)

 

[dpodoll]

#1 for us

 

[drtko147]

#1 for me.

 

[spleen]

1 most of the time but during the winterr months when the PV can't keep up with the electricity usage and I've exhausted my PV credits, there's a month or two where I'll pay for extra electricity.

 

[SageBrush]

Hawaii: How many EV owners pay to charge or charge for free?

Answer: 100%

 

[RodF]

1 most of the time but during the winterr months when the PV can't keep up with the electricity usage and I've exhausted my PV credits, there's a month or two where I'll pay for extra electricity.

Sounds like you have the optimum size PV system for your needs.

 

[Papafox]

Due to less need to drive across the island this year, my PV system produced an excess of energy. Buy some HECO stock, quick! Oh well, at least I can claim to be 100% self-supporting for house and vehicles.

A quick flashback to my "Do I take the dark blue or deep blue S days"

 

[nanimac]

Due to less need to drive across the island this year, my PV system produced an excess of energy. Buy some HECO stock, quick! Oh well, at least I can claim to be 100% self-supporting for house and vehicles.

View attachment 198012
A quick flashback to my "Do I take the dark blue or deep blue S days"

You switched the plates!

 

[noservice2001]

in 2012 i put my $5k down for a tesla, (little did i know i would have to wait 4 years after switching from the S to X) that year we did PV for our roof, purposefully overbuilding in anticipation of an EV (apparently you cant do that anymore), leading up to getting model x, i have a fleet card for gas which enables 4x a month of use, dad advised me to get a escalade esv, i insisted on a tesla, our electric bill for the past several years were around $18/mo but now its about $300.... anyone here have TOU with HeCo?

 

[Akikiki]

TOU? Yep.

 

[gmtom1]

Yes, TOU-EV-R with net metering.

 

[drtko147]

Yes, TOU with net metering.

 

[Papafox]

You switched the plates!

Of course! I need a lower plate number than Akikiki.

I have TOU with net metering.

 

[Akikiki]