Here's something interesting - I called Lake Country Power, our rural electric cooperative to ask about charging my Telsa on off-peak power - basically 11 PM to 6-7 AM at reduced rates. It turns out they've been discussing what to do about this, but I'm the 1st person to actually request this, so now they have to come up with a protocol. An electrician at LCP is going to come out tomorrow and look at my setup - he mentioned something about having the car on it's own line, which sounds fine by me. My garage is an barn-like structure without insulation or interior walls (sorry Tesla) but conveniently has an unused power feed direct from the pole so the setup shouldn't be too complicated (famous last words). Anyway, I'll keep you posted, and welcome any comments, curious about anyone else using off-peak power and how your power companies dealt with it.
Sounds good! Always fun to be a first adopter. Just curious, what rate they are offering you off peak hours?
You do not state your present cost per kwh but unless it is 'california high' there will be little incentive. Putting in 2nd lines at your cost yields a payback duration that you will have to amortize. And the new line comes all the way from the power pole. Cost of special 2 tier meters might be on your nickel too. You can simply 'go green' by doing most of your charging at night anyway. Whether that would be greener or not at least it is drawing power when the lines are being lightly loaded. --
Our regular rates vary from 6 to 8 cents per kWh depending on the season. Off peak is 4.6 cents, so a pretty good savings. Dual fuel is 5.7 cents per kWh, but then the charging would stop at random intervals when they decide to shut the power off, that seems like a bad idea...
wow. Those are fantastic rates! We pay $.09/kWh here doesn't matter when or how we charge and washington state has some of the lowest rates in the country. In fact we sell something like 60% of our power to other states. I'm very jealous my friend...
Somebody else mentioned being in a cooperative where they'd moved to fixed-price delivery/distribution/transmission better to reflect reality and avoid solar "freeloaders". Maybe the OP's coop has the same kind of pricing.
This is pretty common in areas that have hydro power. Electric Rates | City of Rupert A few years ago, it was $5 for the customer charge, and $0.034 per Kwh production and transmission, ANYTIME of the day.
Ya, but we pay for it wit da heating then. And LCP finds all kinds of fixed costs to tack on, ya know.
I'm not seeing the significant savings between your peak and off peak rates to justify all of the additional work (and possibly cost?) that your utility is contemplating for your property. It's only a couple of cents/kWh difference.
Going to 4.6 from ~7 cents is 35% difference, that will be a decent discount over time. I'll pick up the cost of the wiring (just like everyone else), and the power company will need to hang another control box, probably not at great cost to them. We'll see how it plays out.
Let's say wiring is $300 (cheap). You save 3 cents per kWh. Then you need to charge 10000kWh to break even. At 85% effifiency that's about 100 full charges, or about 25k miles of driving.
Well, I pay for wiring my garage whether or not I get a discount on electricity, so any savings is pure profit. But I get your point that it is not laughing-all-the-way-to-the-bank profit, maybe a free pint of IPA every couple weeks. Along those lines, I've been shopping for hardware and found enclosed NEMA 14-50: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009R5JRS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2FCCUMSY5K60O&coliid=IP0IB0EIGLPUK Look reasonable?
The Tesla plug and adapter sticks out from the socket quite a bit. I'd look for one with a top hinge - it still won't close, but it'll be better than a side hinge.
i wish Xcel energy had the same level of customer service in the Twin Cities. Basically for a residential user, it's all or nothing for off peak. And it took multiple calls to their customer care line to get that answer. I still feel I haven't got the real answer yet as they couldn't understand installing a second meter for just electric car charging.
Just to work with reasonably progressive utility company would be great. REA's and Co-ops are as diverse as human personalities. The local REA here outside of Denver is openly hostile to anything new or renewable. XCEL is almost as bad, but sly about it. Only when dragged into the street by the PUC or Legislature will they smile at anything innovative or new. XCEL has joined other large investor owned utilities in fighting rooftop solar in a large way. All that aside.... good luck with Lake Country and your new Model S..
No aspiration here to become a test case for any power co be it coop or investor owned. They will be pulling back from green initiatives at every turn. Being grandfathered into nickel and penny advantages will likely not prove to be significant in the long run. A Tesla owner with land has one basic fall back position - go off grid and charge during the day. This might require 2 Teslas so you can commute daily :wink:.
I wouldn't complain too much in other parts of the country about green unfriendly power companies. Here in San Diego, we have a very green friendly power company ... and rates to match. $0.32/kWh. I'll take the lower rates any day...
Wyoming, you guys have more energy than you can shake a stick at, doesn't money just rain down out there? - - - Updated - - - California, essentially a separate country. I'd like those rates tho... - - - Updated - - - - - - Updated - - - OK, an update on the original thread. This is looking pretty good, I spent some time with the power company guy today, here's the deal. I'll need to install a couple boxes to handle power from the source to the outlet. LCP (connected with Great Lakes Energy for you midwesterners) will pick up up to $500 of the initial wiring costs - that rocks!. They will put it on off-peak charges (4.5 cents, not quite as good as highly subsidized CA, but reasonable). But my question to you owners - they charge from 11 PM to 7 AM. At 29 MPH, that gives me 232 miles on my 285 mile range. Is 8 hrs a reasonable time for a charge? - - - Updated - - - P.S. Colorado and Wyoming, don't take this wrong, you guys are great states. Major inferiority complex in MN...