Over 7,000 miles and still haven't paid for electricity

[Reed]

After close to 5 months since delivery and over 7,000 miles on the odometer, I still haven't paid cent for electricity. We have taken the car on 3 long trips (700+ miles round trip), it is my daily driver and has become my families car of choice any time we drive somewhere.

Most of my free charging occurs at work. I am lucky that I work for a company that has lots of free chargers for employees. My commute is short (about 10 miles) which helps too. I have also used the free Superchargers on many occasions including the long trips. And finally, I have used Plugshare to locate free chargers when the options above are not available.

I still have never plugged my car in at home. In fact, I have only used the portable charging cable once at a hotel.

At this point it is almost a game to not pay for charging. Anyone else in the same boat?

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Over 21,000 miles here and I may have paid for electrons for only about 1,000 of them if that. Same situation here with copious free charging options at work and bonus free public charging stations at our favorite cineplex, library, Tesla service centers, etc. Superchargers aplenty around here and I've made trips to SoCal and Tahoe thus far.

 

[Chipper]

I am going to be in that same elite group soon. But from a different point of view. Yesterday they installed 33 solar panels on my roof and early next week they are going to be generating over 100% of my electrical needs. There are no superchargers within driving distance of me (and evidently none planned for a long while) but still I will be able to drive for free with the added advantage of doing so being totally green!

 

[dhrivnak]

Great Solar is a great way to go. Please add a picture and update your vote on the driving on Sunshine poll. Driving on Sunshine - Page 6

 

[zwede]

Must be nice to have a forward thinking employer. At my work they say they have "a plan" to install all of 2 charging spots. The facility has 3,000 employees... They also don't have any plans to enforce EV only at the 2 charging spots. I'm sure no one else will park there.

 

[Sparrow]

Funny sometimes how people value things differently. I take pride in driving almost 13,000 miles and never having to plug in anywhere other than my garage. To me the greatest value of the Model S over the other electric is that I do not have to rely on the public infrastructure for my driving needs.

Based on what just almost happened here in Georgia concerning the EV tax credit, I am a little concerned when people start saying that they are driving using someone elses electricity. In Georgia, because one State Representative heard his neighbor brag about "buying" (he was really leasing) a Nissan leaf for free due to the $5000 State tax credit and the 2 year approximately $200 per month lease rate, a bill got past in the State House to delete the tax credit. Fortunately the State Senate changed some of the provisions to cap the State's total liability on the tax credit instead and the House then tried to make some additional changes to the Senate bill which effectively killed the bill when time ran out leaving us with the $5000 tax credit with no limits still intact for another year. Anyways, my concern is that anti-EV people are going to hear people bragging about not paying for their electricity and find even more ways to hurt the EV industry.

 

[slipdrive]

Six months from delivery, the car is participating in my study for a couple of months to target a whole-house 40% electric usage reduction. Going through everything on the watts and amp patrol. 30 new LED's. Banning space heaters. Thermal also, with air sealing and blown-in fiberglass, etc. planned. I have completely avoided the 14-50 in the garage for a month, using only 110v at work, and SC's. Trying to see if I can get within striking distance of the output of a proposed and likely 10kW SunPower system for the roof. It is a very enlightening process, and part of the intangible aspect of this innovative car. Expands thinking...at least it has mine.

 

[Baiao]

My TESLA Model S has 11,900 miles and free electricity with TXU free nights program, That's also a gasoline savings of $2094 .

 

[slipdrive]

That sounds like a great TXU program. Do you know if the daytime charges are increased at all when you sign up for "free nights"? Colorado XCEL is still in the stone age on this stuff ...

 

[Ugliest1]

Based on what just almost happened here in Georgia concerning the EV tax credit, I am a little concerned when people start saying that they are driving using someone elses electricity. ...<snip>... Anyways, my concern is that anti-EV people are going to hear people bragging about not paying for their electricity and find even more ways to hurt the EV industry.

That's a good point! however there's yet another angle. The Sun Country highway in Canada offers free charging coast to coast, but for the most part not on the public's dime -- the Sun Country CEO persuaded businesses to invest in placing chargers and pay for the electricity on the valid premise that it would draw in the coming evolution of EV drivers. It's just good business. Then there are some municipality-based free chargers whose business model (I am assuming, here) must be to draw travellers in to their small town and stay a while instead of blasting on through. So, when I talk to people who ask about free charging, I give them the business model view.

 

[tezco]

We've been driving for "free" too, but we did plunk down a wad of cash to install our 10.2 kW PV system. Payback is projected in about 5 years due to a generous 7 cent/kWh REC payment for 20 years from Xcel. Unfortunately Xcel has pretty much gutted incentives for roof top solar in Colorado. Instead they're building Xcel owned solar farms so that they can continue their monopoly.

 

[slipdrive]

Yes, the XCEL REC payments are down to 3 cents, but systems prices have come way down also, and its about a 7 year payback. But it's a good improvement to the home I think. Several real estate studies have shown that people will pay an average of 15x annual electric production for a proven solar system on a home. I really need to cut down the summer XCEL hit Tier 2 rates of about 17 cents, so we will get the system on in a month or so.
I just think it's great to find all the options available to charge the car. The flexibility and convenience will just keep improving.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Just a nitpick - if you install solar at your house, you are still paying for electricity. You need to amortize the costs of the solar installation over the amount of electricity it generates. In sunny CA, it works out to about $0.10 - $0.11 a kWh.

 

[slipdrive]

Good point. With the solar production, the system avoids 12 cents in winter, 16 in summer, plus a 3 cent credit from XCEL for every kwH produced. I don't even involve the car in the calculation. With no escalation in these costs, simple payback is 7.1 yrs. The system should last at least 20 years.

 

[Chipper]

Just a nitpick - if you install solar at your house, you are still paying for electricity. You need to amortize the costs of the solar installation over the amount of electricity it generates. In sunny CA, it works out to about $0.10 - $0.11 a kWh.

Ahh, but you are not taking into account the added value to the house. Recent reports indicate a $6000 plus value to the home for every 1kW of solar installed. I just paid $15K for a 10kW PV system adding $60K value to my home. Even if that was an over-estimate, if it is only worth half that much I could sell the house immediately for $15K more than I paid for it last year. It sure sounded like a win/win to me.

 

[Cottonwood]

After close to 5 months since delivery and over 7,000 miles on the odometer, I still haven't paid cent for electricity. We have taken the car on 3 long trips (700+ miles round trip), it is my daily driver and has become my families car of choice any time we drive somewhere.

Most of my free charging occurs at work. I am lucky that I work for a company that has lots of free chargers for employees. My commute is short (about 10 miles) which helps too. I have also used the free Superchargers on many occasions including the long trips. And finally, I have used Plugshare to locate free chargers when the options above are not available.

I still have never plugged my car in at home. In fact, I have only used the portable charging cable once at a hotel.

At this point it is almost a game to not pay for charging. Anyone else in the same boat?

I am happy to have quick charging at home (45 seconds to plug in and 45 seconds to unplug), and connivence of not worrying about where to charge around town. 4 to 10 cents a kWh is pretty cheap fuel and the time savings is priceless!

However, I just finished a 4,600 mile trip from Colorado to California and Back Again Using Superchargers and Destination Charging using about 1.5 MWh, 5.4 teraJoules, of energy and did not pay a penny. The Superchargers are easy, but it is amazing how may destination chargers there are out there that are happy to offer you so many free megaJoules on a trip! :wink:


1 kWh = 3.6 megaJoules