Supercharge cost rate depends on total amount of energy per charge

[geckoo_koko]

I had two supercharges to my model Y, and turns out the 2nd charging rate doubled of the 1st visit one (first charge ~20Kwh, and 2nd one is ~50Kwh). I talked to Tesla support, and was told that the rate depends on the total energy each charge. Does it make sense? Then it sounds like we can save money by splitting the charge into twice or three times? Or I miss something.

Is there a good guideline of the charge outlined in this forum?

 

[Baytomax]

Are you referring to the price when charging? Price per kilowatt differs from charger to charger. The ones near me are set up like TOU charging.

Off-peak/on-peak charging rates vary dramatically. During on-peak you can pay as much as 2x what off-peak normally is.

Correct me if I misunderstood your original statement.

//edit - Looking at official Tesla Supercharging support mentions of "billing per minute". I haven't encountered that yet so but that sounds more like what you were referencing. Would be great if someone could chime in on this.

 

[Fourdoor]

Are you referring to the price when charging? Price per kilowatt differs from charger to charger. The ones near me are set up like TOU charging.

Off-peak/on-peak charging rates vary dramatically. During on-peak you can pay as much as 2x what off-peak normally is.

Correct me if I misunderstood your original statement.

//edit - Looking at official Tesla Supercharging support mentions of "billing per minute". I haven't encountered that yet so but that sounds more like what you were referencing. Would be great if someone could chime in on this.

Some states do not allow anyone other than an electrical utility to sell electricity by the kWh. In those states they (tesla and other charging networks) have to charge by the min. In that case, you are billed a lot less for charging from 0% to 40% than you will be billed for charging from 40% to 80% even though you are getting the same amount of energy, it takes a lot longer to go from 40% to 80% than it takes to go from 0% to 40%.

Keith

 

[geckoo_koko]

Are you referring to the price when charging? Price per kilowatt differs from charger to charger. The ones near me are set up like TOU charging.

Off-peak/on-peak charging rates vary dramatically. During on-peak you can pay as much as 2x what off-peak normally is.

Correct me if I misunderstood your original statement.

//edit - Looking at official Tesla Supercharging support mentions of "billing per minute". I haven't encountered that yet so but that sounds more like what you were referencing. Would be great if someone could chime in on this.

The two charging visits are almost same time of week days, so should not be related to peak. What I am puzzled is the rate, $ per Kwh depends on the total energy, from the customer specialist's response, an analogy is: we pay less $ per gallon if we fill fewer gallons for combust engine cars.

 

[LoudMusic]

Can you share with us the specifics on pricing? Maybe a screenshot from your Tesla account? Here's mine - showing where I've charged, how much kwh, and how much I've paid per kwh.

I just realized I paid 34c/kwh today. Holy balls! Glad I didn't need a full charge!

I know they do peak/offpeak schemes in California, and I know they do different rates in states where they charge by the minute. The change in $/min is based on battery state of charge. I can't remember when the change-over is but I believe it's around 60%. This is because the charge speed drops dramatically at higher SOC so they charge less because you're getting less kw.

Where were you charging?

 

[a.deodatus]

Man, I pay 35-38 cents per kWh here in Colorado… almost makes me want to find another Model S with free Supercharging!

 

[LoudMusic]

Man, I pay 35-38 cents per kWh here in Colorado… almost makes me want to find another Model S with free Supercharging!

Yikes. Looks like I was paying ~26c/kwh at various Superchargers when I was there back in January. I wonder if they've been hiking up the rates now that people are driving again and they've got this big captured audience. Hopefully they're rolling the money into more Supercharger locations.

 

[Rocky_H]

I had two supercharges to my model Y, and turns out the 2nd charging rate doubled of the 1st visit one (first charge ~20Kwh, and 2nd one is ~50Kwh). I talked to Tesla support, and was told that the rate depends on the total energy each charge. Does it make sense? Then it sounds like we can save money by splitting the charge into twice or three times? Or I miss something.

No, the person you asked either didn't understand it or didn't explain it well.

Some states do not allow anyone other than an electrical utility to sell electricity by the kWh. In those states they (tesla and other charging networks) have to charge by the min.

It is this.
It is charging per minute. But the reason the charging comes out differently is this: They have two different rates, depending on what charging speed you are getting. See? Because a minute at a very high speed will deliver more total energy than a minute at a slower speed. So they put in this dividing line at a power level of 60 kW. If it is charging at a power level lower than that, it's at the lower price per minute. If it's a power higher than 60 kW, then it uses the higher price per minute.

Now you are probably going to ask the next question: What happens with a charging session that starts in a higher power and then tapers off to a lower power? I don't know. I haven't seen enough discussion or evidence showing what happens with that.