Supercharger - Boulder, CO

[Chuq]

Time of use pricing comes to Boulder:

That's really weird that the price is higher during the peak solar generating time. Normally a glut of solar generated energy causes a drop in wholesale price at that time of day. Unless the time periods are reflective of something else and not wholesale cost of electricity?

 

[mociaf9]

That's really weird that the price is higher during the peak solar generating time. Normally a glut of solar generated energy causes a drop in wholesale price at that time of day. Unless the time periods are reflective of something else and not wholesale cost of electricity?

I'm sure the periods and prices are reflective of the Time-Of-Use rates charged by the utility. And since almost 80% of Colorado's renewable electricity comes from wind power, instead of solar, I'm not that surprised that the TOU rates may not follow what one would expect in a state with high solar penetration in their electricity mix.

 

[PLUS EV]

So... am I the only one who thinks a big part of the reason for the different rates is to ease crowding (or potential for crowding)?

 

[Barry]

Supposedly Tesla isn't profiting from the rates (or maybe not much). Guessing rates change because utility changes price.

And if you believe that one, you probably believe Musk's lie that Service Centers aren't a profit center.
BTW, I have a bridge for sale...

 

[Barry]

So... am I the only one who thinks a big part of the reason for the different rates is to ease crowding (or potential for crowding)?

No.

 

[aerodyne]

And if you believe that one, you probably believe Musk's lie that Service Centers aren't a profit center.
BTW, I have a bridge for sale...

I have heard that one before in my career. Not being a profit center means you don't have a say at the table, ie, shut up, overhead! When it comes to budget or resources. Production, sales, R&D, will be in front and service will be sucking rear teat...

 

[smartypnz]

Nope.... drinking the Kool-Aid.... Like here, those prices follow peak Elec use times and I am sure that, as at other tiered Tesla chargers, the Tier price drops are passed on to us.

 

[Tectonic]

So... am I the only one who thinks a big part of the reason for the different rates is to ease crowding (or potential for crowding)?

Others may have followed this more closely, but my impression is that TOU rates have been rolled out so far only to high-use urban chargers. If accurate, this suggests, as you say, the motivation is at least in part to manage crowding...

Nope.... drinking the Kool-Aid.... Like here, those prices follow peak Elec use times and I am sure that, as at other tiered Tesla chargers, the Tier price drops are passed on to us.

These times don't quite line up with Xcel residential TOU rates, at least - maybe commercial rate times are different. For residential rates, peak time is 2-6pm, M-F, which I think they've proposed to change to 3-7pm in the future. It's actually cheaper per KWh to charge at the supercharger from 5-6pm than it is at home!

 

[mociaf9]

And if you believe that one, you probably believe Musk's lie that Service Centers aren't a profit center.
BTW, I have a bridge for sale...

Supercharging is definitely a big money loser for Tesla when considered in aggregate (i.e. counting all superchargers together). For individual locations that have consistently heavy usage they could likely be decently profitable if the proportion of cars that have free supercharging is relatively low. But the percentage of supercharger sites that see such heavy usage is also very modest outside of California. The point being that any modest profits a location might earn are used to partially offset the large losses of all the unprofitable locations.

 

[ThisIsTrue]

Hey, if it gives them a budget to do more maintenance on balky SCs, I'm all for some cost recovery!