It's a national park policy. Any EV charger is available to any visitor regardless of what establishment it is at.
It's a national park policy. Any EV charger is available to any visitor regardless of what establishment it is at.
Unless....people stop using them as daily commute chargers. If they were to use them as intended and only use them while traveling cross country or long trips there would be almost no congestion.
What Tier 1 rate? Anyone who has an EV will be on EV-A or EV-B which is 11 cents off peak as much as you like. My PG&E bill is $100 / month lower than it used to be after getting the Tesla yet I use 3x as much electricity.
Why can't everyone charge at during off peak hours when their car is at home all night????
David99
Active Member
Regarding the rates. Yes at night I can charge for $0.10 per kWh. But that's just at night. Many times we need to charge during the day and that's when the ToU rates actually really suck. In the afternoon (peak time) you pay $0.49 per kWh. That makes a 30 min Supercharger stop worth $22.
Select profile "Work while sitting in car". Steering wheel goes all the way forward. Seat goes all the way back. Lots of room for my laptop.
I like EV-A better. It gets you 11 cents off peak for your entire house.
Yep EV-A is simple and easy - except I am in and out of the house all day so time of use doesn't work for me.
mkspeedr
Member
I have used superchargers in Mt View and Fremont the last several weekends. I drove 225+ miles a few days (I love driving it).
The superchargers were 50%-60% full - one interesting point - 50% of the cars charging were new without license plates.
That is a good sign.
The superchargers were 50%-60% full - one interesting point - 50% of the cars charging were new without license plates.
That is a good sign.
Az_Rael
Supporting Member
THIS. I don't care about L2 at work, that means I still have to go move my car when it's done charging. But a whole bank of L1 plugs, that would be great. Then I could leave my car for my entire 10 hour workday and never worry about moving it. And I would still get very close to enough charge for my commute even at L1 speeds.
Same with airports.
Az_Rael
Supporting Member
Except us poor sod's down here in SoCal. To use the EV rates on SCE, you have to have a separate meter. I looked into it, it was going to cost at least $2000 to do that.
And some people work nights (me). Or have family at home during the day. So TOU rates don't work for everyone.
I would put solar up, but we are expecting to move for work in a year or two, so no point in making the investment as it wouldn't pay off before we sell the house.
cpa
Active Member
This. Fresno is not as hot as Palmdale, but it still gets pretty gosh darn hot from mid-May through mid-September. We have a 4400-watt solar installation on our roof that is about 85% efficient because of some stately trees on our lot along the western edge. So, late afternoon shade eclipses some of the photons. TOU makes no financial sense--our usage from 2PM to 8PM is about double what we generate. And the surplus that we generate is always partial-peak.
We too looked into a dedicated EV meter for the Tesla. Our fee was slightly more than $2,500 without considering if PG&E had to tweak their delivery into our home.
As it is with us now, we always stay in tier 1. Now that the monthly minimum is roughly $10, our NEM true up will be zero. $120/year for electricity is fine with us.
TaoJones
Beyond Driven
Amazing that people still think SCs are solely for distance. Tesla committed to DENSITY as well as to DISTANCE 2 years ago, yet threads like this keep popping up along with the exclusionary "if you don't have a garage don't buy a Tesla" and "those darned locals" silliness.
In areas of density, Tesla has shown their commitment - when I bought in late 2014 there was 1 SC in LA County. 6 weeks later there were 3 and they keep coming.
If you travel through an area of density, be prepared to share chargers with local commuters and livery.
The real problem is not the rare local who's clueless enough to use an SC instead of their garage. Remember that the non-garaged are welcome to use SCs unless and until they can get charging at home or work. Municipalities are already starting to incentivize this finally. Just a matter of time.
Meanwhile, here's something we can all work on - eliminating ICEing by our own. Nothing will turn an 8-stall SC into a 2-stall SC than an owner of any kind being late to exit the stall.
And that, folks, is the #1 problem I see in SoCal. Not "locals" who might charge 2-3x/week at most. Not even livery since they're in and out because time is money. It's the clueless owner who meanders off to have a 90-minute dinner during a 40-minute charge. It makes a difference.
As for traditional ICEing, no parking signs, municipal fines and a tow contract solves that and I see more of that correct signage all over the country this year than last.
Vacate the stall when done, folks, or all the elitist handwringing persecution of locals and the non-garaged won't help you.
Also, smart non-garaged locals don't use SCs during peak times. Gonna have to blame the tourists for that congestion.
In areas of density, Tesla has shown their commitment - when I bought in late 2014 there was 1 SC in LA County. 6 weeks later there were 3 and they keep coming.
If you travel through an area of density, be prepared to share chargers with local commuters and livery.
The real problem is not the rare local who's clueless enough to use an SC instead of their garage. Remember that the non-garaged are welcome to use SCs unless and until they can get charging at home or work. Municipalities are already starting to incentivize this finally. Just a matter of time.
Meanwhile, here's something we can all work on - eliminating ICEing by our own. Nothing will turn an 8-stall SC into a 2-stall SC than an owner of any kind being late to exit the stall.
And that, folks, is the #1 problem I see in SoCal. Not "locals" who might charge 2-3x/week at most. Not even livery since they're in and out because time is money. It's the clueless owner who meanders off to have a 90-minute dinner during a 40-minute charge. It makes a difference.
As for traditional ICEing, no parking signs, municipal fines and a tow contract solves that and I see more of that correct signage all over the country this year than last.
Vacate the stall when done, folks, or all the elitist handwringing persecution of locals and the non-garaged won't help you.
Also, smart non-garaged locals don't use SCs during peak times. Gonna have to blame the tourists for that congestion.
I'll meet you half way, 13,500 - Average Annual Miles per Driver by Age Group
I took my number from the "Male" column originally, which is 16,500.
I charge exclusively at home, only using SuperChargers when I'm on distance trips. Looking at my power bill, in the month of May my bill is $1.30/day higher than it was a year ago (before I had the Tesla). There are plenty of things that might have changed my bill from last year, both positive and negative, but the largest was the addition of the Tesla.
My time is worth more than $1.30 to charge for 30 minutes at a SC, and it's worth more than $5. Thanks, but I'll keep charging at home.
Now, I do live in the Seattle area and our electricity is only $0.096 for the first 248 kWh and then $0.116 after that. And I probably don't drive as much as some people (I general only use 10-20% of my 85D per day). But that's just another data point. Your mileage will vary depending on where you live, how you drive, how much you value your time, etc.
My time is worth more than $1.30 to charge for 30 minutes at a SC, and it's worth more than $5. Thanks, but I'll keep charging at home.
Now, I do live in the Seattle area and our electricity is only $0.096 for the first 248 kWh and then $0.116 after that. And I probably don't drive as much as some people (I general only use 10-20% of my 85D per day). But that's just another data point. Your mileage will vary depending on where you live, how you drive, how much you value your time, etc.
Sasmania
Member
I've taken two long road trips in the past two months, one from SF Bay Area down to Los Angeles and back, and the second from SF Bay Area to Vancouver, BC and back. Only once did I have to wait for a Supercharger, and that was on a Friday night at Buena Park where there were definitely locals using the majority of stations. (The Main Place Superchargers were down 3 because of maintenance, so I thought my odds would be better if I went to Buena Park). That is the only time I had to wait for a Supercharger, and even then it was only about 5 minutes.
Congestion in the Bay Area in SoCal is far worse than it was a year ago. A year ago I could charge in San Mateo in the middle of the day without a wait.
Now there are 8+ car waits like this:
Yes that's really 8 cars in line.
What's worse is that 8 of the last 9 charging sessions I've only gotten 1/2 to 1/4 of the charge rate that I used to get. Every time I call Tesla for whatever site I'm having the slow charging at they always tell me that the site or stall I'm at has known issues and that there's a service ticket out to fix them.
Tesla doesn't appear to be enforcing the idling policy so folks are ignoring it and just parking for as long as they want.
Now there are 8+ car waits like this:
Yes that's really 8 cars in line.
What's worse is that 8 of the last 9 charging sessions I've only gotten 1/2 to 1/4 of the charge rate that I used to get. Every time I call Tesla for whatever site I'm having the slow charging at they always tell me that the site or stall I'm at has known issues and that there's a service ticket out to fix them.
Tesla doesn't appear to be enforcing the idling policy so folks are ignoring it and just parking for as long as they want.
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