Would you charge off-peak hours if Tesla offered a discounted rate?

[swengl]

In the earnings call, it was stated that "The company is also focused on lowering Supercharging time, and rolling out strategies like encouraging owners to charge their vehicles in off-peak hours."

I'm assuming this means a lower rate for off-peak charging (possible free SuC in the dead of night?). Do you think enough people will change their SuperCharging habits to save a few dollars? Personally, I only SuperCharge when I'm traveling, so convenience would win out over cost. It is also possible that Tesla will only do this for the most heavily congested SuC sites (at least at first), which could lead to confusion over what rate to expect when charging at a SuC stall. Communication of the rates and any changes will be key to a smooth rollout.

Tesla will need to use every trick in the book to keep the SuC network from being overwhelmed when they open it up to 3rd party vehicles. As a stockholder, I applaud the idea (more revenue), but as an owner, I really hope they are prepared for the additional load. The doubling/tripling of the number of chargers will definitely help out, as well.

 

[EVFamilyGrins]

Tesla already does this in some places. I noticed this on a couple of road trips.

The Plainview NY SC on Long Island has reduced charging rates at off peak hours and the Salt Lake City service center had 50% discount for off peak hours. I adjusted my charging schedule to to utilize both. I was in Plainview for the day and probably did not need to charge, but rate was cheaper than home rate. So I charged in the morning instead of evening before I left.

In Utah we were just passing through, but there were many charging options on our route so we just adjusted our trip to we used that charger vs another. Only downside to the off-peak charging in Salt lake, is there were no amenities around the service center.

 

[Sandollars]

No.

 

[acatwith12]

Tesla already does this in pretty much all of California. Peak hours are 10am-7pm, off peak are outside... 50% off "peak" prices. For normal road trips, doesn't matter since peak prices are still cheaper than gas.

 

[Lloyd]

I will always charge at home primarily as solar makes it FREE.

 

[roblab]

The superchargers I use, rarely at that, hardly ever are more than 20% full. Looks like most Napa Valley owners charge at home. We have a main SC site of about twenty chargers, and ten miles away is another SC site with another twenty, rarely with more than 4 or 5 cars. It is SOOOO easy to charge at home for most of us that I have a hard time seeing why some owners find it easier to drive a half dozen or so miles and then sit in the car for an hour. I would have to be pretty desperate to do that several times a week, just to save ten bucks. Don't these people remember what they used to pay for gas?? I see gas is running around $3 now, so $30 bucks a fill up, and now they're doing all kinds of acrobatics to save $10.

You'd think that if you could afford a $50,000 or $100,000 car you could afford to up your home electric bill fifty bucks a month. It's all pretty silly.

 

[Maxters]

IF Tesla would give us a discount when the utility price is low then that would be great.


IF they are planning on raising the prices then off peak being cheaper to increase profit, I am against.

IF they charge NON-TESLA's the going rate to make money but Tesla's get just above the going utility rate, then that would be OK...

 

[swengl]

IF Tesla would give us a discount when the utility price is low then that would be great.


IF they are planning on raising the prices then off peak being cheaper to increase profit, I am against.

IF they charge NON-TESLA's the going rate to make money but Tesla's get just above the going utility rate, then that would be OK...

They should be charging non-Teslas a small premium to cover the cost of deploying/managing the number of new stalls that they are planning to deploy (and maybe make a modest amount of revenue, as well). It would just be another (albeit small) benefit of buying a Tesla and using the SuperCharging infrastructure to charge: you don't pay as much as the 3rd party owners would.

 

[Rocky_H]

It is SOOOO easy to charge at home for most of us that I have a hard time seeing why some owners find it easier to drive a half dozen or so miles and then sit in the car for an hour.

I find this amazing that you still don't seem to be able to understand that a lot of people in very dense urban areas live in condos and apartments and therefore don't always have houses with garages, where charging is easy. They need to use public charging resources, such as Superchargers.

 

[swengl]

I find this amazing that you still don't seem to be able to understand that a lot of people in very dense urban areas live in condos and apartments and therefore don't always have houses with garages, where charging is easy. They need to use public charging resources, such as Superchargers.

This is, unfortunately, true. Many landlords don't see the value in the potential competitive advantage that they could have by offering the ability to charge within the condo/apartment complex. I'm hoping that will change as the nation transitions to more sustainable transportation and it becomes commonplace to see EVs everywhere. It might be worth reaching out to local political representatives to try to incentivize the deployment of charging infrastructure in multi-tenant properties.

 

[swengl]

I will always charge at home primarily as solar makes it FREE.

It's great to have that option. Unfortunately, you are in the minority, currently. It is great that you are minimizing your transportation carbon footprint, kudos!

 

[Maxters]

We have solar and we used to charge it home all the time but now I just charge when I'm at work because there's an outlet in the work garage.

I don't think I could live in stack and pack conditions in a city where you have no yard no driveway no nothing.

 

[jboy210]

In the earnings call, it was stated that "The company is also focused on lowering Supercharging time, and rolling out strategies like encouraging owners to charge their vehicles in off-peak hours."

I'm assuming this means a lower rate for off-peak charging (possible free SuC in the dead of night?). Do you think enough people will change their SuperCharging habits to save a few dollars? Personally, I only SuperCharge when I'm traveling, so convenience would win out over cost. It is also possible that Tesla will only do this for the most heavily congested SuC sites (at least at first), which could lead to confusion over what rate to expect when charging at a SuC stall. Communication of the rates and any changes will be key to a smooth rollout.

Tesla will need to use every trick in the book to keep the SuC network from being overwhelmed when they open it up to 3rd party vehicles. As a stockholder, I applaud the idea (more revenue), but as an owner, I really hope they are prepared for the additional load. The doubling/tripling of the number of chargers will definitely help out, as well.

They already do this by me. The Supercharging price per kWh doubles on weekday afternoons and evenings. This somewhat matches the rate structure of the power utility. But is also trying to optimize the usage of Superchargers. They want to disincentivize charging at peak usage times. And get more people to just do a quick charge and leave so other people can charge.

 

[swengl]

Are there any other creative solutions out there beside just discounting the rate for off-peak?

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

This is, unfortunately, true. Many landlords don't see the value in the potential competitive advantage that they could have by offering the ability to charge within the condo/apartment complex. I'm hoping that will change as the nation transitions to more sustainable transportation and it becomes commonplace to see EVs everywhere. It might be worth reaching out to local political representatives to try to incentivize the deployment of charging infrastructure in multi-tenant properties.

To me the only reason to be concerned about it is expediency of transition. Otherwise, if EVs can drop in cost enough to be successful, the market and standard policy will shift new build and redevelopment, workplace charging as a benefit will fill some of the gap, and government can help ensure that the rest happens, such as charging on street.

Incidentally, also worth remembering that a significant chunk of fast-charging infrastructure that helps serve travelers provides capacity for people without home charging. Having off-peak pricing is particularly useful for trying to encourage locals to avoid busy periods for use by travelers.

 

[Hayseed_MS]

I am fortunate enough to have a Tesla charger at home. Supercharges are for trips and therefore I utilize them at the time I need them. So, time of day discounts do not apply to me.

However, I could see me utilizing them more if my case was different and the savings was significant.

 

[TomServo]

From my perch, it seems to me Tesla could implement this strategy across the board today with little impact on folks like us. Even if only a small percentage of drivers are able to shift their travel schedule to take advantage of LOWER evening rates, it would surely lessen the load during the day for folks like my wife and I who are 69 with some health issues and unable to travel at night. I would think most urban folks using SCer's in lieu of home charging would charge at night as well, lower rates would be a great inducement to do so. Seems like a WIN-WIN for everyone.

 

[wenz]

They should be charging non-Teslas a small premium to cover the cost of deploying/managing the number of new stalls that they are planning to deploy (and maybe make a modest amount of revenue, as well). It would just be another (albeit small) benefit of buying a Tesla and using the SuperCharging infrastructure to charge: you don't pay as much as the 3rd party owners would.

They started a pilot today with 10 SuperChargers doing just that

Tesla Adds "Superchargers Open to Non-Tesla" to Map

Looks like Tesla has added a filter on their online Supercharger map for "Superchargers Open to Non-Tesla." Currently none in America. https://www.tesla.com/findus?v=2&bounds=37.852935840904706%2C-74.11048226651468%2C29.29093124098526%2C-95.20423226651468&filters=supercharger%2Cparty&zoom=7

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