Electrify America Chargers

ChargePoint doesn't set their prices, each individual owner sets it.

I am shocked at how high the price is for EA compared to their old pricing, this almost doubles the cost of a charge. Here's to hoping EVpassport starts up soon.

 

Double? How do you figure?

For us in colder climates, charging in the winter was prohibitively expensive if you are paying by the minute. Even in the summer, once the charge rate tapers, you end up paying through the nose.

 

45 minutes 0 to 80% is $8.55 at the $0.19 per minute (which I was finally getting down to)

80% of a 64 kwh battery is 51.2 kwh at $0.31 per kwh is $15.87

That is a pretty big difference to me.

 

Looks like the per kWh pricing might be cheaper in some instances and more expensive in others. A Plus membership helps, though that only pays off once you've gotten 34 kWh in a month (pretty easy to reach with one charging session, though I personally don't do enough DCFC to justify it most months). I looked at my recent EA receipts and it'd be cheaper sometimes, more expensive others, depending on the SOC. Keep in mind, I was on the Hyundai Select plan.

States that keep per-minute pricing are all 16c per minute for cars that charge up to 90 kW, 32c after that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. So that's pretty good, and better than Hyundai Select. And as has been noted, moving the line to 90 kW is better for Hyundai/Kia than 75 kW.

The biggest winners here are drivers who charge in the high-SOC parts of the charging curves -- those who would get charged for high per-minute rates but not actually benefit from high-speed charging.

Removing all session fees is good, especially for when you get a charger that's throttled.

I wish more states would allow per-kWh charging. I wonder if EA/VW has a sizable government relations team on the state level to lobby for that.

 

I asked Kyle specifically about Virginia - the EA headquarters is there, and they are still per-minute. He basically said that Virginia does permit kWh billing, but there is still some paperwork there (and a few other states) that will be "coming soon". Besides VA, I have no idea what those other states are however. Perhaps we will learn more in Friday's podcast.

Idle fees remain, and those don't bother me at all.

 

At $0.16 oe minute, that is substantially cheaper than the per kwh pricing.

As for idle fees, I like them, it helps ensure people actually move their vehicles when done.

Of course right now I am litterally paying nothing for charging at AAA who has two 62.4kw stations that are free. So that price always wins, but even at that speed, it only takes about 45 minutes from 0 to 80%.

 

How were you getting 19c a minute? I thought Hyundai Select was the best you could do with the 77 kW charging capability, and that was 35c a minute. And was there a session fee to consider?

And how many drivers are really doing the full 0% to 80%? Plus, within that, you have charging curve drops at ~57%, ~72% and ~77% -- on the Kona at least -- with each step making the charging less valuable on a per-minute basis versus the per-kWh system.

 

Mine finally started reporting a 75kw max charge rate over labor day weekend and 0 to 80% is all I really care about, as that is exactly how I always charge (well normally 20 to 80%, but even so my charge rate doesn't drop below 65kw unless there is a charging station issue and this takes substantially less than 45 minutes).

And I have the plan with no session fees anyway for my other vehicle, so no skin off my nose there, either way I pay the $4 per month, even under the new scheme.

 

Last winter I started going out of my way to get to a free 50kW charger. When the battery is cold, 39kW charge rates were common, and some of my sessions were over an hour (the longest being 1-1/2 hour for 53kWh). This was before the Hyundai select plan existed, so that would have cost me 50$ at EA. To some extent, I can "manage" this - if I charge after having driven for a couple of hours, then I would get much better charging performance. But the lesson learned is that charging first thing in the morning in the winter is going to be slow.

Now we have a charger at the office, so it would really only be for road trips that I would need to use any DCFC.

 

Yup you’re paying for the higher demand charges of cars that charge faster (and the Kona/Niro is the worst case for EA in those states at that price point, and it doesn’t get sold there). That and electricity is cheaper usually in those states.

$0.31 is pretty fair though, I barely got that on a good day with the old Hyundai plan and it’s close to the price Tesla charges at their superchargers ?

 

Not really very fair at all, when they are getting charged around $0.12 per kwh for the electricity. Sure under the old Hyundai plan it would be fairly close, but once it finally started working (and I only did it the once admittedly) with the lower rate plan, it is nowhere near equivalent.

And you are right, it does put the price up near that of the overpriced Tesla superchargers, which was a key factor in why I wouldn't get a Tesla, because their quick charging is far more expensive. Considering that on average in my area EA is getting charged around $0.12 per kwh during peak demand (the commercial price for electricity most places here), $0.31 is outrageous. I understand needing to make a profit and pay for the equipment, so make it closer to $0.20 per kwh, much more fair and equitable. $0.31 is price gouging.

 

You're not counting demand charges (or charger maintenance) there. With the old hyundai plan at $0.35 per minute, at best you'd get $0.28 per kw (0.35 * 60 / 75), usually quite a bit more (I was at around ~$0.33 on average, up to $0.77, best I've seen is $0.306).

 

If a company wanted to limit capital costs, they would limit chargers to 50kW. And with limited capital costs, the per kWh costs could be minimized. But 50kW is barely adequate - yeah, it sort of works, but for EVs to really be adopted, charging rates need to be higher than that.

 

Our area doesn't do demand charges, as I said, $0.20 per kwh would be reasonable to account for charger maintenance, etc.

Of course the alternative is to they could have gone the EvGo route and have their own electrical generation and pay virtually nothing to the local electric company, except possibly a small delivery fee.

Even compared to the few times I charged on the Hyundai plan, this is still about a 15% increase. Not sure why you would be at $0.33 unless you were charging past the recommended 80%.

 

That's great news! (especially for me who missed the registration for the Hyndai Select plan).
I am a bit surprised with the price difference between the per minute and the per kWh, on my typical road trip from Michigan to Virginia, I do two similar charges (roughly from 10% to 80% SOC), the charge in Ohio will cost me 16$ and the charge in Pennsylvania will cost me 6$!

 

Yep and this is the problem, why such inconsistency? I can understand $1 or $2, but this is massive.

 

Just got an email that my Hyundai Select plan migrated to regular PASS plan. Checked a charger in Vernon, WA and they are now all same price at .43 cents/KWH and no 1$ fee. Not great but much better. Not that it matters to me right now as travel is somewhat curtailed
PASS+ members get a 25% discount.

 

So, they broke their promise that we could keep the plan until December....not surprising, this is NOT a reputable company.

 

Why would you want people to stay on a more expensive plan ?

 

Because it is less expensive by about 25% as long as you don't charge above 80%.