Hi there, I am looking for feedback on a new feature my company has recently released where our app notifies you when the carbon intensity of the electricity in the grid is low, so that you can do more energy intensive activities during those times, like charging your EV. We've also included a graph that actually shows you the carbon intensity of your electricity on an hourly basis. I wanted to ask from an EV charging perspective, if this something those in this community would find useful? Happy to hear any feedback...we want to create the best product for giving people insight into how to lower their carbon dioxide emissions at home.
If the electricity rates shadow the cost to produce, I'm interested. If the App had an interface to my EV or EVSE, it could be nice. But without reducing my monthly electricity bill, I have no interest. Bob Wilson
Not sure how other utilities do it, but Hawaiian Electric's time of use plan has lowest rates from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., which -- in addition to being lower demand than early evening -- is also when solar power generation is maximal. The rate is way cheaper than other times of the day, and that's really all I need.
That's correct. We're not carbon-free yet, but coal is no longer part of Hawaii's power mix. We still need to work on our public charging infrastucture, but the wheels are turning at least.
Bob is right on the money! In the early days of EVs, it was about saving the polar bears. These days it's about maximizing wealth.
The funny thing is I initially had little interest in global warming. I knew from the 1960s Venus probes that a blanket of CO[2] turned that planet into a hellscape. Settled science but when owning our first Prius led to a lot of ‘green’ accusations, I took a deeper drive. If I was being accused of something, what are the facts and data. Thanks to https://skepticalscience.com/ I was able to study and learn technical details about man-made global warming. It did not change my mind but helped me understand what was being too often falsely claimed and projected on to me and all Prius owners. So when accused of being a leaf lookin, Bambi lovin, fuzzy thinking ‘greenie’, I reply with how much it costs to drive 100 miles: $9/100 on Superchargers $3/100 at home free charging where merchants want rich EV owners to shop and eat I’m a ‘greenback Yankee EV’ owner. No need to discuss man made global warming with anti-EV fools. Bob Wilson ps. If an EV owner wants to discuss global warming, no problem as we’re likely to share an understanding of physics, chemistry, and empirical science.
In addition EVs outperform ICE vehicles, so it's yet another non-climate change reason to drive an EV.
