Free Charging Poll..

[FloridaSun]

What percent of your charging happens outside of your home at free chargers?
Free 50kw chargers are popping up all around my area and several popular locations where I have food also have free Level 2 chargers, so I barely charge at home anymore. So what about all of you?
For me it's 90% free charges with my Kona and 50% with my wife's BMW i3..

 

[Esprit1st]

I used to live 1 block from a free 7kW level two charger and did not pay anything for my complete first year of ownership.

Other than for a few longer trips out of town. On don't I was able to charge for free as well.

We lately moved and now I need to charge at home, but only once a week from about 30% to 70%. So really not a significant expense.

 

[R P]

My streak is still going. Have never paid for a charge since I got the car, and never at home either. This is since May 1 2019, and 21K kms so far. Have lots of free chargers where I live, and one very conveniently just a few blocks from home. That's where I do 80% of my charging.

 

[bwilson4web]

My protocol:

1. Do my shopping and errands.
2. Last trip is to shop at a free charging spot.
3. Drive home to top-off.

Bob Wilson

 

[Fastnf]

I charge at home off of my solar panels. Each year I produce more electricity than I use so the utility company sends me a check for the excess. It more than covers any DCFC charging I do on road trips. Since the panels paid for themselves before I ever got the Kona EV all of my charging really is free.

 

[FloridaSun]

I believe that when it comes to the number of free 50kw chargers per population, Central Florida probably has the largest number of free 50 kw chargers anywhere.. I have about 15+ FREE 50 kw chargers (at about 10 locations) within 60 miles of my location and most of them are available when I get there..
I looked on plugshare and there are of course a lot of free chargers in the LA area but considering the population of that area compared to mine, we have a lot more free chargers.. It seems like one of the regional power companies, DUKE Energy is associated with most of those free chargers. I wonder why. It's not like a power company needs to promote their business.. They are not really in competition for customers..

 

[cmwade77]

I believe that when it comes to the number of free 50kw chargers per population, Central Florida probably has the largest number of free 50 kw chargers anywhere.. I have about 15+ FREE 50 kw chargers (at about 10 locations) within 60 miles of my location and most of them are available when I get there..
I looked on plugshare and there are of course a lot of free chargers in the LA area but considering the population of that area compared to mine, we have a lot more free chargers.. It seems like one of the regional power companies, DUKE Energy is associated with most of those free chargers. I wonder why. It's not like a power company needs to promote their business.. They are not really in competition for customers..

Because they aren't stupid, they understand that it is actually in their best interest to get as many EVs on the road as possible. And it has nothing to do with get more business, it is actually about getting less business.
After you factor in all of the electricity used to drill, refine, deliver and pump gas, Gas vheiclesget
about 2 miles per kWh vs most electric vehicles getting at least 4.2 miles per kWh and some over 5.

This means if everyone in the country switched to EVs today, we would dramatically reduce our demand on the electrical grid and this actually saves the electric companies a ton of money in upgrades they need to do, so in all reality it is in their best interest to get as many EVs on the road as possible and this doesn't even factor in how many people end up installing solar after buying an EV and even better helping the grid.

 

[FloridaSun]

Because they aren't stupid, they understand that it is actually in their best interest to get as many EVs on the road as possible. And it has nothing to do with get more business, it is actually about getting less business.
After you factor in all of the electricity used to drill, refine, deliver and pump gas, Gas vheiclesget
about 2 miles per kWh vs most electric vehicles getting at least 4.2 miles per kWh and some over 5.

This means if everyone in the country switched to EVs today, we would dramatically reduce our demand on the electrical grid and this actually saves the electric companies a ton of money in upgrades they need to do, so in all reality it is in their best interest to get as many EVs on the road as possible and this doesn't even factor in how many people end up installing solar after buying an EV and even better helping the grid.

There is no oil industry in the service area of DUKE Energy.. Their demand will go up if there are more EV's as most people charge at home.
Of course, more EV's will increase the household electric bills and therefore they make more money..

 

[Esprit1st]

There is no oil industry in the service area of DUKE Energy.. Their demand will go up if there are more EV's as most people charge at home.
Of course, more EV's will increase the household electric bills and therefore they make more money..

And it will flatten their curve. For a more spread out base load, because of EV charging at night.

 

[cmwade77]

There is no oil industry in the service area of DUKE Energy.. Their demand will go up if there are more EV's as most people charge at home.
Of course, more EV's will increase the household electric bills and therefore they make more money..

It is an overall grid thing, power companies buy from each other all the time.

 

[Bruce M.]

At this point I've driven my car just under 1,200 miles (I don't drive a lot!) and have gotten 136 miles worth of free charge from two Volta stations located at shopping centers where I can conveniently shop. I've switched my Trader Joe's runs from the store I used to shop at to one about equidistant in the opposite direction with a Volta station. I could have done more except that the free plugs were either busy or malfunctioning. At one of the shopping centers there are a total of 10 Volta plugs, but 2 have been out of order for a couple weeks. At the other, the fast charger (the only free fast charger in my immediate vicinity) wasn't working the one time I had a chance to use it. On my morning rounds today I visited both shopping centers, but was only able to charge at one of them.

My impression is that Volta isn't great at keeping up with maintenance/repairs of their stations. Add to that the fact that San Francisco has a lot of EVS, and it can be hard to find a plug not in use, alas.

 

[cmwade77]

Actually, Volta is normally on top of it, but they rely on users to report the outages and with fewer people using the stations, it means fewer people reporting them with the app.

 

[FloridaSun]

At this point I've driven my car just under 1,200 miles (I don't drive a lot!) and have gotten 136 miles worth of free charge from two Volta stations located at shopping centers where I can conveniently shop. I've switched my Trader Joe's runs from the store I used to shop at to one about equidistant in the opposite direction with a Volta station. I could have done more except that the free plugs were either busy or malfunctioning. At one of the shopping centers there are a total of 10 Volta plugs, but 2 have been out of order for a couple weeks. At the other, the fast charger (the only free fast charger in my immediate vicinity) wasn't working the one time I had a chance to use it. On my morning rounds today I visited both shopping centers, but was only able to charge at one of them.

My impression is that Volta isn't great at keeping up with maintenance/repairs of their stations. Add to that the fact that San Francisco has a lot of EVS, and it can be hard to find a plug not in use, alas.

No Volta around here but we do have Greenlots.. Not sure why there are so many Greenlots chargers around my area.. There are barely any in the rest of the state. They are concentrated mostly in Central Florida.. Just about all of them are either free or very cheap.. Most of them are sponsored by DUKE Energy as I previously said..

 

[ericy]

Actually, Volta is normally on top of it, but they rely on users to report the outages and with fewer people using the stations, it means fewer people reporting them with the app.

Before covid, I used to eat lunch at Panera with Volta chargers out in front. But I was only there for 30 minutes or so, and it didn't improve the SOC all that much. Sometimes both chargers were in use, so I would either have to get there early to get in or just eat lunch elsewhere.

 

[cmwade77]

Before covid, I used to eat lunch at Panera with Volta chargers out in front. But I was only there for 30 minutes or so, and it didn't improve the SOC all that much. Sometimes both chargers were in use, so I would either have to get there early to get in or just eat lunch elsewhere.

Yeah, depending on vehicle, 30 minutes on a level 2 doesn't do a lot. Near my work a Honda dealership has a DC Fast charger that they allow anyone to use for free, but it recently broke, so looking forward to EVpassport and unlimited quick charging for $39 a month, hopefully they are able to launch soon and the business model works, if so, I won't be using as many free chargers anymore.

 

[RSC]

I've only charged away from home twice, once at a free L2 charger to get home from the dealer when I bought the car, and once at one of the hospital's free L2 chargers while I was volunteering there for the health fair, mostly to check that it would work.

All my remaining charging has been at home. My solar panels generate far more energy than I use and I could say that this charging is free, but since charging reduces my reimbursement for excess energy, it isn't really. However, I'm reimbursed at such a low rate that it's almost free.

 

[Bruce M.]

Actually, Volta is normally on top of it, but they rely on users to report the outages and with fewer people using the stations, it means fewer people reporting them with the app.

Well, all I know is that a problem I reported one Saturday was not fixed a week later, and that an issue with the app giving wrong info about the status of certain stations also was uncorrected.

 

[cmwade77]

Well, all I know is that a problem I reported one Saturday was not fixed a week later, and that an issue with the app giving wrong info about the status of certain stations also was uncorrected.

I can never trust the status of any of the stations, Volta, EvGo or otherwise, but the other issue, well the more people that report it, the higher priority it gets. The issue is if they need to get parts, I have seen some nonvolta (including paid stations) take months to get the parts to repair and this was before COVID, the issue is even worse now. This is one isse that does need to be addressed for EVs.

 

[NanoAteeq]

I can destination charge for free on my 2 regular long journeys (rapid and fast chargers) and I have solar panels at home (in sunny Britain!) so get plenty of free charging ... I still probally pay for ~50%, but its peanuts really...

 

[Jeffrey D. Titus]

My away from home charging is at work and a Whole Foods location near by. The remainder is at home off the 120v wall plug. I haven't bothered with a 240v charger because most of the home charging isn't time critical - just over night. On occasion I don't have enough time at home between longer drives, so wish I did. Unfortunately my work drive is 89 miles each way in the Clarity, so each way it uses gas. Luckily I often just drive once per week to work & the rest is local off the battery.