New EV High/Public Charge Stations

  • Thread starter Thread starter Armandy
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Armandy

Armandy

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Hit a new high in EV range today, 90.6 kilometers, or 56 miles, that's Chevy Volt territory, yesterday it was 87.1 kilometers. so still climbing. Conditions were the same, in a heated garage, temp 12 degrees centigrade and outside varied from -6 to 0 degrees centigrade, only accessories on was the radio to kill the silence. We still have 3 feet of snow here in northern Ontario and the nights are still frigid, dropping to -14c tonight. Can't wait until it warms up to see if I can hit 100 kilometers. I do my charging between 7pm and 7am as that is the cheapest rates. We have a time of use price periods, off-peak at .065 a kwh, mid-peak at .096 a kwh and an on-peak at .132 cents a kwh (Canadian currency). So with the Clarity's 17 kwh battery at .065 cents a kwh, it cost $1.11 to charge it. There are other charges like delivery charges for hydro but I pay that any way to service the house. I have never used a public charging station as the closest one is a 6-hour drive from here but will make some trips south later this spring. Can anyone tell me what to expect to pay to charge at these charging stations? Do rates vary or have a tier system? I am sure I won't get the rates I pay at home as there must be a premium to cover delivery costs or charging station installation costs.IMG_0393.webp
 
In my research, unless the charging station is free, I've determined it is cheaper to use gas than to take the time to charge the car at a public charging station.
 
Way to go Armandy!
That’s really good at your ambient temps. That heated garage is really helping you.
Just remember that 17 kW is the total battery capacity and that we only get to use (charge/discharge) something in the range of 14kW or so. So your charging is really even cheaper. Wish we had your tiered system of pricing here in Kentucky. I’m $09.9US/kW 24/7 (more like $0.11 with taxes).
I got as high as 62.7 miles (100.9 km) but I had warmer weather and no non-motive battery drain. Now I’m at 58 miles (93 km) with even warmer weather and don’t know why it dropped. Only change was some night time light usage and shorter trips between charging. But I’ll take 58 miles/93 km any day is the week. Will hate to see it drop when I start using the a/c.
Down here public pay EVSEs are so expensive ($3.28US/hr, ouch!) that I’ve never used one. I guess I would only use one if I was on an o/n trip out of town and knew I was going to do city driving the next day. But at that rate with gas at less than $2.50US/gal it’s not saving me any money, just wear and tear on the ICE.
 
Around here, Blink stations typically charge $0.49/kWh which is about twice what they're paying for it. Unless there's some associated benefit - like the charger is really close to a business you're visiting and the parking lot is full, or quite often for me, the charger parking spot is always empty in an otherwise full parking garage - then it's not worth it to pay the freight to charge.
 
The temperature here in Salt Lake City was in the low 70s for most of this week. During that time I finally hit 60.0 miles on a charge. Now the weather has dropped back into the low 40s. Oh well, it was great while it lasted.
 
I generally reset Trip B whenever I recharge so that I can compare the actual EV miles to the estimated range. They're generally within 10% of each other when all is said and done, but higher initial estimates - in my cases - are almost never met in actual driving.
 
I tend to avoid public charging stations in a PHEV, as gas is the convenient choice and doesn't require waiting around for a charge. Unless it is an overnight charge at a reasonable rate at hotel or something so it won't impact my travel time and the rate is like $0.15 US per kWh or a price lower than gas price. Clarity's EV range is a bit over 1 gallon worth of gas and 14 kwh from the wall, so price per kwh needs to be less than about gas price per gallon/14 (18 cents in my case at $2.50 a gallon). Otherwise I just burn gas for those occasions, why I bought a PHEV.
 
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