not much saving charging at paid station?

The paid stations are pricing for convenience. Especially for a Prius, which can't charge as fast as a Leaf or Tesla.

To save money, charge at home. And beware that under some tiered home rate structures, even that won't save money. Those tend of have a separate EV charging program, but you'd probably need something with a larger battery (Leaf/Tesla/Volt) to make the other costs worthwhile.

 

At the price you paid, versus the price of gas in your area, you are better off charging somewhere else.

The PiP has about 3.4KWh of usable battery. Assuming you charged at $1 for a complete 0% to 100% charge, that is $1/3.4KWh or $0.294 per KWh.

Here I pay just over $0.10 per KWh. So if that station was put here, it would be 3 times more expensive to charge at that station than at home. Having said that, there are stations here that are $0.75/hr. It seems to me you would only use the station as either a novelty or if you absolutely had to. Public charging is not meant to be a good savings. It is just nice to have the infrastructure there for those that need it.

 

i pay 50 cents to charge at home. you are right, it doesn't make sense economically, but i would pay the dollar for a myriad of other reasons.

 

It follows that anyone operating a for-profit charging station would have to mark up the cost of electricity. Even assuming that they are charging you double their cost, they are only making 25 cents an hour from you. Not a very lucrative business it appears.

Most charging stations I'm familiar with, are free for public use. My problem is that they aren't located where I can leave my car for 3 hours. I tend to charge at home and at work, when it's convenient.

 

Yeah, and around here the free ones are either ICEd or Mod S'd.

 

Just be glad you're not in ConEd territory, where I pay $1 to charge my PiP at home. Still, if it helps to burn less petro, I'm happy.

 

Where I work they charge $2 an hour. Fortunately I don't need to charge there

 

$2 an hour? That's crazy talk! Lol

 

ya, that might discourage me as well.

 

I pay up to $1 for a full charge on my car depending on what tier I am at during the month. I would gladly pay $0.50 an hour.

I think 12.5 miles is a more realistic EV range. $1 a charge is like paying $4/a gallon. Gas is $4.20 where I live so for now, it costs less to plug in.


iPhone ?

 

Double post

 

Pay stations stink, I'm grateful to the businesses around here that have been providing free charging.

Couple differences I'm seeing from the math above is I'm charging fully from zero in 65 minutes or 2 miles / 10 min.
I park, hit the supermarket at about half full and I'm fully charged after shopping.
That'd drastically change the equation - using 55 cents for a full charge instead of $1. Now we're talking $2 gas

my slow homecharging only takes 2 hrs so is anyone out there really taking 3 hrs at one of those 240's ?

 

I am grateful to the businesses and governments providing free charging or at least free charging with standard pay parking rates. I go out of my way to frequent these places. Free EV charging brings EVs and therefore people to the area. Pay EV charging brings nobody and is just a waste of money and infrastructure except for emergencies where free stations don't exist in a BEV.

 

I take advantage of free chargers when/where it's convenient. If there's a paid charger somewhere I'm going to be for at least an hour, I charge there too. Even if I break even with the cost of gasoline, it's still a win, because it prolongs the time between trips to the gas station, and I'm using "fuel" that is generated right here in the U.S., instead of supporting Muslim-run countries that hate us.

 

I would still rather plug in at home at charge with solar. I guess the use model is a little different with a PiP vs. a Leaf.

 

I have a level 2 charger at home, and that is where I do most of my charging. Our residential rate is about .06/kWh and is mostly hydro and wind generated. I carry the 110V charger in the hatchback for charges of opportunity.

The solar option is intriguing, but I live in Oregon, and drive a PiP, so it's not really cost effective at this point. If I lived in AZ, and drove a BEV, I would absolutely have solar.

 

How much longer can you expect to be getting free power? Once the novelty of a plug in car wears off or more people get them, I bet you will no longer be able to charge for free. Also, power rates are due to go up as coal fired plants shut down. Enjoy for now.

 

Most Blink stations charge $1/hr. At that cost, your 2.9kw charge is $0.167 per mile (CPM). Yes this is VERY expensive. That runs about $166.67 per 1000 miles.

I live in Southern California. With Southern California Edison, our charging rates are as follows:

Tier 1, $0.13/kw, CPM $0.031
Tier 2, $0.16/kw, CPM $0.039
Tier 3, $0.27/kw, CPM $0.065
Tier 4, $0.30/kw, CPM $0.072

Gas, $4.05/gal, CPM $0.081
Blink, $2/2hrs, CPM $0.167

Public stations are just a novelty for a PiP. Also note, Blink stations continue to bill you even after your battery is completely full. Billing stops once you have unplugged the J1772 from your vehicle.

Notes regarding CPM estimations. Full charge = 12 miles of EV range. Full charge = 2.9 kWh. HV mode = 50 mpg.

 

Paying $1/hr at a Blink station might also make sense if there's a slot available and the rest of the lot is full. These slots always tend to be close to your destination.

So saving time is a variable you need to consider. There are many places I go around town where there's ALWAYS an open charging station, even when the rest of the place is packed with cars. And yes, I know that I can park a mile away and walk to save a buck or two.