I charged my Prime at the Ikea a few days ago and noticed a Red Prime charging as well. Not sure if this person is on this board. The good news is that I charged my Prime for a little over $2. The bad news....I spent $70 inside Ikea! haha.
They are installing charging stations where I work. I was talking to one of the Facility Managers and he mentioned that perhaps the chargers would be pay-per-charge. I haven't looked into the details yet because it's not finalized and things might change. Anyway, to alexcue's point, what's a fair price for a 0 - 100% charge? Benchmarked to a 60mpg Prius, it should cost half that of a gallon of gasoline. Benchmarked to a standard 30mpg family sedan, it should be one gallon of gas. If only recuperating for the electricity, it should be the current kW rate. Of course, if the company wants to make a statement, it would be free.
Yeah, gas is always going to be cheaper if you dont find a free charging station or charge at home. I just enjoy driving in EV mode to be honest. Its so quiet and smooth and I enjoy not putting co2 out there if I can. So i dont mind that its an extra buck or so. I was at Ikea, there were a ton of open spots for EV so I charged while I shopped.
Honestly if it were close to the price of gas I wouldn't mind. I mean they do have to make money, That's true, I do like the quiet of the EV... But that's my worry, if I had a true EV, while the price is close to gas, then it makes sense to charge on the road, but if it's much higher? Where is the savings? Right now if it's twice as much as gas, then I'd just use it as a hybrid, which our Primes have that luxury of doing, and getting great gas mileage while doing it.
Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm always on the look out for the free charging stations haha. There is one by the mall next to me that I use quite frequently, which is free to charge. And like you said, thats the beauty of this car, zero range anxiety.
I did sign up for Blink a few days ago as they seem to have quite a few stations in San Diego that I might want to use at some point. The common charge appears to be 0.49/kWh which for a full charge for the Prime would be ~ $3-3.5 ... not cheap, more than 1 gallon of gas, so not real economical, and compared to most Chargepoint (common rate appears to be $1 per hour @ ~ 3kW), ~50% more I don't expect free except if there is a parking fee involved, but more than gas? We have ways to go ...
Yeah, I agree. I find charge point and the free stations much better of course. Sometimes, with Blink, I think its the convenience of knowing most likely you will have a spot to park your car. I went to the Grove in LA the other day and all the lots were full, yet the EV spots had 4 openings. So it was nice to pull right up and park. I think that was Tellus or Chargepoint
So, here's how I shop at Ikea...Find what I want in the on line catalog. Look at the local store web site and find that item listed with its row & shelf in the warehouse. Enter the store through the exit. Stop in the section that has returns and discontinued items to see if they have something close to what I want at a great price. Go on to the warehouse, pick up what I planned, check out, get out'a there quick.
@PT Guy - unless your wife is with you in which case it goes more like this: Enter Ikea. Follow the painted line and stop at EVERY display and inspect every single item (on sale or not). Buy stuff that you might use. Stop at the restaurant. Buy stuff that you will probably eat at some point. Maybe. Check out while trying to avoid melting down your credit card. Load up the Prime while wishing that it could hold less items in the storage area. Optional: Run back into Ikea because you forgot to pick up 5 of that particular item that was on sale (you only grabbed 4!)
