Cheaper to charge at 240 than 120?

Hey Steve, wonder if the AQMD will pay that $250 incentive since I got the $1000 from Anaheim!!. Does that sound greedy??!. BTW, my "station" open 24/7, to nice Prime owners who give me a heads up!. Volt, Bolt, Leaf, Fusion, and Tesla owners need not apply ! I'm still mulling over i3 owners, Bob, Har, har.

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I don't think my L2 charger and electrical installation would ever pay for itself, but I can charge multiple times a day using my own solar power avoiding Non-Bypassable Charges and avoiding peak hours.

 

First of all, don't believe your electric company with their $0.16/kWh price. That's an average price. If you don't have solar panels then you are likely on a tiered electricity plan and paying in the 2nd or 3rd tiers at $0.22 - $0.33 an hour. According to this study
https://www.veic.org/docs/Transportation/20130320-EVT-NRA-Final-Report.pdf
L2 is more efficient than L1 charging by 3.2%

If you charge fully ~6 kWh every day x ~$0.30/kWh x 365 days a year x 3.2% =
~$21 you pay extra charging at L1 vs L2 every year. (That's ~8000 EV miles a year by the way)

 

For my electric company (Roseville Electric) my usage charge is $0.0931/kWh for the first 500 kWh, and $0.1435/kWh beyond that. A lot cheaper than with PG&E in the Bay Area. We don't have time-of use plans yet, but they say that they are looking into it.

 

My marginal rate from last month was $0.096555/kWh. That's 1.93 cents per mile at my current 5.0 miles/kWh average. Gas was, I think, $2.20. I'd need 114mpg to break even.

 

For you, the Prime pens out beautifully. At this time.

 

(This WILL be "on topic"... just please bear with me for a spell.)

LOTS of good info here... not only in this thread, but throughout Prius Chat!

I'm still in the "research" aspect / phase of the Prius Prime, but recently put in a "special order" for a Premium which I *might* have before the end of (GASP!) September. Upon reading THIS thread...

...I'm thinking that all of you (collectively) have convinced / persuaded me NOT to bother with either a 240v wiring / outlet or an L2 charger in our garage. I don't have daily commutes (just occasional errand-type stuff during the week), AND my wife works night shifts so I could easily charge up in our garage overnight while she's at work (lower overnight kW/h pricing for us here)... I probably won't "need" to charge it more than four times during the week. I'm rarely-if-ever in a hurry, so even *occasional* DAY-time / five-plus hour charging times wouldn't necessarily "bother" me....

 

I just use the wall outlet in the garage because I charge overnight and have plenty of time to do it. If I was retired and going out for multiple trips a day then I might think about L2.

 

Multiple trips per day is exactly why I had a 240V charging station put in. The $500 rebate from my electric utility didn't hurt, either.

 

I think the federal tax credit (30% of L2 install cost to some max $$) expired at the end of 2016. I checked on this last year and had one installed before the end of the 2016 to capture the credit...which turned out to be 5 months before my prime was delivered, just last week. Good to know L2 is a bit more efficient, thanks for posting that information. For me the ability to charge more quickly during the day or between trips is very useful as well. If that were not the case I don't know if I would have gone for the L2.

 

Good job on the $15 electricity bill! Considering the Prime uses a little more than 6 kWh per daily full charge. You're looking at around 200 kWh per month. My PiP at half the capacity adds 100 kWh to my bill.

 

The federal tax credit for the L2 charging station was subject to AMT, so it was moot for me. OTOH, the tax credit for the car itself is NOT subject to AMT.

 

Do you natural gas for cooking and clothes drying?

The Level 2 is a little more efficient. Just likely not enough to be cost effective. Depending on future car purchases and home resale, it might be worth installing while incentives are available. An EVSE can cost more than $250, so the rebate is still of value, and you won't know the cost for running the line until you get an electrician out for a quote.

 

For me, it's not about cost, it's about time! I can charge my puppy several times a day to cover all my little adventures with my "electric blanket"! I know, I'm a poet and I don't know it!, Har, har.

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I ordered my L2 just today from EMotorWerks. Now I just need to nail down which electrician I'm going to hire to update the house. Oh, and the car has to come in too.

 

Prius charging current is limited @12AMP, for L2 charge only advantage is higher Voltage to reduce charge time. My coworker Fiat E500 can charge 8 KWh. I can only charge ~3KWh. It costs more than each gallon for me to charge at a public L2 station. I don't know if it's possible to increase the charge current for Prius most likely it's not.

 

16 Amps. The L1 EVSE that comes with the car only supports 12A, but the car supports up to 240V and up to 16A.

 

I don't get 16AMP at ChargePoint L2. I got ~ 13AMP. 13*240/1000=3.12KWH. It took me 2 hour 10 minutes to charge 6.2KW

 

Well, the one time I charged on L2, I got 16A. And that's what the manual says too:



Your calculation is confusing you because it included the taper charge at the end. Once the battery hits the maximum set float voltage, the charge current will decrease to hold the battery voltage constant. The faster the basic charge the longer the taper period will be because you'll hit it sooner.