Public Charging Stations

Okay. Level 2. That's good. Thanks.

Assuming their Level 2 is at least 240 v 30 a, that's just over 7 kW, so they're charging $0.50 for 7 kWh, or seven cents per kWh. If it's Leaf-level (3.3 kW) that's still only 15 cents per kWh.

Rogerv: They're not charging 50 cents per kWh, according to the article. They're charging 50 cents per hour plugged into their Level 2 charger.

 

Public charging is "opportunity" charging. There's an assumption that you use it when you otherwise would not have enough charge to finish your trip.

Charging when the batteries are cool may be better, but how much difference it actually makes is another matter. I'd say, charge at home, at night, when you can. Charge at a public charger when you need to. It probably won't make all that much difference.

 

Daniel, thanks for pointing out my error. I was stuck with thinking about my charging at home for around a minimum (Tier 1 with SCE) 13 cents per kWH over 3 hours or thereabouts, rather than considering what a Leaf would take. As someone pointed out, some cities charge more than that for parking meters. Recently, Ventura took a lot of flak in the newspaper for installing meters downtown, where parking had always been free.

 

I have been charging at work using ChargePoint stations that are in our building's garage. At $1/hour, just using it for the fun/novelty of charging and using less gas and may stop when I have outdoor outlet installed at home. ChargePoint has an iPhone app that will notify you when charge is done, etc. but have not yet tried it.

Having fun with 1st week in PIP