I haven't had much luck with public chargers thus far. Either they don't exist where I'd like them to be, or they exist but are for one reason or another impractical. But when I was in Las Vegas with my PiP last week, Plugshare told me that there was a public charger at the Mandalay Bay resort, so I decided to go find it. And, wow, best public charger ever: Two stations, clearly marked with prominent signs, completely free of charge, located right at the entrance to the shopping mall. There's even a brass plaque declaring it the first EV charging station on the Las Vegas Strip. I wasn't staying at Mandalay Bay, but I went back there to charge three times during my visit, and never saw anyone else using it. It made me feel kind of special, where most chargers kind of make me feel like a freak. So that's definitely the best public charger I've found. Anyone else have a favorite public charger?
Best charger ever. My garage. I feel so at home and never feel like a freak there. Never have to wait and the rates are not bad either. Not free but at night only a bit under a nickle an hour. Cheers
My "free" charging station at Consumers Electric (ChargePoint) has some competition now, seems like whenever I want to charge up a Volt is occupying the 240volt slot. So I end up using the 120 volt slot. Sitting in the car for 2.5 hours. So I have decided to fork over $15.00 a month flat fee to my landlord and charge at my convenience at night when the parking lot lights come on. I'm the only one at my apartment with a plug in so no competition. Ahhh, it was nice while it lasted when nobody was charging at Consumers Electric.
yup, a 2 1/2 hour charge adds up to a kewl $.11 charge (ahem no pun intended of course). And because it takes 9 charges to get 100 miles (figuring 11 miles per nominal charge and all electric use) one can easily compare rates with hybrid gasoline usage. Our night time (time of day) rate is $.047 per kwh Night Rate: 9 recharges x $.047 x 2.5 hours x .9kw rate = $.95 per 100 miles (fantastic) Gasoline : Current rate (about $3.50) x 2 = $7.00 per 100 miles (assuming 50 mpg for hybrid) Further our daytime (time of day) rate is $.249 per kwh so.... Day Rate : 9 recharges x $.249 x 2.5 hours x .9kw rate = $5.04 per 100 miles You don't want to recharge during these day time rates. But notice it is still cheaper than even current gasoline rates. And finally If you had standard rates (here in SE Wisconsin) of $.126 per kwh..... Standard Rate : 9 recharges x $.126 x 2.5 hours x .9kw rate = $2.55 per 100 miles Still not bad but that night rate is fantastic Plug in your own rate to see what you are paying. If you then divide the 100 mile rate by 2 you would then get a comparison of the miles per gallon of gasoline rate: Electric Night Rate is equivalent to $.48 per gallon of gasoline. Electric Day Rate is equivalent to $2.52 per gallon of gasoline. Electric Standard rate is equivalent to $1.28 per gallon of gasoline This comparison compares the cost of electricity to the cost of gasoline at the 100 mile distance and then compares the rates at the 50mpg rate of gasoline to electricity by merely dividing the results by 2. (100/2 = 50 mpg rate gives you equivalent electric rate with 50 mpg gasoline rate used as comparison) Cheers hmmm, should something like this be a sticky? Maybe a thread on it's own? This could be useful.
My favorite charging station is at the Santa Clara Valley Water District parking lot in San Jose - it is Solar Powered, and free
Helm's bakery in Culver City, CA. Solar powered. Beautiful! 8800 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, Ca 90034 - Google Maps
Hey, that's good to know. I go to Helms from time to time. Thanks for the tip! I've used the chargers in the the Santa Monica Pier parking lot. The chargers are free, and there are five or six of them. However you have to pay $12 to get into the parking lot. :-(
