Ask your employers to install charge station?

El Dobro just go for the $2.50 a day, just to make sure you get it!

 

I'm working on my building owner to install some type of charging option before I upgrade to full EV. In my research I found this document by the Bay Area Business Council which seemed to answer all the major questions about incentives and costs.

electricvehicles - Business Council on Climate Change

Dan

 

Our stations are up but I am still waiting on them to be activated by the company handling the money aspect.

The owns of the building are using the company Park Now which just changed to Mobile Now. Their website is confusing and has not been fully updated to reflect the EV charging aspect of the business and it appears like they have not registered our new charging stations yet because my city doesn't show up on their options menu. To make matters worse I think there may be a $.35 service fee for using the stations. I that's the case then charging may be pointless, or worse yet, more expensive than gasoline.

I hope to hear good news tomorrow.

 

At 35 cents for a full charge it still saves you some money.

 

If that is the only charge then yes it would. I'm scared there will be a service fee plus a per hour or per kWh fee. If so, even at my home rate of $.13/kWh it would cost more than gas or Break even. I'm going to call tomorrow.

 

Thats a rip-off. To fully charge a Plugin Prius takes an hour and a half, so that comes to $3.75 which gets you about 11 miles. That distance would require about 1/5 gallon of gas. So $3.75 X 5 = $18.75 per gallon!

 

I think many who are installing these are thinking that their customers all own Teslas. They have to charge and money is no object.

Mike

 

At around $4/gal, $0.50/hr is close to the break-even point. Anything more than that, and it is cheaper to use gasoline. The numbers are in the same ballpark for other plug-in hybrids. Unless one feels very strongly about not using gasoline for other reasons, such as environmental concerns or dependence on foreign oil, paid charging stations pretty much make sense only for those with no other choice; i.e., owners of BEVs like the Leaf.

 

actually that's only true for the pip - IOW plugin charging speeds are different - because different plug ins have different on board charging capabilities . So rather than complain about what a commercial charger demands for payment - you ought to be complaining that Toyota doesn't install faster on board chargers. Newer leafs for example charge at more than double the rate that a PiP charges at. And since some plug ins can charge at even higher rates, even a $2 per hour rate is still decent.
So why get bummed at high cost electricity charges ..... when the real focus ought to be our nation's way-too-cheap and heavily subsidize gas prices. If we paid $7/gallon like many parts of the world's un-subsidized prices are - then gas driving wouldn't be cheeper then plugins, right? ... even if it charges really slow.

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I wish. Filled up my PIP today in the UK at £1.32 a litre. Equivalent to around $9.50 a gallon .

 

My PiP charges at about 2.26KW, according to ChargePoint. A new Leaf is 6KW using the 240VAC charger. But with the Leaf, the price for an equivalent amount of gasoline is irrelevant.

The Volt charge rate is about 3.3KW, isn't it (I may be mistaken)? Given the lower mpg in the Volt combined with the faster charger, doesn't it come about to about the same crossover point for the Volt?

I guess that Toyota designers figured that a 75 minute charge time was acceptable when traded off against the additional cost of a faster charger.

 

For anyone in California that is thinking about adding chargers or asking their employer to do so, the Reconnect grant is being extended. This is exciting news! You basically get the charging stations for free. All you have to do is ensure the electrical is supplied and that the stations can be used by the public.

Check out Clipper Creek for more info. Ask for Stacy.
Reconnect a Program | Clipper Creek ClipperCreek Inc – Electric Vehicle Charging Station

 

. Did you do the 240V home line yourself? If so, details please.

 

Yes, I did. I researched what I needed and had everything on hand. I figured the wiring in my garage ran up the wall from the circuit breaker panel into the attic for easy access. I was baffled when I took the cover off the circuit breaker panel and realized the wiring ran down and inside the interior walls to the receptacles. That complicated me installing 30A rated wiring. I then realized a yellow wire that was labeled freezer, that led to a unused receptacle a short distance away. I checked the wiring and it was 12/3, rated at 30A. Perfect for what I needed and simplified my installation. I only had to change the circuit breaker to a 240v, 20A ground fault interrupt circuit breaker and the correct NEMA receptacle for my Leviton 16A Level 2 charger.

 

It's not difficult to do. What kind of line do you want to run? 16A or 30A?

 

I was thinking of just extending the 240 I already have at the drier, it's just a short distance thru the wall, 3 Ft. Why do I need the charging device, why can't I just hook up 240? As I understand it, it's 2ea L2 s. plus the safety ground. That sounds a bit crazy to me but that's what I read. I would just follow the what is already on the drier line. I have read that Toyota does not recommend this, but also at chargepoint I have apparently already charged with 240 unbeknownst to me. I'm confused. Maybe I can just insert a larger CB in the brick 16/30 Amp ?

 

I just started a new contract and the company has EV charging stations. I thought great but then I found that they charge $2 an hour which is way too expensive for the PIP I noticed that only one of the charging stations was in use (by a Volt) there were two Leafs that had reserved spots in front of one of the chargers but neither was charging.

These are Chargepoint chargers so not sure if they only charge when the car is actually getting a charge but the volr was connected there all day which would be about $18 if they charge the way that Blink does.

 

Your local building codes probably will not let you run the dryer and the vehicle charger on the same circuit. If you switch to a gas dryer, then of course you could replace the outlet with a blank faceplate and extend the circuit to the location of the charger. So that's the first thing.

The second thing is that you can't simply connect AC power to the car, even though that is exactly how the car is charged. The vehicle charger, which is technically called an EVSE, is a ground-fault protected high voltage relay which communicates with the vehicle to safely activate and deactivate the relays which supply charging current to the car. The device has to confirm to a standard which covers the mechanical connection and safety mechanisms which let the EVSE inform the vehicle of how much current it can draw, while ensuring that the power is only delivered after a safe and negotiated connection is made. You can attach one of these things to a car in pouring rain without fear of electrocution, because power doesn't go to the cable and car until a few seconds after you attach the cable to the car. When you disconnect, you first press a button to release the latch holding the connector to the car. Pressing this button also activates the relays, instantly killing power to the cable. More safety in pouring rain.

 

TY Rebound, for reasons I would rather not get into, I no longer use the dryer outlet. So, I was considering simply feeding another source voltage ( 220 ) into the same charging cable that I have, with a adapter plug. Only to be used at home, for a quicker charge. My long term goal is to be prepared for one day when I may purchase a BEV. MY CHIEF CONCERN is putting 220 V into a charging cable, in which the brick clearly states 120. In. And 120 out. I have no desire to willfully ruin my cable. This is my main concern. I may accomplish this and everything works fine // or, I may totally burn the brick up. What is confusing is when charging from Chargepoint with 220 everything works fine and the physical size of chargepoints EVSE is identical as well as the cable thickness. Thanks much for your input.

 

You're not going to use the cable that came with the car and plug it into 220V are you?