How much are you willing to pay - L2 Charging at work?

[thepoloman33]

Hi,

I'm looking for opinions on what people would be willing to pay per hour for Level 2 charging at work.

How much is too much? What seems fair?

Thanks,

-Matt

 

[thankyouOB]

Hi,

I'm looking for opinions on what people would be willing to pay per hour for public Level 2 charging.

How much is too much? What seems fair?

Thanks,

-Matt

I bid $1.


WHOAAAAAAAAA!!!!
That was ridiculous. You CHANGED the questions AFTER people answered.
Now it is about recharging costs at work.

I would pay 0 for charging at work.
I thought you were talking about oppty charging along the hiway or at a restaurant that is more than 40 miles from home.

 

[mwalsh]

$2-$3, but it comes with free parking. I HATE paying for parking.

 

[surfingslovak]

About $1 per hour. Ideally, the charging fee would be complimentary in paid garages. I paid $10 for about an hour worth of parking at SFO last month and the ChargePoint session was free.

 

[KeithFrechette]

Up to $1/hour, given the LEAF's rate of charge.

However, I don't think Level 2 charging is of general use for me, since I won't likely be at a single location (except work, airport, maybe the movies) for more than an hour. Rather, DC charging is what I'd find useful, to the tune of $4 per charge.

Now, I realize that there is a high probability that many EV drivers (when conditions are right) would potentially abuse a $1/hour Level 2 spot by leaving their EV in the spot after charging has completed if they deem that price to be a reasonable "parking convenience" fee, leaving other EV drivers without a charging spot. I suppose that's why some folks feel a significantly higher fee is appropriate, as it might help discourage abuse. At present, though, I am of the mindset that there should be two fees involved: a reasonably-priced "charging" fee, and an outrageously-priced no-longer-charging-yet-preventing-others-from-charging fee. For instance, $1/hour while charging, $10/hour while not charging, with a 15-minute grace period once charging completes. The proceeds of the $10/hour fee could potentially be used to fund additional charging infrastructure at the location.

 

[thepoloman33]

I changed my original question from public chargers to chargers installed at your place of work. Chargers are being installed at my office but they will not be free. The company plans to charge $1/hour. Does this seem reasonable?

-Matt

 

[wsbca]

The company plans to charge $1/hour. Does this seem reasonable?

-Matt

That's 26 cents per kWH for a Leaf. Not great, but not crazy high. Pretty close to tier 3 residential here in San Diego, which some people without solar or a second meter might end up paying anyway. Someone who doesn't need it regularly (eg. someone who can usually get the range they need by charging at home for, say, 7c/kWH) will likely only use it in emergencies. But if it enables a round trip commute for someone who would otherwise be on the edge of their range, it's a pretty good deal - they could put in most of their charge at home and top up with an hour of charging (12 miles) and their average cost per mile would still be low. And it would be worthwhile on an ad hoc basis for someone who has planned (or unforseen) errands during the day. That does beg the question though - how are they going to manage it? With a smart EVSE pro-rated to the minute, or by charging for the parking space regardless of whether any charging occurs, or...? What are they going to do in the future when 5 employees have EVs and their desires to charge converge on a given day? And so on... There's supposedly a plan for a non-trivial number of EVSEs at my worksite (university), but they're talking about charging to park (which they already do for everyone) and "more" to charge, and I don't think they've really thought it through to any sort of steady state demand management or pricing.

 

[EdmondLeaf]

set for the start as $360 per year which is roughly 40c/h

 

[smkettner]

Company cost of actual electric. Chargepoint network can give a monthly report and accounting can deduct from the check.
I think the employer will find the admin headache will cost more than just giving it free.

 

[DaveEV]

That's 26 cents per kWH for a Leaf. Not great, but not crazy high. Pretty close to tier 3 residential here in San Diego, which some people without solar or a second meter might end up paying anyway. Someone who doesn't need it regularly (eg. someone who can usually get the range they need by charging at home for, say, 7c/kWH) will likely only use it in emergencies. But if it enables a round trip commute for someone who would otherwise be on the edge of their range, it's a pretty good deal - they could put in most of their charge at home and top up with an hour of charging (12 miles) and their average cost per mile would still be low. And it would be worthwhile on an ad hoc basis for someone who has planned (or unforseen) errands during the day.

~$1/hour seems fair for those reasons. I think charging will at least keep people who don't need to charge at work from charging unless they need to. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to pay that rate should I need the charge.

To manage the charger - just make it company policy to display the EV charging protocol card and ask people to only park there long enough to get the charge they need if it becomes an issue.

Everyone should be doing this anyway when charging in public until there are plenty of charging stations to go around.

 

[KeithFrechette]

At Microsoft (Remond, WA) our ChargePoints are configured with a price of $.50 / hour with a $0.25 minimum. While that seems like a reasonable rate to me for Level 2 charging, each unit has an L2 and an L1 port, and as far as I can tell, the same rate applies to both ports. It seems to me that, for fairness, we ought to charge 1/2 the rate for the L1 port usage.

 

[mwalsh]

Wait....when did you change this to work? My answer was in at a public parking structure. I'd only be willing to reimburse the actual cost of electricity used at work.

 

[garygid]

It is not as simple as How much per hour. Is that Charging duration, or Parking duration?

Charge for 2 hours to get home, and park for 9 hours "blocking" the EVSE. How will that work?

An multi-cable charging head where 4 cars can connect and "reserve" N hours of time in the next M hours?

Billing and accounting issues: Done by ChargePoint down to Coin Op, 25¢ per charge half-hour?

Consider the lost work if the EV-employee has to take 15 minutes to stop work, go outside, move the car, walk back inside, and resume work.

If the EVSEs at work are blocked or broken, what is the Plan-B to get the EV-employee back home?

 

[Randy]

There's more to the cost of workplace charging than the actual electricity used.

There is the initial cost of the EVSE and the installation. Smart ones that use fobs and track charging by person can cost $10K installed.

If you want the network operator to collect money for the charging session, they will charge a fee to do that.

It's one thing if the host company wants to make workplace charging no cost or low cost for employees, but if actual costs are to be recovered it will have to be priced at quite a bit more than the just the cost of the electricity itself to break even.

 

[N952JL]

Public or Work charging should be based on acual energy used to charge your battery not time, unless you also charge for parking. Both should be easy to program into the system. Cost per KWh times KWh consumed to charge the battery, plus a cost per 15 mins of park time. Rate would be adjusted to take into account the overhead to buy and run the chargers.

All commercial systems are have credit card type activation which can be charged to charge or debit card. Other programable options would be, no charge to park as long as you were charging the battery, but when the car is not using anymore KWh to charge, (IE 100% charged) then you start paying to park. If parking is free, then charging to park after your batteries are full will encourage you to move to free up the charger for the next car.

Since the cost of electricty is .10 KWh, then charging .20 KWh should be fair.

 

[mwalsh]

There's more to the cost of workplace charging than the actual electricity used.

There is the initial cost of the EVSE and the installation.

My answer was based on using my own L1/L2 portable with existing outlets. I think that's the way forward - make it easy and cheap. I don't understand this desire to have installed EVSEs everywhere.

Would I pay more for the convenience of proper EVSEs? Maybe.

 

[thankyouOB]

That was ridiculous. You CHANGED the questions AFTER people answered.
Now it is about recharging costs at work.

I would pay 0 for charging at work.
I thought you were talking about oppty charging along the hiway or at a restaurant that is more than 40 miles from home.

 

[JPWhite]

My answer was based on using my own L1/L2 portable with existing outlets. I think that's the way forward - make it easy and cheap. I don't understand this desire to have installed EVSEs everywhere.

Would I pay more for the convenience of proper EVSEs? Maybe.

With a L2 portable, how often do you run into issues with GFCI protected outlets preventing you from bonding two 110 outlets to a 220. I presume you are using the quick220 with your modded L1 charger. I believe most states require GFCI protection on external power outlets.

 

[mwalsh]

I presume you are using the quick220 with your modded L1 charger. I believe most states require GFCI protection on external power outlets.

No, at work we have 208v for the shop equipment. I plug into that when I feel there isn't enough time to trickle. But there usually is....I'm at work for 6-8 hours and generally arrive there only 40% depleted.

 

[Bassman]

30 to 40 cents per hour = $2.40 to $3.20 per day.