Want to Quick Charge? Move to Texas

[hill]

Does the thought of a QC install get you to whining about a 5 figure electric bill? Is SD power and SCE puttin' the hurt on running a Chademo? You don't buy it - that the so cal utility companies need that kind of scratch to deliver 20kW plus? Seems to me the the good folks in Texas would agree with you:

" ... TXU Energy in Texas is offering the first free energy rates in the nation, between 10 PM and 6 AM. Its daytime rates are 11 cents.

Wind power tends to be greatest in the wee hours. Texas wind power sometimes has to be curtailed or wasted because there’s no one to use it at night

Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1cgUd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false ..."

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/05/18/txu-is-first-to-offer-free-night-time-electricity-rate-plan/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ok, so it's not quite that simple ... but it was sickening enough for me to jump to conclusions by making the contrast between, "us and them". I don't suppose there's any chance the utility could show us even half as much love.
:?

 

[KJD]

Sounds like you need more windmills in CA

 

[Cheezmo]

Very interesting.

.11/kWh daytime, free at night

I currently pay .073/kWh full time. But, I'm adding a a solar system to handle about 20% of my usage.

It will be interesting to see charging at night (saving $25/mo?) is enough to offset the .11 vs. .073 given that my daytime consumption will be lower anyway.

Kind of doubt it but it will be fun to try to figure out once the solar is up and running and I had a smart meter to see how much I can shift to nighttime (if you can get that kind of data from it).

My brain hurts.

 

[Cheezmo]

So can we now pre-cool our houses in the summer.

Beef up your home insulation. Cool the house down to 65 over night with free electricity, then set it to 80 during the day.

 

[Pipcecil]

If only the whole state was de-regulated. Being in a non-ERGOT area (i.e. non-Oncor) I have a co-op and that is my one and only choice (grrr). With two plug-ins now, I could only dream of being on a plan like this. Peak energy usage in Texas is fairly high and nightime usage is pittle. I can see why TXU is implementing this. Too bad I will never get to use it

 

[hill]

I guess this story wrenched at me because of CA demand fees which has caused a disaster for Chademo implementation. If we had this kind of electricity usage hall-pass for night time power use, I bet there'd be more Q.C.'s here in so cal than there are in all of TN and Oregon combined. What a great way to make use of unused power availability. In CA, if you sign up for time of use, it's hardly worth it. If you use just a scosche too much day time power, you end up paying way more than if you'd never botherd trying to switch loads to night time.

 

[Stanton]

Not to mix threads/topics, but with all the high temperature battery pack issues, I'm beginning to think that (even if I had a QC port) I wouldn't WANT to QC in Texas in the summer. I'm sticking with L2 in my (cool) garage at night.

 

[hill]

Well the coolest hours of the day (for charging and living too) ARE in the wee hours 3 ... 4 ... 5am whether it'd be L2 or L3.

 

[DaveEV]

ok, so it's not quite that simple ... but it was sickening enough for me to jump to conclusions by making the contrast between, "us and them". I don't suppose there's any chance the utility could show us even half as much love.
:?

TOU rates will get you electricity at around half the cost during super-off-peak hours compared to peak hours. I pay $0.13/kWh from 12am-5am in the summer - but $0.25/kWh from 12pm-8pm.

Sounds like you need more windmills in CA

Sure do. Currently they produce around 2.7GW at full power. Wind tends to blow the most here from around 5pm-8am which typically leaves a big hole in the middle of the day. Currently that whole tends to be filled with solar power.

CA ISO Generation status: http://www.caiso.com/Pages/TodaysOutlook.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On that page there is a link to historical renewable generation data as well.

 

[caffeinekid]

If only the whole state was de-regulated. Being in a non-ERGOT area (i.e. non-Oncor) I have a co-op and that is my one and only choice (grrr). With two plug-ins now, I could only dream of being on a plan like this. Peak energy usage in Texas is fairly high and nightime usage is pittle. I can see why TXU is implementing this. Too bad I will never get to use it

Be careful what you wish for. Markets in Texas that have been deregulated are consistently more expensive than regulated ones.

We have a dozen or so eVgo freedom stations scattered around Houston. The $89/month lease on the charger is a pretty good deal IMO so long as you use the L3 chargers on a regular basis. I have been trying to iron out whether or not to get a second Leaf w/QC port to use as my work vehicle, but as Stanton mentioned, there is the whole capacity loss wild card that has more or less thrown a wrench into my scheming. And there is also the new standard that manufacturers have finally agreed on- NOT chadmeo. Bottom line: L3 chargers at this point may not be as great a thing as they have been hyped up to be. And they do seem to be gawd-awefully expensive to build and maintain.

 

[Pipcecil]

Deregulated may be more compared to other states, but in-state its been worse. I average about 12.4 cents per kWh on Hilco (it fluctuates based on natural gas prices down to 11 and up to 14+). My in-laws on TXU? 9 cents per kWh. Everyone I know that is not in a co-op pays a couple cents less or greater. So to me, regulated co-ops feel they can just charge as much as they want. I could pay the same price and get green energy* (yes I know its a swap system, but it still counts for a lot) if I could have a choice to go with someone else. What I HATE is the co-op "fluffs" their numbers to make it appear they are cheaper when selling us the idea to not deregulate. "We offer the lowest rates around at 6.8 cents per kWh**." Yea, 6.8 plus cost of natural gas, plus standard fee, plus security, and other junk = 12.4 cents per kWh. A similar plan on TXU? 9 cents after all is said and done. It makes me feel worse that they are intentially trying to lie and fluff their numbers.

Personally, I am not worried about the QCs. I use them alot with eVgo, and I do follow the SAE's brow-beating into using their standard. But the charging companies are in to make money, not hand out freebies. More CHAdeMO on the road = more usage = more money. Until cars with SAE can bring the numbers, these companies will stick with CHAdeMO for at least the near future. In my opinion, only those companies making the SAE cars will be building SAE charging stations (like BMW - it will only be at their dealerships or they will work and have some built out of their own pocket). SAE won't have specs for at least a year, another year to actually get it built (if lucky) and another year for UL certification (probably longer - the first UL CHAdeMO was done in June of last year!!). So you are looking at 2015 at the earliest with the first chargers become available. Take that with so few cars, either those SAE units will be very few or other units will add the plug to get additional revenue (more likely scenario). The combo SAE/CHAdeMO chargers will most likely stick around for at least 5 years IMO until either one becomes total dominate over the other or gets a weird boost (like a fed gov endorsments, etc.). By the time CHAdeMO could be completely gone, I would most likely own the leaf for 10 years, then its time to get a new car anyways!