electricfuture
Well-known member
I am supposed to receive my April delayed Leaf in June. In the mean time I have been working here in San Diego with ECOtality and SDG&E to obtain the best charging rate available. What I found was deceptive billing which greatly increases your real charging cost. On the plus side I am now applying an equivalent cost of fuel per 100 miles for my current ride to see the “real” mpg rating of the Leaf – which is also surprising in a positive way.
First let’s look at SDG&E’s billing deception. They have has several rates for homes.
SDG&E standard tiered rates.
Your bill shows a rate per kWh that is incomplete. The published rate on your bill does not include: Bond Charges-$0.00515/kWh, Summer Generation Charges -$0.08978 (higher charge in winter), State Surcharge tax - $0.00022/kWh and a State Reg. Fee $0.000240/kWh regardless of which tier they are apart. This adds $0.09539/kWh to your rate. The table below shows the REAL rates with this addition:
Tier --------- Published rate/kWh / Real Rate/kWh
1-298kWh----- 0.03919 / $0.13458
2-next 89kWh- 0.05996 / $0.15535
3-the rest----- 0.18708 / $0.28247
So, for most of us we would be charged $0.28247/kWh for charging the Leaf as it would be an addition to our household use of 387 kWh.
EV Rate
First you should know that the ECOtality/SDG&E special study rates (Super Off-Peak rates 12AM to 5 AM) are $0.07, $0.08 or $0.14. They will not tell you what your rate is until after you sign up. Only then a random number generator assigns your rate to you. You cannot change this or “try again”. Several of the owners are reporting the $0.07 rate – but lucky me I got the $0.14 rate!
I questioned SDG&E extensively concerning this and they explained they want to see when people will charge the car based on different rate structures and time of day. I told them that this is a no brainer – the car has a computer and will charge at night when not in use and for the lowest rate. They said they have to “prove” this to the State Regulatory Commission and hence the study.
What I also found out is that the $0.09539 additional charges outline above MUST BE ADDED to this rate. My actual rate will then be $0.23539/kWh to charge the Leaf. Here are the real Super Off Peak EV rates:
Assigned Rate / Real Rate/kWh
0.07 / $0.16539
0.08 / $0.17539
0.14 / $0.23539
EV-TOU (Time of Use) Rates
These rates are normally only for industrial/commercial high use customers, but have been made available to those who are not in the ECOtality study and must buy our own charger as well. I thought this is for me – I’ll get a Leviton Charger and signed up. I can wash clothes, dishes and charge the car at the low evening and 12AM-5AM rates and save money on my overall electric bill.
I was wrong and have switched back to the EV rate. The reason – the “Super Off Peak” rate is the SAME rate as the EV rate - $0.023539 when you add in the applicable charges – but the day rates are much higher than the Tier 1 and Tier 2 rates! So I would be getting more expensive electricity overall even if I sleep during the day and work at night!
Final Analysis:
I am going with the EV rate charging the Leaf for $0.23539/kWh on a separate meter and keeping my Tiered rate structure for the rest of my home use. This will save me about $0.05 per kWh – better than nothing!
REAL COMPARITIVE ICE MPG
Edmonds stated that the EPA rating for the Leaf is 34. You multiply this by the cost of a kWh to get cost per 100 miles.
My numbers are: Electric rate: $0.23539/kWh 34 X 0.23539/100= $8 cost of charge per 100 miles.
My Civic Hybrid gets 34 mpg here in San Diego (lots of hills).
Current cost of gas is $4.17 per gal reg. (and rising).
So, to go 100 miles I need 100/34 mpg = 2.9 gallons of gas X $4.17 = $12.09 per 100 miles
So the comparison is how far could I drive my Leaf for the same fuel cost of driving my Civic Hybrid 100 miles? $12/$8 X 100 = 150 miles! This is my true ICE comparative mpg equivalent.
In order to get your true ICE comparative mpg, just change the numbers in bold to fit your situation.
They don’t use this though because of the variables: kWh costs, gasoline cost, mpg comparisons against another vehicle’s performance vary from person to person. Note that as gas prices go up your
ICE comparative mpg gets better, although electric costs could go up as well. If your current vehicle is getting less than 34 mpg, your electric mpg would be better, same if you have a lower electric rate.
Using this formula I converted savings from oil changes and filters - say $50 with synthetic 3 times a year = another 3x$50/$8 X 100 = 3,875 BONUS miles for FREE per year. Factoring this in further increases your electric mpg as it effectively contributes cash for paying your electric bill.
Later there are tune up charges, plugs, air filters, fuel filters, mufflers, transmission flushes, etc. all adding to the BONUS free miles. Other stuff can happen because a ICE or Hybrid has a lot of moving parts. Whereas the Leaf has 2 moving parts, the motor rotor and a single gear transmission.
First let’s look at SDG&E’s billing deception. They have has several rates for homes.
SDG&E standard tiered rates.
Your bill shows a rate per kWh that is incomplete. The published rate on your bill does not include: Bond Charges-$0.00515/kWh, Summer Generation Charges -$0.08978 (higher charge in winter), State Surcharge tax - $0.00022/kWh and a State Reg. Fee $0.000240/kWh regardless of which tier they are apart. This adds $0.09539/kWh to your rate. The table below shows the REAL rates with this addition:
Tier --------- Published rate/kWh / Real Rate/kWh
1-298kWh----- 0.03919 / $0.13458
2-next 89kWh- 0.05996 / $0.15535
3-the rest----- 0.18708 / $0.28247
So, for most of us we would be charged $0.28247/kWh for charging the Leaf as it would be an addition to our household use of 387 kWh.
EV Rate
First you should know that the ECOtality/SDG&E special study rates (Super Off-Peak rates 12AM to 5 AM) are $0.07, $0.08 or $0.14. They will not tell you what your rate is until after you sign up. Only then a random number generator assigns your rate to you. You cannot change this or “try again”. Several of the owners are reporting the $0.07 rate – but lucky me I got the $0.14 rate!
I questioned SDG&E extensively concerning this and they explained they want to see when people will charge the car based on different rate structures and time of day. I told them that this is a no brainer – the car has a computer and will charge at night when not in use and for the lowest rate. They said they have to “prove” this to the State Regulatory Commission and hence the study.
What I also found out is that the $0.09539 additional charges outline above MUST BE ADDED to this rate. My actual rate will then be $0.23539/kWh to charge the Leaf. Here are the real Super Off Peak EV rates:
Assigned Rate / Real Rate/kWh
0.07 / $0.16539
0.08 / $0.17539
0.14 / $0.23539
EV-TOU (Time of Use) Rates
These rates are normally only for industrial/commercial high use customers, but have been made available to those who are not in the ECOtality study and must buy our own charger as well. I thought this is for me – I’ll get a Leviton Charger and signed up. I can wash clothes, dishes and charge the car at the low evening and 12AM-5AM rates and save money on my overall electric bill.
I was wrong and have switched back to the EV rate. The reason – the “Super Off Peak” rate is the SAME rate as the EV rate - $0.023539 when you add in the applicable charges – but the day rates are much higher than the Tier 1 and Tier 2 rates! So I would be getting more expensive electricity overall even if I sleep during the day and work at night!
Final Analysis:
I am going with the EV rate charging the Leaf for $0.23539/kWh on a separate meter and keeping my Tiered rate structure for the rest of my home use. This will save me about $0.05 per kWh – better than nothing!
REAL COMPARITIVE ICE MPG
Edmonds stated that the EPA rating for the Leaf is 34. You multiply this by the cost of a kWh to get cost per 100 miles.
My numbers are: Electric rate: $0.23539/kWh 34 X 0.23539/100= $8 cost of charge per 100 miles.
My Civic Hybrid gets 34 mpg here in San Diego (lots of hills).
Current cost of gas is $4.17 per gal reg. (and rising).
So, to go 100 miles I need 100/34 mpg = 2.9 gallons of gas X $4.17 = $12.09 per 100 miles
So the comparison is how far could I drive my Leaf for the same fuel cost of driving my Civic Hybrid 100 miles? $12/$8 X 100 = 150 miles! This is my true ICE comparative mpg equivalent.
In order to get your true ICE comparative mpg, just change the numbers in bold to fit your situation.
They don’t use this though because of the variables: kWh costs, gasoline cost, mpg comparisons against another vehicle’s performance vary from person to person. Note that as gas prices go up your
ICE comparative mpg gets better, although electric costs could go up as well. If your current vehicle is getting less than 34 mpg, your electric mpg would be better, same if you have a lower electric rate.
Using this formula I converted savings from oil changes and filters - say $50 with synthetic 3 times a year = another 3x$50/$8 X 100 = 3,875 BONUS miles for FREE per year. Factoring this in further increases your electric mpg as it effectively contributes cash for paying your electric bill.
Later there are tune up charges, plugs, air filters, fuel filters, mufflers, transmission flushes, etc. all adding to the BONUS free miles. Other stuff can happen because a ICE or Hybrid has a lot of moving parts. Whereas the Leaf has 2 moving parts, the motor rotor and a single gear transmission.