Dominion Power Electric Vehicle Plans

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
D

dvdmon

Active member
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
32
Location
Reston, VA
I'm wondering if anyone here has signed up for one of these plans:

https://www.dom.com/about/environment/electric-vehicles.jsp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks potentially advantageous, but I'm worried about the up-front costs, and how long it would take to pay that back in savings.

If anyone has priced these or better yet actually gotten them set up, I'd love to know what your experience was like, how much it cost you to get installed, if you can recommend specific electricians, how much you've seen your power bill decrease, etc.

Thanks!
 
ok I called dominion this am. EV schedule is about 2-3C per KWH between 1-5am

super cheap as you are now paying 12 cents per KWH, BUT, you need to: get a permit, have a second meter installed by a private electrician and then connect your EVSE to that meter

after that you get the lower rates on your charging but must pay $2.90 per month fee

????? do you already have an evse installed?

???? how much will a permit and installation of second meter cost? $

how many miles per year ? how many KWH per year?
 
kmp647 said:
ok I called dominion this am. EV schedule is about 2-3C per KWH between 1-5am

super cheap as you are now paying 12 cents per KWH, BUT, you need to: get a permit, have a second meter installed by a private electrician and then connect your EVSE to that meter

after that you get the lower rates on your charging but must pay $2.90 per month fee

????? do you already have an evse installed?

???? how much will a permit and installation of second meter cost? $

how many miles per year ? how many KWH per year?
Click to expand...

Just got my Leaf yesterday! :) 15K Miles per year. No EVSE, but may do an upgrade to my charger and get an outlet installed in my garage - have one in the room above the garage with 2 120v lines combined to make a 240V outlet. Sorry, I know there's a technical name for that outlet but I don't have it. As much as I'd love to get the second meter, my thought is that the cost to install it would be prohibitive and would mean I wouldn't actually make up that expense for over a year! didn't realize you needed a permit or that it would be an extra $2.90 a month. :(
 
Just a minor correction: you do in fact have an EVSE - that's the cord with the box inline on it that connects the car to the wall socket now. Yours is just a 120 volt L-1, aka "trickle charge" EVSE. That's why the upgrade is called an "upgrade." They are making it able to safely handle 240 volts, not making it into another device entirely. Stupid name, "EVSE", isn't it? It stands for "Electric Vehicle Service Equipment" and that doesn't even make sense - there is only one of it, so it should at least be "Device" instead of "equipment"...
 
LeftieBiker said:
Just a minor correction: you do in fact have an EVSE - that's the cord with the box inline on it that connects the car to the wall socket now. Yours is just a 120 volt L-1, aka "trickle charge" EVSE. That's why the upgrade is called an "upgrade." They are making it able to safely handle 240 volts, not making it into another device entirely. Stupid name, "EVSE", isn't it? It stands for "Electric Vehicle Service Equipment" and that doesn't even make sense - there is only one of it, so it should at least be "Device" instead of "equipment"...
Click to expand...

Yep. It's a bit of a challenge to get all the terms and ideas straight. I consider myself a fairly technical guy - used to build PC's, am a developer, etc., but I've not done much of anything with wiring, and there seems to be a lot of stuff around EV's that is still not as straightforward as it might be, either because of the lingo, or varying standards, etc. I guess if you are already used to wiring stuff in your house, breaker boxes, etc., it's not that big a deal, but I'm not, so I'm still trying to wrap my head around some of this stuff...
 
congrats on the Leaf, at 15k per year you need a dedicated wall mounted EVSE that runs on a 40amp 240V circuit.
my advice, get one off of amazon and have a local electrician install it if possible.
http://www.amazon.com/AeroVironment-Residential-Charger-cable-EVSE-RS/dp/B00AAKQWKM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1375182682&sr=8-5&keywords=evse" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

your other option is having your trickle cable that came in the trunk modified to accept 240V and have a 240V outlet installed

you wont make your commute on 120v chargiing especially in winter

and I dont recommend using 2 120v circuits to make 240v as your primary charging sircuit at home.

lots of help here to get you going. easy as pie to get a wall mounted 240v evese and just have almost any electrician install it depending on your electrical breaker location?
 
kmp647 said:
congrats on the Leaf, at 15k per year you need a dedicated wall mounted EVSE that runs on a 40amp 240V circuit.
my advice, get one off of amazon and have a local electrician install it if possible.
http://www.amazon.com/AeroVironment-Residential-Charger-cable-EVSE-RS/dp/B00AAKQWKM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1375182682&sr=8-5&keywords=evse" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

your other option is having your trickle cable that came in the trunk modified to accept 240V and have a 240V outlet installed

you wont make your commute on 120v chargiing especially in winter

and I dont recommend using 2 120v circuits to make 240v as your primary charging sircuit at home.

lots of help here to get you going. easy as pie to get a wall mounted 240v evese and just have almost any electrician install it depending on your electrical breaker location?
Click to expand...

Thanks. So far I seem to be doing fine on 120V trickle charging. I also have Level 2 charging stations within walking distance to my office and within a mile from my house, so I'm not worried, even for winter, given my commute is only 30 miles round trip. Occasionally I'll do some errands, but I'm sure I can still keep things under 40 miles per day for all but maybe 1 or 2 days per month, but we will see. I'm certainly not going to spend another $600-800 for a charging station plus another $200-500 or more on installation. I can see if my commute were 50 miles or more per day, but not at 30...

However, I'm interested as to why you don't recommend the 2 120v circuits vs. 1 240v? Is the latter safer or more reliable or what exactly?
 

Similar threads

majbthrd
quantified: how much power is used to charge an EV
Replies
6
Views
967
Bombastinator2
B
Jnovoseljr
My EV Battery Life and Leaf observations.
Replies
10
Views
3K
GerryAZ
G
G
GCC: J.D. Power: public charging issues may short-circuit EV growth
2
Replies
20
Views
5K
cwerdna
C
knightmb
Leaf Service EV System Adventures with P0AA6-1A and a Suspect 12V Battery
3 4 5
Replies
80
Views
5K
CaptLarry
C
D
Air conditioning works but won't run
Replies
13
Views
3K
Snakebitten
S

Latest posts

Back
Top