Plug & Charge Fail and the 80% Cliff is Real

[methorian]

Ok, re-doing the Maths with that assumption:

65 KWHs delivered at $0.31 USD per KWh = $20.15

Reverse-engineering the tax from the OP's screenshot is $1.68 / $27.95 = 6%.

$20.15 + $1.21 tax = $21.36 total

$21.36 / 1.929 = $11.07 USD per gallon-of-gas equivalent. Still, what, 3 - 4x current price of gasoline (in the US) at the time of this post. Ouch.

If Public DC fast charging are your only charging options, BEV's may not be the best option for you. Home electricity rates are the real fuel savings compared to gasoline.

Sponsored

 

[hybrid2bev]

Ok, re-doing the Maths with that assumption:

65 KWHs delivered at $0.31 USD per KWh = $20.15

Reverse-engineering the tax from the OP's screenshot is $1.68 / $27.95 = 6%.

$20.15 + $1.21 tax = $21.36 total

$21.36 / 1.929 = $11.07 USD per gallon-of-gas equivalent. Still, what, 3 - 4x current price of gasoline (in the US) at the time of this post. Ouch.

But the MME gets almost 90 to 100 miles per gallon. Do the same comparison vs a 20 mpg Explorer.

 

[TheSteelRider]

If Public DC fast charging are your only charging options, BEV's may not be the best option for you. Home electricity rates are the real fuel savings compared to gasoline.

Agreed. My use case is that I basically don't think I will ever, or I might rarely use DCFC. At my current home electricity rate, this same "fill-up" would have instead been:

65 KWHs delivered at $0.085 USD per KWh = $5.53 (Note: $0.085 includes tax. It's about $0.081 pre-tax)

$5.53 / 1.929 = $2.87 USD per gallon-of-gas equivalent.

 

[TheSteelRider]

But the MME gets almost 90 to 100 miles per gallon. Do the same comparison vs a 20 mpg Explorer.

Good point. Let's call it 3x more efficient than the average ICE, so at that price it is basically on-par with a $ per mile cost.

 

[dbsb3233]

yes, HOLY MOLY! A gallon of gas is about 33.7 KHw equivalent, so a charge of $29.63 USD for 65 KWh ends up costing approximately $15.36 USD per gallon-of-gas equivalent! So much for EVs being cheaper than ICE (on public charging at least).


Maths
65 KWhs delivered / 33.7 KWhs gallon gas equivalent = 1.929 gallons of gas equivalent
$29.63 USD charged / 1.929 gallons of gas equivalent = $15.36 USD per gallon

That 33.7 number is only addressing the "energy content". That's not what most people care about. That's just the science behind it.

What most people care about is how far it takes you. That means comparing price per mile for both fuels. That's gonna vary a lot based on the MPG of the vehicle you would otherwise drive, and what the price of gas is in your area. Here's the numbers I use for my Escape:

Escape:
Assume $2.50/gal gas.
Assume 25 MPG.
That works out to $0.10/mile.

Mach-E:
Assume $0.31/kWh EA Pass+.
Assume 3.1 miles/kWh avg.
That works out to $0.10/mile.

Ironically, exactly the same.

(But at home rates of $0.10/kWh, roughly 1/3rd the cost.)

 

[TheSteelRider]

That 33.7 number is only addressing the "energy content". That's not what most people care about. That's just the science behind it.

What most people care about is how far it takes you. That means comparing price per mile for both fuels. That's gonna vary a lot based on the MPG of the vehicle you would otherwise drive, and what the price of gas is in your area. Here's the numbers I use for my Escape:

Escape:
Assume $2.50/gal gas.
Assume 25 MPG.
That works out to $0.10/mile.

Mach-E:
Assume $0.31/kWh EA Pass+.
Assume 3.1 miles/kWh avg.
That works out to $0.10/mile.

Ironically, exactly the same.

(But at home rates of $0.10/kWh, roughly 1/3rd the cost.)

Yep, you are correct. I finally got there as well, but thanks for re-doing the maths to make this readily apparent.

 

[dbsb3233]

First the good news. From 12% to 80% took about 45 minutes so about right on target. I was able to start my charging session using Apply Pay on two different units, no charging faults (did not stop after paying until I stopped it). I don't have a membership so it charges $0.43 per kW instead of the member rate at $0.31 per kW.

I activated my Plug & Charge free 250kWH offer in Ford Pass earlier in the day. I drove my car around today until I reached 9% state of charge. Had been driving hard for about 90 minutes before plugging in at an EA station.

I had the car turned off. It was 26 degrees F outside.

When I first plugged in the charger said connecting to vehicle, then it asked me to pay for the charging. I disconnected and moved to another charger, same thing. Decided to just pay for the charging on the 150 kW charger using Apple Pay which worked just fine. Plugged in at 9% and got 55 to 57 kW speed. I let it go to about 12% charge and disconnected. Thinking maybe the station could not put out enough power.

Moved to the 350 charger that I first started at but used the second cord. Plugged in... Plug and Charge failed so I just paid for charging using Apple Pay... started up at 57 kW at 12%. I will add during the process the kW speed jumped around by a few kW it didn't seem to hold a steady rate. But it never stopped charging.

Great info. Thanks!

So, it sounds like it wasn't recognizing your FordPass account, thus we still have no confirmation of what EA rate FordPass will give us yet.

 

[hybrid2bev]

Great info. Thanks!

So, it sounds like it wasn't recognizing your FordPass account, thus we still have no confirmation of what EA rate FordPass will give us yet.

This is what I see via Ford Pass when I go into the chargers screens to activate the chargers. The non-member rate.

 

[dbsb3233]

This is what I see via Ford Pass when I go into the chargers screens to activate the chargers. The non-member rate.

I'm confused what "activating" a charger that you're not yet plugged into yet does?

 

[SnBGC]

I updated the post. That is the non-member guest rate of $0.43 I didn't sign up for a membership yet to get the $0.31 rate.

Thanks for sharing.
I bet you are glad Ford gave us a $3k discount on the Premium vs more "free" charging.

 

[hybrid2bev]

I'm confused what "activating" a charger that you're not yet plugged into yet does?

Not sure but I think maybe it pre-authorizes your payment and or gets the station ready so when you plug in it will start up faster??

BTW
EA hit me with a $50 pre-authorized charge for each of my charging sessions.

 

[timbop]

Ok, re-doing the Maths with that assumption:

65 KWHs delivered at $0.31 USD per KWh = $20.15

Reverse-engineering the tax from the OP's screenshot is $1.68 / $27.95 = 6%.

$20.15 + $1.21 tax = $21.36 total

$21.36 / 1.929 = $11.07 USD per gallon-of-gas equivalent. Still, what, 3 - 4x current price of gasoline (in the US) at the time of this post. Ouch.

You're focusing on the wrong thing: BEV's are 3x-4x MORE EFFICIENT than an ICE. Comparing how far you can go for that $27 is the comparison you should make. You should also realize that public charging is more expensive (especially at the "guest" rate), but charging at home with utility rate electricity is much cheaper.

At 3 mi/kwh: $.43/3 = $.14 per mile including tax.
At 25mpg and $3/gal: $3/25 = $.12 per mile
At 3 mi/kwh and $.31/kwh: .31/3 = $.10 per mile
At residential rates ($.19 here in NJ): $.19/3 = $.06 per mile

 

[dbsb3233]

BTW
EA hit me with a $50 pre-authorized charge for each of my charging sessions.

No surprise there. We get that on some gas stations too. At Costco it's $1. At the Flying J in Richfield UT it's $150. Shocked us first time we saw it (we have our credit cards set to email us for every transaction).

 

[BlueMach]

This is what I see via Ford Pass when I go into the chargers screens to activate the chargers. The non-member rate.

Pretty disappointing. I really thought we'd get the $0.31/kWh rate as part of the "Ford Pass Charging Network" subscription. I'm struggling then to think what's worth paying for the "FordPass Charging Network" subscription after the free trial.

Is there anywhere in the FordPass app to link an Electrify America plan? Maybe if you have a Pass+ membership you can link it into your FordPass membership?

I'm just struggling to think why Ford thinks we don't want the EA member price.

 

[dbsb3233]

This is what I see via Ford Pass when I go into the chargers screens to activate the chargers. The non-member rate.

So that doesn't sound good regarding FordPass giving us a discount rate at EA. Although still possible it's just displaying the generic info there until the car is actually connected and recognized. Maybe. But it's not sounding very promising from that.

If not, then people will be looking to bypass FordPass and use EA Pass+ membership instead.

Sponsored