1st Electric Bill (w/EV) - Best Way to Monitor EV Energy Usage?

[Guss-E 2021]

I just received my first electric bill since getting my 2022 Mach-E Premium AWD ER.

I received my car on 05/27/22. The billing period is from 05/19 – 06/20. I have driven a little over 1,500 miles in less than a month (hey what can I say I love driving again and it is summertime).

My last bill was $121. My new bill is $210. My usage increased by 522 kWh. I’m pretty happy about that for a few reasons.

• From May 2021 to June 2021, my usage increased from 330 kWh to 538 kWh or by 208 kWh. I suspect turning on the air conditioning contributed to this. If I net the 2021 208 kWh difference out of my new bill, my car (theoretically) only added 314 kWh to my bill. Not bad for a such a big battery (91 usable kWh) and 1,500 miles of driving.
• Even if all $89 extra dollars was just charging my car (unlikely), I was spending, on average, $200/month for gas in my Acura TSX, a vehicle that gets over 30 mpg on the highway.
• My next bill will likely be lower. I am in NH and my supplier rate actually went down.
• From 05/19 – 05/31, 352 kWh @ $0.17518 = $61.66
• From 06/01-06/20, 587 kWh @ $0.10117= $59.39 (this rate is good through November)

I am also trying to be mindful of all my other electrical use (my fridge is old and I think I’ll get a new more energy efficient one this summer for example).

Now for an actual question: What is the easiest way for me to quickly determine how much of my kWh usage is from charging my car?

The FordPass app is not much help. Under Vehicle/Charging/Charge Logs there is zero kWh data (Ford you need to fix that). I’ve heard about the existence of smart charging/chargers but didn’t see any specific forum threads on them. I am currently plugging the provided mobile charger into a NEMA 14-50 getting about 23 miles per hour of charge. I have energy monitoring smart plugs (love Kasa) on my wall outlets that give me all kinds of energy usage data (kWh used for trailing 7 days, trailing 30 days, etc). Is there something like that for the NEMA? Or would I be better off with something like a ChargePoint Home Flex?

Thanks!

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[OWG]

Question: What is the easiest way for me to quickly determine how much of my kWh usage is from charging my car?

You might want to look at something like the Emporia Vue. I have taken that approach and have one in the subpanel that supports the EVSE. This allows me to capture the entire demand to include EVSE loss.

I do not recommend Sense. The AI device identification never really worked for me.

Now, if I had unlimited resources, some of the "smart" load centers are very interesting.

 

[RickMachE]

First, check with your utility company to see if they provide discounted chargers, or a rebate if you buy certain brands/models.

Intelligent EVSEs, such as the Chargepoint Homeflex or the JuiceBox, provide apps and data that you can download (JuiceBox does) and analyze all day long.

I have a JB 48 hardwired and am very happy with it.

 

[notaek]

You might want to look at something like the Emporia Vue. I have taken that approach and have one in the subpanel that supports the EVSE. This allows me to capture the entire demand to include EVSE loss.

Emporia Vue is slick. I just installed mine last week and their EV charger. Full 48A charging speed hardwired to a 60A breaker. Wi-Fi enabled.

You can get by with just their EV charger to monitor usage and cost in their app, but I have the Vue connected to my EVSE hardwired circuit as well.

If you’re interested in both you can save $50, that’s what I did: https://shop.emporiaenergy.com/coll...dles/products/ev-charger-16-sensor-vue-bundle

I’m really impressed with the quality for the price. Solid all around.

 

[RickMachE]

Another option is to check with your electric utility. Some provide good access to data. Mine has an app where I can see historical usage (i.e. yesterday and back) and look by hour at how much usage I had. If you charge from say midnight to 6AM, comparing two days gives you a good idea of the difference.

They also have a bridge you can get (6 months free, then $1.99 a month) that gives an instant readout. Open app, note usage, turn on device, note usage. Now you know how much it is pulling.

 

[JamieGeek]

We have a separate rate plan for the EV and a separate meter from the utility company (Time of use on the EV meter and thus much cheaper 11pm-9am weekdays).

Thus I know exactly how much goes into the car. For me its been a pretty consistent $50/month since 2013 when I got my first EV. (Sure a little less in summer and a little more in winter but averages pretty close to $50/month for 1000 miles of driving.)

 

[Guss-E 2021]

Wow and wow again. Fantastic responses from all. Thank you SO much the information. Mach-E Forums for the win!

 

[TGIF]

First, check with your utility company to see if they provide discounted chargers, or a rebate if you buy certain brands/models.

Intelligent EVSEs, such as the Chargepoint Homeflex or the JuiceBox, provide apps and data that you can download (JuiceBox does) and analyze all day long.

I have a JB 48 hardwired and am very happy with it.

I have the ChargePoint HomeFlex. It keeps a log of home charging activity and automatically ties that in to my utilities‘ rate. It also tracks public ChargePoint charging and adds that in to show both a home and total charging cost. It may do more but that’s pretty much what I want to know. It does not track public charging with other networks. It logs individual sessions and shows a running total.

My utility offered a substantial rebate on the ChargePoint contingent on allowing them access to the charging data. Being in a low EV adoption area I was happy to make that trade-off.

 

[Motomax]

My vote is don’t even worry about it. Just calculate you’re break even Point with gas prices and as long as gas is more than that price you’re winning. Depending on how much you paid for your car you’ll probably not come out ahead as a total cost of ownership but you’re still winning on convenience.

 

[RickMachE]

My vote is don’t even worry about it. Just calculate you’re break even Point with gas prices and as long as gas is more than that price you’re winning. Depending on how much you paid for your car you’ll probably not come out ahead as a total cost of ownership but you’re still winning on convenience.

Many EV owners like to track exact costs. Charging with an app like FordPass (i.e. using Plug and Charge) means you lose data that others like EA's app gives you.

It's a no brainer that an EV costs less to fuel. But, over the lifetime of usage, as compared to an ICE vehicle, what's the cost? Lots of estimates, many people want to track it and see.

 

[Motomax]

Many EV owners like to track exact costs. Charging with an app like FordPass (i.e. using Plug and Charge) means you lose data that others like EA's app gives you.

It's a no brainer that an EV costs less to fuel. But, over the lifetime of usage, as compared to an ICE vehicle, what's the cost? Lots of estimates, many people want to track it and see.

Yes I get it, my vote is still don’t worry about it. Most people don’t bother tracking cost with a gas car so you have nothing to compare it too.
Nothings going to be cheaper than buying a 20k car that gets 30+ mpg and running it into the ground.

 

[Ming]

I did track electricity usage for a couple of months and then stopped worrying about it.
If I want, I just estimate 3 miles/kWh, and calculate from the miles I have driven. The car shows 3.5 mi/kWh but there's 10-15% charging loss.

My home AC uses much more than my car does.

 

[iam-s-Hon]

Another option is to check with your electric utility. Some provide good access to data. Mine has an app where I can see historical usage (i.e. yesterday and back) and look by hour at how much usage I had. If you charge from say midnight to 6AM, comparing two days gives you a good idea of the difference.

They also have a bridge you can get (6 months free, then $1.99 a month) that gives an instant readout. Open app, note usage, turn on device, note usage. Now you know how much it is pulling.

I download utility the data into Excel. Knowing my TOU rates, when I charge the car correlated to the energy peaks I can approximate the % cost of my bill to charge. Billing switched to 15 min intervals from my original plan 60min (?) so this is not great long term, but I can get a sense of the costs month-to-month & season-to-season until I decide I still want to track and upgrade my approach to the data.

 

[dlk9312]

I had asked a similar question last year and someone suggested Optiwatt app (it's there in both apple and Android). Has issues with it initially but they did an update earlier this month and works like a charm.

You would connect your car by using fordpass login and select the rate plan of the utility. You would need your home location as well

It automatically pulls in charge time and levels from the car and based on the duration shows the charging efficiency and costs. Has decent metrics on monthly usage all well

 

[ChuckA]

I agree with all that say install a smart EVSE like Chargepoint Home or JuiceBox. They are wi-fi enabled and catch all the data.

Many utilities provide rebates and have a list of participating EVSE’s. They want to get TOD usage.

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