DC Charging Seems Expensive

[barryvo]

I'm starting to prepare for the MME and ran some charging numbers. I pay about $.10 per kwh hour at home which is less than gas at $3.50.

DC charging seems to be $.31 or $.41 a kwh which could be more than gas. Plus you have to wait 45 min or so to fill up. It does not seem practical for road trips unless DC charging costs get close to what you pay at home.

I think our plan will be to use the MME primarily for commuting and short trips. I don't think we will use the free couple of hours of charging at Target and other places. Charging at home overnight seems to be the best bang for the buck.

I can see why so many people get the ID.4 for the three free years DC charging. I tried to like the ID.4 but couldn't. We are looking forward to the MME and preparing for it is fun.

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[ZuleMME]

Agreed, your math lines up with mine. averages show it'll do about 1/4 the cost of gas charged at home with $0.10kwh's vs $3.50 a gallon or so. And with varying the miles per kwh that can be better or worse. But the dc fast charging seems to be about the same as gas for the most part going with the averages. Granted if gas continues to go up that advantage can quickly change. But this makes the most sense if you are charging at home and/or creating your own energy by solar etc.

 

[barryvo]

Agreed, your math lines up with mine. averages show it'll do about 1/4 the cost of gas charged at home with $0.10kwh's vs $3.50 a gallon or so. And with varying the miles per kwh that can be better or worse. But the dc fast charging seems to be about the same as gas for the most part going with the averages. Granted if gas continues to go up that advantage can quickly change. But this makes the most sense if you are charging at home and/or creating your own energy by solar etc.

I think Ford throws in 250 kwh of DC charging which should be good for three or four charges from 20 to 80 percent. We might do a Vegas to LA trip with the free power to try outDC charging.

 

[RedStallion]

I'm starting to prepare for the MME and ran some charging numbers. I pay about $.10 per kwh hour at home which is less than gas at $3.50.

DC charging seems to be $.31 or $.41 a kwh which could be more than gas. Plus you have to wait 45 min or so to fill up. It does not seem practical for road trips unless DC charging costs get close to what you pay at home.

I think our plan will be to use the MME primarily for commuting and short trips. I don't think we will use the free couple of hours of charging at Target and other places. Charging at home overnight seems to be the best bang for the buck.

I can see why so many people get the ID.4 for the three free years DC charging. I tried to like the ID.4 but couldn't. We are looking forward to the MME and preparing for it is fun.

At 41c/kWh my recent 800mi trip was equivalent to 29 mpg at current $4.40/gal prices. At one 100+ mile portion it was even lower than that, about 22 mpg equivalent. I got better than that in my full size SUV on the same road. So depending on many various factors a trip in EV can be more expensive than in a gas car.

 

[RedStallion]

Agreed, your math lines up with mine. averages show it'll do about 1/4 the cost of gas charged at home with $0.10kwh's vs $3.50 a gallon or so. And with varying the miles per kwh that can be better or worse. But the dc fast charging seems to be about the same as gas for the most part going with the averages. Granted if gas continues to go up that advantage can quickly change. But this makes the most sense if you are charging at home and/or creating your own energy by solar etc.

If gas prices go up, what do you think happens with electricity prices? All energy sources are interdependent, there can be a delay, but electricity prices (at least at charging stations) will go up as well.

 

[barryvo]

If gas prices go up, what do you think happens with electricity prices? All energy sources are interdependent, there can be a delay, but electricity prices (at least at charging stations) will go up as well.

It makes sense but was worth doing research to see the cost differential from DC to home charging. It allows me to have a better understanding of the best way to use the MME. We still have two cars which allows more options.

 

[tuminatr]

At 41c/kWh my recent 800mi trip was equivalent to 29 mpg at current $4.40/gal prices. At one 100+ mile portion it was even lower than that, about 22 mpg equivalent. I got better than that in my full size SUV on the same road. So depending on many various factors a trip in EV can be more expensive than in a gas car.

Electrify America in my area charges per minute, and although it's not as good of a deal as charging from home it's still not that bad. In WI where I just charged it is $.32 / min and at 150kw the car charges in 25-30 min for a cost of $8-$9.6 and that represents 180-200 miles of charge. At 25mpg 200 miles costs $20 in a ICE

 

[RedStallion]

It makes sense but was worth doing research to see the cost differential from DC to home charging. It allows me to have a better understanding of the best way to use the MME. We still have two cars which allows more options.

It's more difficult to raise home electricity prices without angrying electorate. But they may increase upper tier prices making home charging more expensive.

 

[barryvo]

Electrify America in my area charges per minute, and although it's not as good of a deal as charging from home it's still not that bad. In WI where I just charged it is $.32 / min and at 150kw the car charges in 25-30 min for a cost of $8-$9.6 and that represents 180-200 miles of charge. At 25mpg 200 miles costs $20 in a ICE

They charge by kwh in my area.

 

[Tyldum]

Similar here in Norway. DC charging will cost about 50% of my old diesel.
Home charging will vary, but on average cost me about 5%-10% of the diesel cost (diesel and petrol is expensive due to taxes).

 

[RedStallion]

Electrify America in my area charges per minute, and although it's not as good of a deal as charging from home it's still not that bad. In WI where I just charged it is $.32 / min and at 150kw the car charges in 25-30 min for a cost of $8-$9.6 and that represents 180-200 miles of charge. At 25mpg 200 miles costs $20 in a ICE

According to my calculations from the recent trip, there is no difference paying by min or by kWh. The average charging speed I got from EA chargers was 1.28kWh/min. So 32c/min would be almost exactly 41c/kWh.
And, of course you won't get that range on intestate. I've got 2.8mi/kWh average for the whole trip with as low as 2.1mi/kWh on some portions. It's not less expensive than gas cars, which usually get more efficient at highway speeds.

 

[timbop]

Correct, the cost of DCFC on the road is roughly equivalent to gas (depending upon gas prices where you are driving). The difference is that you're not polluting while you drive, and the other 40-51 weeks of the year you are charging at home for half the price.

As for the time charging, yes it is longer and more frequent than with an ICE but that can work to your advantage. In my youth I would eat while driving in an attempt "to just get there", but as I had kids and then later as my bladder seemed to hold less than it used to I began looking forward to stopping. I also generally hate to drive long distance on the highway - it is just mind numbing tedium to me. The Mach E's auto lane centering helps very much with the tedium, as does the need to stop every few hours. I am planning a trip to Florida from NJ, and using ABRP I mapped out long 40 minutes stops at meal times with a couple of shorter 20 minute stops in the afternoon. I was able to find chargers close enough to decent food where I can sit down and eat so the long charge stops are irrelevant, and bio breaks every hour or 2 will negate at least some of the wait for the in-between shorter stops.

It takes time to do, but I found it challenging and interesting to map it all out

 

[barryvo]

Electrify America in my area charges per minute, and although it's not as good of a deal as charging from home it's still not that bad. In WI where I just charged it is $.32 / min and at 150kw the car charges in 25-30 min for a cost of $8-$9.6 and that represents 180-200 miles of charge. At 25mpg 200 miles costs $20 in a ICE

They charge by KWH IN MY

Correct, the cost of DCFC on the road is roughly equivalent to gas (depending upon gas prices where you are driving). The difference is that you're not polluting while you drive, and the other 40-51 weeks of the year you are charging at home for half the price.

As for the time charging, yes it is longer and more frequent than with an ICE but that can work to your advantage. In my youth I would eat while driving in an attempt "to just get there", but as I had kids and then later as my bladder seemed to hold less than it used to I began looking forward to stopping. I also generally hate to drive long distance on the highway - it is just mind numbing tedium to me. The Mach E's auto lane centering helps very much with the tedium, as does the need to stop every few hours. I am planning a trip to Florida from NJ, and using ABRP I mapped out long 40 minutes stops at meal times with a couple of shorter 20 minute stops in the afternoon. I was able to find chargers close enough to decent food where I can sit down and eat so the long charge stops are irrelevant, and bio breaks every hour or 2 will negate at least some of the wait for the in-between shorter stops.

It takes time to do, but I found it challenging and interesting to map it all out

I agree with everything you said and it makes sense. We will plan to relax or eat during the DC charging sessions.

 

[Nklem]

That’s A bargain. In Maine DCFC is $0.49/kWH for a 50kW machine and our home rate is $0.18.

 

[OlyPen]

You might want to check out ChargeHub (mobile app, website, etc as an alternative to plugshare)... it's the service FordPass pulls from for charging locations for nav etc.... but directly at ChargeHub you get much more info, including pricing. In our local area, I've noticed that the pricing (for Level 3 DC Fast Charging) varies dramatically depending on the charging network (some as low as $0.15 per minute vs $0.41 kwh within a mile or so of each other)... you can also plan routes using the app (or website) and favor certain charging scenarios over others, as well as certain networks over others if you're a member and get lower member pricing.

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