[Sunny Kirkby]

How much energy is being consumed and at what cost? Have your electric bills increased substantially?

 

[devbolt]

None of us have a Bolt yet, so it's hard to say what the impact will be.

If you add an EV to your household your electric bill will go up no matter what. The real question is by how much, and that will be determined by how much you drive the car, how efficiently you drive the car, and what sort of EV rates your electric utility supplies. Also, keep in mind that while your electric bill goes up, your monthly gasoline expenditures may go down by a larger amount, more than enough to offset the increase in the electric bill.

 

[V7i7c]

None of us have a Bolt yet, so it's hard to say what the impact will be.

If you add an EV to your household your electric bill will go up no matter what. The real question is by how much, and that will be determined by how much you drive the car, how efficiently you drive the car, and what sort of EV rates your electric utility supplies. Also, keep in mind that while your electric bill goes up, your monthly gasoline expenditures may go down by a larger amount, more than enough to offset the increase in the electric bill.

I have found that my 2013 Leaf increased my electric bill by $50-60 per month which is more than offset by my savings on gas which averaged about $240. I live in temperate Northern California in the Bay Area and drive around 10K per year. I always charge during off peak so my per kWh electric rate is low.

My lease rate with Nissan is $240 per month so that nets out to the Leaf costing me about $60 per month. Not too shabby!!!

 

[DrZip]

devbolt: Clearly untrue, that when you add an EV your rates go up, once you have an EV move to time of day EV billing watch your usage, charge the vehicle in off peak hours and watch your electric bill crumble, mine dropped over $100 per month here in California, with very little life style changes (charged at night instead of any time).

If you add an EV to your household your electric bill will go up no matter what.

 

[devbolt]

devbolt: Clearly untrue, that when you add an EV your rates go up, once you have an EV move to time of day EV billing watch your usage, charge the vehicle in off peak hours and watch your electric bill crumble, mine dropped over $100 per month here in California, with very little life style changes (charged at night instead of any time).

What saved you money was moving to a TOU rate. If you hadn't moved to a TOU rate, your bill would've gone up with the addition of the EV. This implies that if you had just moved to a TOU rate, and not have gotten an EV, you likely would've saved even more more money on your monthly bill. Subtract out your overnight charging usage to get an idea of how much you saved just by switching to a TOU plan.

I'm already on a TOU rate (Solar on the roof), so my bill will be going up once I add the Bolt. However, at least I'll be able to use up the excess credits I had earned with PG&E. This past year I had to walk away from over $100 in energy credits, plus the $10 a month I had to pay regardless of how much power I used each month.

 

[devbolt]

I have found that my 2013 Leaf increased my electric bill by $50-60 per month which is more than offset by my savings on gas which averaged about $240. I live in temperate Northern California in the Bay Area and drive around 10K per year. I always charge during off peak so my per kWh electric rate is low.

My lease rate with Nissan is $240 per month so that nets out to the Leaf costing me about $60 per month. Not too shabby!!!

When I added the Plug-in Prius back in 2012, our PG&E bill didn't move much. It actually went down a bit compared to previous years. This may have been due to less people living in the house, people not home during the day, or me changing out incandescent bulbs for CFL/LED. Then again, the PiP would only draw 3 kW a night typically, which was about a buck a day at the max. 4 months later we put solar on the roof and the whole electric bill plummeted.

We're on PG&E as well and in Northern California, too (just below SF on the coast). Sadly a Leaf wouldn't work for me since I drive 23K miles a year...

 

[devbolt]

My estimation is that my PG&E bill will be going up by about $65 a month on average. Last year I had around $240 in unusable credits with PG&E that I'll now be able to use up because I can use them for charging the Bolt.

 

[Sunny Kirkby]

Thanks for your energy details. It's helpful to see what others are experiencing. My 2016 Volt increased my energy bill by less than $50 so I've been pleased. I'm in NM. Also, I'm now running solar energy for my Volt using the SunPort plug. Here in NM our electricity is mostly generated from coal so I'm glad to be running my car on sunshine instead.

 

[Roth33d]

I found a couple calculators on Chevy's website which should give you some numbers close to what you'll actually get. Created a separate thread for it since that can be a topic on its own. See the calculators here: http://www.chevybolt.org/forum/90-2017-chevy-bolt-ev-range-mpge-discussion/5258-calculate-your-bolt-s-range-here.html

 

[Michael1]

devbolt: Clearly untrue, that when you add an EV your rates go up, once you have an EV move to time of day EV billing watch your usage, charge the vehicle in off peak hours and watch your electric bill crumble, mine dropped over $100 per month here in California, with very little life style changes (charged at night instead of any time).

Wow! An EV that puts energy back into the grid.:laugh:


I recently had SoCal Edison do an electric plan analysis. Time of Use Plan A increased my cost slightly. TOU Plan B dropped it by $20 per month.


I calculated that a Bolt EV would add $60 per month on Plan B, with a net of $40 per month at current rates. Rates continue to go up, and so will the EV charging costs.

 

[V7i7c]

In terms of electricity rates, what's in the future for those who live in sunbelt places like California where both substantial new solar electricity production and EV car recharging demands are occurring is a gradual but major change in peak hour demand and supply curves for electricity.

This will result in shifting the peak demand vs. supply curve in such a way that regulators will adjust pricing so that lower cost electricity will gradually be available during sunny daytimes while evening and nighttime off peak rates will probably go up some. The biggest problem with integrating solar into the grid is the lack of solid scaled-up and cost-effective storage options. That also will change as technology improves... and used EV batteries become available for storage.

 

[Michael1]

and used EV batteries become available for storage.

I can't see this happening in any significant quantities.

 

[V7i7c]

Already starting to happen...

I can't see this happening in any significant quantities.

We will have to see how things develop over time. I have read about a handful of demonstration projects already funded and under development here in California and elsewhere, but scaling up demos is always tricky.

There will be thousands of lithium ion batteries that lose their functionality as energy sources for vehicles in pure EV's and plug in hybrids (below 75% energy storage capacity?), but still have much useable storage capacity and life remaining for other applications. This seems to me to be a ready made market opportunity.

 

[DucRider]

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/05/15/nissan-recycles-ev-batteries-home-energy-storage/

 

[Dayle Frame]

Average Mileage: 3.0 miles/kWh
Electricity Cost: $0.10/kWh
Monthly Usage: 1500 miles

(1500/3)*0.10 = $50

That means my electric bill would go up by about $50 a month....but that a bunch less than the $125 a month my fuel bill was for my Accord. Those numbers are based on $2.50 a gallon.....of course, fuel WILL go up at some point and the savings will get larger as it does so.

Dayle