[Paul92203]

Hello,


Showed my new 2018 Honda Clarity to a friend. He liked and had a few question, with one I could not answer. How much would my home power bill increase?
I've only had the car since February, so I'm not sure. I plug in at home and usually charge for about 8 hours. As of now, I'm saving close to $80 dollars in gas per month. wondering how much of that would be needed to pay for the extra power to charge battery everyday.
I have IID here in California, which is cheaper then Edison and pay $0.1169 KWH.
anyone track power usage from before and after purchasing a Honda Clarity?


thank you

 

[dwheat17]

$6 a day for me in SoCal

I figured I drive for the full EV range 6 times a week on average. The price of gas I used is $3.75. I charge my car at night for 12 cents a KWh. I used my old car at 27mph to factor in my gas mileage if I didn't have the Clarity. I figured I saved $6/day (KW vs Gas) when I drove the full ev range or about $1800/year.

My Electric usage doubled, but my bill did not because my usage was mostly at night. I have a level 2 charger so I can charge in 2hr 5 min. Before my clairty the usage was really low at $63 per month. My bill after my car the first month doubled to about $125. However, after that I changed to SCE Time of Use plan allowing me the 12 cents per KWh at night and my bill went to $93.

As you can see there are a log of factors. I hope you can deduce the answer to your question out of all of this.

 

[Groves Cooke]

I have owned my Clarity since Sept 1 and have 8000 miles on it. I have used a level two charger for the past three months. I have a detached garage that was built years after the main house and it has it's own meter. Therefore my electric usage is easy to figure. My bill has gone up about $30 per month. My electric rate is $.083 per kwh.

 

[The Gadgeteer]

Your electric rate is .1169
If you charge from 0 EV range to a full charge it is about 14KW
A full charge cost you $0.1169 x 14 = $1.63

If you get 40 miles on average out of a charge then each mile costs 1.63/40=0.04075

Just multiply 0.04075 by the number of EV miles a month you drive to get your monthly electric cost.

So if you drive 500 Electric miles a month and the rest gas then the amount your electric bill was impacted is 500 x 0.04075=$20.375 which rounds to $20.38.

your Clarity is a money saver even when using gas because you are still doing better mpg than most vehicles on the road today.

Since the electric range on average is roughly how far the Clarity will run on a gallon of gas then the choice of which is cheaper is easy. As long as a gallon of gas is more than a full charge cost of $1.63 then electric is cheaper.

For my case electric is almost .17 so savings is barely there with NJ cheap gas but I hope to have solar power in the near future.

 

[4sallypat]

I figured I drive for the full EV range 6 times a week on average. The price of gas I used is $3.75. I charge my car at night for 12 cents a KWh. I used my old car at 27mph to factor in my gas mileage if I didn't have the Clarity. I figured I saved $6/day (KW vs Gas) when I drove the full ev range or about $1800/year.

My Electric usage doubled, but my bill did not because my usage was mostly at night. I have a level 2 charger so I can charge in 2hr 5 min. Before my clairty the usage was really low at $63 per month. My bill after my car the first month doubled to about $125. However, after that I changed to SCE Time of Use plan allowing me the 12 cents per KWh at night and my bill went to $93.

As you can see there are a log of factors. I hope you can deduce the answer to your question out of all of this.

This is very useful @dwheat17 !

I too feel I have saved on fuel costs per month from my ICE: $200 to my Clarity: zero $.

In the same SCE territory, can you tell me if the SCE TOU can be applied to the whole house instead of a separate meter ?

I run only 120V Level 1 charging and my bill only went up $25 the past 2 months...

 

[dwheat17]

This is very useful @dwheat17 !

I too feel I have saved on fuel costs per month from my ICE: $200 to my Clarity: zero $.

In the same SCE territory, can you tell me if the SCE TOU can be applied to the whole house instead of a separate meter ?

I run only 120V Level 1 charging and my bill only went up $25 the past 2 months...

I believe you can no longer get SCE TOU-D-A rates. I am grandfathered in for 5 years. I believe you need to go to TOU-PRIME and then it is not as advantageous for solar, but just as advantageous for charging a car a night.

 

[Paul92203]

Thank you everyone for your reply's. I'll keep an eye out on the increase in usage.


I have ordered a Level 2 charger ( Jekayka ) and will have the 240 electrical plug installed in a few weeks


Would I be saving even more money charging in 3 hours or less with a Level 2 - 32amp NEMA 14-50 7.68KW


then the Level 1 charger that came with the car? not sure of lower rates in the middle of the night.


I'm sure more questions to come.


Happy Honda Clarity owner

 

[4sallypat]

Using a L2 charger will cut down on charge time, thus power draw due to better efficiency of charger, thus reducing the total wattage drawn from the grid.

So yes, money will be saved using a L2 charger but the cost of the L2 charger and 240V installation to pay for itself will take many years....

 

[dwheat17]

Using a L2 charger will cut down on charge time, thus power draw due to better efficiency of charger, thus reducing the total wattage drawn from the grid.

So yes, money will be saved using a L2 charger but the cost of the L2 charger and 240V installation to pay for itself will take many years....

I didn't even know that it would save money. I had too many 14 hour charges where I got in my car the next morning with not even close to a full charge. Since I drive 50+ miles most days it was a no-brainer.

 

[4sallypat]

240V is more efficient as it delivers more wattage per hour and the conversion is not lost in terms of heat. Triple phase is even more....

Have you seen a single phase 240V A/C unit compared to a 120V ? The 240 will cool the room quicker and use less watts compared to the inefficient 120V.

120V is less efficient but since all of North America, Japan and a few other countries still use it well it's become a household standard.

No wonder the rest of the world uses 240V standard.....

 

[Kerbe]

You pay for gas by the gallon and the cost is determined by how much gas you pump into the Clarity's 7 gallon fuel tank. You pay for electricity by the kW and the Clarity PHEV has a 17kW battery pack - so charging from empty to full (taking into account the inefficiencies of current passing through cables) would cost about $2.00 at your kW rate.

Honda doesn't seem to provide a way of tracking the Clarity's kW use so I suppose you'd need to estimate based on the Battery Charge Level Guide on the left side of the instrument panel: Full=17kW; 3/4 = 12.75kw; 1/2=8.5kW; 1/4=4.25kW - again, these are estimates.

Honda says that it takes about 12.5 hours to charge a Clarity using the supplied Level I cable: That would suggest that the Clarity charges (using the Level 1 cable) at a rate of about 1.36kW/hour. If the Clarity is actively charging (not just being plugged in) for 8 hours it would be receiving about 10.9kW of electricity. Again, I'm just estimating - these aren't mathematical certainties based on the constants of electrical physics: These are just ballpark figures...

If you want greater accuracy there are Level 2 EVSE's that track kW use and there are probably meters and suchlike that can be attached to the Clarity's diagnostic port to derive the same information.

 

[Walt10410]

Daily Electric Cost

My electric cost is $0.10 KWH here in Texas and I charge for free at work. I charge 5 days a week some on weekends. Costs per day from 0 to full on level 2 is $1.75 daily/charge day. We have smart metering so I can look every 15 minutes, if I wanted to. I drive 108 miles a work day and on most spring days it is 100% electric or 10% with ICE. Winter time was 20% ICE. Cold is relative here and I get cold below 70F. Thinking about solar power install later this year. good luck.

My level 2 is 16amp with 30amp gfci breaker so next charger will be 26 amp to shorter charging time.

 

[The Gadgeteer]

The Clarity has a 17 kW battery but for longevity leaves about 3 kW unused when it reads empty. So effectively it is a 14KW battery for charge costs calculations.

 

[lefty]

The cost here in Iowa is .08 Kwh and with ave charge time 10-11 hours, I figure it costs about $.80-.90 cents per charge, and my electric bill has reflected that change, adding $25-30 per month. Subtracting the increased costs on my electric bills from the estimated amount of $$ I will save on gas (figuring a normal sedan at 30 mpg), before I bought the Clarity I figured to save about $700-$900 per year. That was figuring $3/gallon, but with the price of gas so low I'll save a little less than expected, but still a good deal which effectively lowers the price of the car over the 8 years of the battery guarantee. And over 50% of our private utility company electricity comes from wind, so even much of the electricity is generated by renewable energy.

 

[DucRider]

...which effectively lowers the price of the car over the 8 years of the battery guarantee.

I've always found it a bit curious that people assume the life of the battery to be only the length of the warranty, but don't apply the same logic to the engine/transmission of an ICE vehicle (5yrs/50K in an Accord for example).

 

[Gunslingerheel]

240V is more efficient as it delivers more wattage per hour and the conversion is not lost in terms of heat. Triple phase is even more....

Have you seen a single phase 240V A/C unit compared to a 120V ? The 240 will cool the room quicker and use less watts compared to the inefficient 120V.

120V is less efficient but since all of North America, Japan and a few other countries still use it well it's become a household standard.

No wonder the rest of the world uses 240V standard.....

Many years ago I worked at a machine shop. Most of the machines, and there were a lot, were 3 phase. They ran all the time and I asked the boss one day about how much the electric bill was and it was so cheap I didn't believe him until he showed me the bill.

 

[Snowbird]

My electric bill went up 63% over the same time last year in July/19 but It was also HOT so more A/C was used in the home
but it was even up over last year in April before I bought the car so>??

 

[4sallypat]

Install a separate meter for your car charger - usually your local utility can assist with the installation costs and to help lower your bills when you sign up for a time of use (TOU) plan.

 

[hamr4267]

Hello,


Showed my new 2018 Honda Clarity to a friend. He liked and had a few question, with one I could not answer. How much would my home power bill increase?
I've only had the car since February, so I'm not sure. I plug in at home and usually charge for about 8 hours. As of now, I'm saving close to $80 dollars in gas per month. wondering how much of that would be needed to pay for the extra power to charge battery everyday.
I have IID here in California, which is cheaper then Edison and pay $0.1169 KWH.
anyone track power usage from before and after purchasing a Honda Clarity?


thank you[/QUOTE
Im in the Imperial Valley, are you around here? I just bought my clarity on August 28th

 

[obermd]

Not a Clarity, but in the first year of Volt ownership, I saved $1,000 in fueling costs (this includes added electric bill) over a 42+ MPG combined ICE car.