[MPG+]

Hi everyone,
Have had my Clarity for 2.5 months, 2800 miles and am very satisfied with the car. Purchased a meter to measure and track my charging kWh because our December electric bill took quite a jump, as did our January bill, just in. I'm wondering what is the best way of calculating the car charging portion of the electric bill. In CT here, our bill is split into two parts, Supplier (we can choose from several) and delivery (local utility). Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
James

 

[Kerbe]

Hi everyone,
Have had my Clarity for 2.5 months, 2800 miles and am very satisfied with the car. Purchased a meter to measure and track my charging kWh because our December electric bill took quite a jump, as did our January bill, just in. I'm wondering what is the best way of calculating the car charging portion of the electric bill. In CT here, our bill is split into two parts, Supplier (we can choose from several) and delivery (local utility). Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
James

There are any number of WiFi-enabled Level 2 EVSE's that keep track of the kWh used for charging a car. Alternately you could use a power meter like this: https://www.amazon.com/KETOTEK-Digital-Multimeter-Current-Voltmeter/dp/B0734SZVWL

 

[GomerF]

How does that power meter connect?

There are any number of WiFi-enabled Level 2 EVSE's that keep track of the kWh used for charging a car. Alternately you could use a power meter like this: https://www.amazon.com/KETOTEK-Digital-Multimeter-Current-Voltmeter/dp/B0734SZVWL

Kerbe, the photos aren't clear about how to hook up this Ketotek meter. It looks like you have to put only one lead of a cable through the coil. That means cutting into the cord to separate the leads? I don't want to have to cut into the 12-2 to expose the black wire. Well, it just occurred to me that I could put the coil in the breaker box on one of the breaker wires. Sorry for the confusion. How am I misunderstanding this? Thanks

 

[WowSuchEmpty]

The car charging is entirely marginal use (you would not disconnect your electricity if you didn't charge your car) do any baseline fees are unchanged. You do pay both delivery and generation on every incremental KWh, so figure out the charger usage (clamp meter, inline plug meter) and just compare with and without the extra load

 

[wpc]

Hi everyone,
Have had my Clarity for 2.5 months, 2800 miles and am very satisfied with the car. Purchased a meter to measure and track my charging kWh because our December electric bill took quite a jump, as did our January bill, just in. I'm wondering what is the best way of calculating the car charging portion of the electric bill. In CT here, our bill is split into two parts, Supplier (we can choose from several) and delivery (local utility). Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
James

i think when we did the math this really depends on your electricity cost as well as gasoline cost. For me at 0.24/kw Gas is cheaper till it hits $3 then I'm break even.

 

[60Hertz]

If you don't want to buy and install a meter, figure about 13kWh for a full charge from empty to full. For charging from a partial state, estimate based on fraction of charge needed (based on the dash meter) * 13kWh. That will get you in the ballpark.

 

[ClarityDave]

i think when we did the math this really depends on your electricity cost as well as gasoline cost. For me at 0.24/kw Gas is cheaper till it hits $3 then I'm break even.

This is where it makes a big difference where you live in the country because the cost of electricity and the cost of gasoline vary widely. Where I am with time-of-day pricing, I end up paying around $0.08/kWh or less so the breakeven point for gasoline is around a dollar a gallon.

 

[Trolle]

The electric bill will fluctuate quite a bit depending on the delivery and supply cost as mentioned.

As an example during most of the summer I was enjoying 0.02 cents supply charge with 0.03 delivery.

When winter hit it gradually increased and is now closer to 0.08 cents combined.

Some power companies have what's called day/night service or on demand off demand service where the night electric cost drops of substantially.

I almost never charge the car during the day time for this reason and agree with ClarityDave the gas would have to be between 0.85 cents to a Dollar per gallon for me to break even.