2013 Mitsubishi i-MiEV

Boasting several more MPGe (electric equivalent of miles per gallon of gasoline) than the other two, the i-MiEV gets 112 combined, 126 city and 99 highway MPGe. Plus, it’s what cute-car-conscious people would call “adorable.” Known for looking cartoonish if not egg-shaped, the i-MiEV is for the environmentally friendly and the 2013 model doesn’t disappoint. It has an electric range of 62 miles and takes seven hours same as the LEAF to charge at 240 volts. Pricing for the 2013 model is not yet available, though whatever the cost is you’ll make up for it by frequenting the fuel pump less often. The EPA estimates that the annual fuel cost of driving a 2013 i-MiEV is $550 (based on 15,000 miles annual driving and an electricity cost of $0.12/kWh). The 2012 MSRP base price was $29,125, and that’s before any incentives.

2013 Nissan LEAF S

Announced in mid January and expected to join Nissan dealers and show rooms in February, the Nissan LEAF was recently unveiled as an updated car with an updated price. The company slashed the price of the LEAF S by $6,000, bringing its MSRP down to $28,800. The cut awards the LEAF the highly-sought-after title of least expensive five-passenger electric car sold in the U.S. Price changes were made after the car’s production process was moved to Smyrna, Tenn. from Japan, and also because of popular demand. While consumers are anxious to utilize the green technology, not all were willing to pay the high sticker price of the past years’ models. Not only is the 2013 model cheaper than previous models, but after federal and state tax incentives, some consumers may be calling the new LEAF theirs for only $18,800, according to NissanNews.com.

Because of aerodynamics improvements, the new LEAF should have improved driving range, but the official EPA numbers aren’t available yet. The 2012 LEAF S had a 73-mile driving range and fully recharged in seven hours at 240 volts.

2013 Nissan LEAF

2013 Ford Focus Electric

Compared to the other two, the Ford Focus Electric takes the cake in range and charging time, traveling 76 miles on an electric charge and taking only four hours to go from empty to full at 240 volts. This Aston Martin Cygnet look-alike proves Ford isn’t giving up on its feat to join and conquer the electric car world. The Focus Electric gets 105 combined MPGe (110 city, 99 highway), according to the EPA. The government agency also estimates that it costs 96 cents to drive 25 miles in a Focus Electric. It looks the least like an electric car of the bunch mainly because Ford took an existing car, the Focus hatchback compact car, and turned it into an electric one. It’s built on the same assembly line as the gasoline powered Focus in Wayne, Mich., which allows the automakers the option of increasing and decreasing its production on demand, according to Hybridcars.com. Starting price rings in at $39,200, but that’s before applying potential government and state tax credits.

Xatori’s PlugShare map indicates that charging stations are well-distributed throughout the SF Bay area, covering the region’s areas of San Francisco, the East Bay, and San Jose areas, with even more in the eastern suburbs stretching to Sacramento. Xatori recently announced over 11,000 charging stations are available across North America, up from 500 stations when PlugShare first launched last year.

Plugshare’s map coverage is active for all of US and Canada. You can filter for public/private charge locations, access, and the charger outlet suitable for your EV – wall outlet, J1772 plug, NEMA14, Tesla, and Quick charge.

The strength of the PlugShare EV Driver Community is evident with the number of owner charge locations easily dominating over those of dealership and retailer locations.

What You Can Do

• Take the Plugshare mobile app with you, add your user feedback and pictures for the stations you use
• Add your own EV charging location to the network and share your outlet with others to help them get to where they need to be!
• Champion EVs and help others overcome range anxiety, it’s possible with your support!

Woody warned readers to “expect more parking lot rage as drivers vie for the few available public electric vehicle charging spots.”  Many public electric car charging stations are free, so that adds to the appeal of using public EV chargers.

Ford responded with a colorful chart of etiquette tips (see below).  What would you add or remove to the suggestions below?

Sounds counter intuitive, I know. Let me explain.

Most people have no clue how to read their electricity bill.  I surely had no idea, nor did I really care.  That, of course, all changed after I purchased my first plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) in March of this year.

When I first decided to purchase my PEV, it did not cross my mind how my electricity bill was going to be impacted.  The car salesman even pitched a very neat feature on the car where you could specify what time of day the car charges.  I politely smiled and said “cool”, but had no idea what was so “cool” about it.

Within a week of purchasing my electric car, I soon realized how my new “major appliance” was going to start drawing a massive amount of electricity on a regular basis.  It was a sobering moment.  I started worrying about how much my monthly electricity bill was going to cost for both my home electricity and new electric car charging needs.  It was time to take a closer look at my electricity bill.

As I dug deeper into my past monthly utility bills (I looked back over 2 years worth of bills!), I found out that I was frequently going over my electricity baseline, the amount of electricity specified in kilowatt hours (kWh), that each customer in a given service area is allocated for a monthly billing cycle.  Then I learned that the rate that I pay for any usage over my baseline increases exponentially in a tiered pricing system as I consume more and more electricity.

It is not too different from your cell phone bill, where you are charged a premium rate if you go over your “included” plan minutes in a given month.  But with electricity plans, you get penalized more severely the more you go over your “included” monthly kWh.  Sticking with the cell phone plan analogy, instead of paying a flat cost per minute fee, like $0.40 per minute for any overages, imagine paying more like $0.45 per minute for going 30% over, $0.92 per minute for going anywhere from 30% to 100% over, and $1.05 per minute for anything above 100%.  To get a better idea of how this applies to electricity rates, you can take a look at the different cost tiers for PG&E’s electric rates and a explanation of how to understand your PG&E electric charges.

Doing a few back of the envelope calculations based on my projected amount of daily driving, I figured out that I was going to double my electricity usage!  But the question still remained “How much more would my electricity bill increase?” (especially given the exponentially tiered rates for overages)  That is when I started getting a serious bout of buyer’s remorse, wondering why I did not do more homework beforehand.  Then, I remembered that “cool” little feature the salesman had mentioned before I purchased the car, and decided to look into what was so cool about it.

I called my local utility company, PG&E, and learned I was currently on the E-1 residential rate plan (flat rate), but was eligible for a special time-of-use rate plan for electric vehicle owners that would allow me to pay different rates based on when I used electricity.  I was surprised to find out that I could even select from many different utility rate plans (once every 12 months).  With the new electric vehicle rate plan called the E-9 rate, I would be offered a significantly discounted cost per kWh for using electricity during “off-peak” hours, and a higher cost per kWh during “peak” hours when compared to the E-1 rate plan.  There was also something called “mid-peak” time which was a slightly discounted price from the standard E-1 rates, but not nearly as cheap as “off-peak” rates.  Below is a $/kWh cost comparison between the E-1 and E-9 rate plan for the first cost tier (i.e. – up to my baseline usage).

The E-9 plan sounded great, however, my biggest concern with the E-9 rate was I had no idea how much electricity I normally consumed during peak hours and if my monthly bill would end up costing more or less if I changed rate plans.  This was especially concerning given I have a toddler and stay at home parent who are usually home during peak hours.  That is what inspired the creation of the PEV calculator, which utilizes Green Button data, a downloadable file that details your actual energy consumption on an hourly basis. The PEV calculator takes that historical data and computes a projected cost of electricity for various rate plans.  After using the calculator, I found out that the E-9 rate was going to be the more cost effective plan and immediately changed my rate plan.

And I did not stop there (much to the chagrin of my wife, but she came around when she saw how much electricity we were wasting pre-PEV).  I wanted to minimize my home electricity consumption as much as possible, especially during peak hours.  So below is a list of a few simple things I did to try to conserve electricity:

• Used fewer light bulbs, but enough to light up a room.  For example, our bathroom was using eight 100-watt light bulbs. I unscrewed half of them and could barely tell the difference in room brightness, but saved 400 watts per use
• Opened up windows and blinds to use more natural sunlight throughout the day instead of turning on lights
• Unplugged all unused appliances, like small appliances with digital clocks
• Attached a power strip to rarely used appliances, like the TV and printer to be turned on only when needed
• Hand washed dishes whenever possible
• Used time delays on the washing machine and dishwasher to consume electricity during off-peak hours

The results of these energy conservation efforts were surprising.  I reduced my average daily kWh usage by 20% when compared to the previous year (see table below), and also reduced my electricity cost per kWh to an average of $0.08 per kWh compared to the $0.13 per kWh I paid before.  What amazed me the most was my electricity consumption now included both my electric vehicle charging and home electricity needs, and I was using less electricity compared to the same time frame the year before.  Essentially, all of that previously wasted electricity was now being put into my electric car for my personal auto fuel needs.  (Oh, and did I mention that I haven’t filled up my PEV with gas since I purchased it almost 5 months ago?)

Probably the funniest thing that has come out of this whole experience is that I never thought I would look forward to receiving a monthly bill, but for the first time ever, I actually look forward to getting my utility bill to find out how much electricity and money I save each month… all thanks to my new electric vehicle!  Although, I’m not sure my wife is as thankful as I am given that we sit in the dark every night until after 9:00 pm (off-peak hours).  But I’ll leave that topic for another post…

Most PEV manufacturers only advertise the cost to charge a PEV based on a nationwide dollar per kilowatt average, usually around $0.12 per kWh. However, this perspective is misleading because this rate can be vastly higher based on a driver’s current electricity usage. Since most consumers already use most of their baseline electricity allocation for their home electricity needs, adding additional electricity needs for charging a PEV will certainly bump them into a higher cost tier for using that additional electricity.

The PEV calculator quantifies the overall financial and environmental impacts of driving a PEV by analyzing a consumer’s historical electricity usage (extracted from Green Button data), together with his estimated daily mileage driven, the gas efficiency of his current car, the specifications of the selected PEV, and the available electricity rate plans from his local utility company.

By utilizing the most recent 12-months of Green Button data, the calculator projects the electricity usage and costs for different rate plans offered while accounting for the additional electricity needs to charge a PEV. The calculator factors in the customer’s allocated baseline each month, current utility tariffs, the selected PEV manufacturer’s specifications, and assumptions for PEV charging patterns.

Try the new Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) Calculator to find out how much electricity will cost to charge your car and how much money you’ll save on gas!

Screenshot of PEV calculator results