Cost to fill up your Lightning?

[LightningDoug]

I have it GREAT for home charging here in Texas because we put in a big 15 kW ground mounted solar array 10 yrs ago to fully power our all electric home which paid for itself two years ago. When buying my 2022 Lightning I added another 7 kW to our array DIY for cheap so that we produce enough solar energy to fully power both the house & EV.

For the next two years our power “costs” ~$0.01/kW until the solar expansion pays for itself too, then we’ll go back to “free electricity”

The EA superchargers charge $0.55/kW, Tesla charges $0.41/kW but I use them only for road trips. 99% of my driving is from home charging WITHOUT a power bill. I tend to say I “charge my EV for free”… which drives the weird EV haters nutz.

Man, I've got it good down here is Georgia. Georgia Power lets you charge between 11pm and 7am for a rate of 2.1 cents per kWh if you are signed up for the "overnight advantage" plan. So basically I can fill up my truck for $2.75 (131 kWh X 2.1 cents equals 275 pennies). Of course that doesn't include the taxes/fees/minimum charge etc. But still, $2.75 to fill a pickup truck so you can drive it 300miles. Crazy cheap. Here is the link for those of you that are local:
https://www.georgiapower.com/reside...-plans/pricing-and-rate-plans/plug-in-ev.html

Hell, even if I charge it during "regular" pricing which is 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 11 p.m year round I'm only paying 9.8 cents. That mean I can fill up for $12.84.

Just don't charge during on-peak, which is 2pm to 7pm June through Sept. Filling it up would during that timeframe cost 28.6 cents per kW, or $37.47.

Ask any ICE F-150 owner the last time they filled up there truck for less than $40 and they will probably tell you it was the '90's and you have to be talking to somebody older than 40.

When I was in high school in the early 90's the gas station across the street would occasionally run gas at 79 cents a gallon. My VW Bug had a ten and a half gallon tank, which means I could fill it up for $8.30.

Now fast forward 30 years... and I can fill up a truck that can drive itself down the highway, has 580 HP (as compared to the Bug's 40 HP), has A/C, a touch screen almost as big as the TV that was in my parents living room back in the 90's (We had a 19") attached to the dash, all for 1/3 of the cost! That's not even adjusted for inflation! Crazy progress! And yet, people don't want to switch from ICE...I don't understand.

Still, what is everybody else experiencing as far as cost to fill your Lightning? I visited Kirkwood CA and my buddy told me that power out there was running something crazy like 80 cents a kWh. If that was the case, I could see a $105 bill to fill a Lightning, which is about even with ICE. Am I just super blessed to be in Georgia where the power is cheap?

GREAT

Man, I've got it good down here is Georgia. Georgia Power lets you charge between 11pm and 7am for a rate of 2.1 cents per kWh if you are signed up for the "overnight advantage" plan. So basically I can fill up my truck for $2.75 (131 kWh X 2.1 cents equals 275 pennies). Of course that doesn't include the taxes/fees/minimum charge etc. But still, $2.75 to fill a pickup truck so you can drive it 300miles. Crazy cheap. Here is the link for those of you that are local:
https://www.georgiapower.com/reside...-plans/pricing-and-rate-plans/plug-in-ev.html

Hell, even if I charge it during "regular" pricing which is 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 11 p.m year round I'm only paying 9.8 cents. That mean I can fill up for $12.84.

Just don't charge during on-peak, which is 2pm to 7pm June through Sept. Filling it up would during that timeframe cost 28.6 cents per kW, or $37.47.

Ask any ICE F-150 owner the last time they filled up there truck for less than $40 and they will probably tell you it was the '90's and you have to be talking to somebody older than 40.

When I was in high school in the early 90's the gas station across the street would occasionally run gas at 79 cents a gallon. My VW Bug had a ten and a half gallon tank, which means I could fill it up for $8.30.

Now fast forward 30 years... and I can fill up a truck that can drive itself down the highway, has 580 HP (as compared to the Bug's 40 HP), has A/C, a touch screen almost as big as the TV that was in my parents living room back in the 90's (We had a 19") attached to the dash, all for 1/3 of the cost! That's not even adjusted for inflation! Crazy progress! And yet, people don't want to switch from ICE...I don't understand.

Still, what is everybody else experiencing as far as cost to fill your Lightning? I visited Kirkwood CA and my buddy told me that power out there was running something crazy like 80 cents a kWh. If that was the case, I could see a $105 bill to fill a Lightning, which is about even with ICE. Am I just super blessed to be in Georgia where the power is cheap?

Sponsored

 

[SBENKO]

Solar Panels

We have a 10Kw solar panel system which cost $20,000, including the 30% federal tax credit. It produces slightly over 1 MwH a month, which is enough to power our house and charge our 2023 Lightning Lariat extended-range truck, which we drive about 12,000 miles per year.

We pay a $700 a year electricity grid connection fee, plus about $300 extra in the winter when there is less sunlight.

If we prorate the $20,000 for 20 years ($1,000 a year) and add the connection and overage fees (another $1,000 a year) then that comes to $2,000 a year to run the house and charge the truck...Not Bad, don't you agree?

 

[scoobybri]

Totally disagree with you. For every kw i send to the grid, that is a kw that is being used by someone else and not drawn from the power company. In other words, they are using my solar to power their house (mostly my neighbors.) Let's put it this way...Let's say during the day when I'm producing solar, I theoretically use 20kw from solar and I send 70 kw to the grid, my utility credits my account for 50kw. In other words, I bank 50 kw into my account that nets me 50kw from the grid for free, no cost when im not producing enough from solar. If that evening when I'm producing zero solar but use 50kw, that 24 hours nets me a $0 electric bill for the day.

Since over the course of a year, I send about 2500 more kw to the grid than I use from the grid, I end each year with another 2500kw in the "bank" of my utility. At the moment, I have over 5000kw on my account so I could turn off my solar system off tomorrow and until I use 5000+kw from the grid, I won't pay a dime for electricity. Since my solar system was installed 18 months ago, I have not paid anything to my power company for electricity. And this will continue indefinitely because they always receive more power from me than I consume from them over the course of a year.

Like I said in the original post, if I were paying for electricity, it would take about 7 years of electric bills at the current rate to match what I paid for my solar system, which I paid cash for After that, it is truly free power. But even with that said, my current power bills are $0 a month, even during winter months when solar doesn't cover my usage. 9 months out of the year, I am banking excess kw with the power company, more than I use during the other 3 months. Although my power company doesn't pay me retail rates for what I send to the grid, as long as I continue to send more power to the grid than I use, I will never pay for power from the grid. Feels like free to me...

 

[scoobybri]

I have a small electric coop that serves a very rural area. It is not for profit. Yes, it is a true 1 for 1 kw exchange. It is very different from most other utilities.

 

[Zprime29]

My utility is also 100% 1 for 1, I pay the same $24 standard connection fee for 9 months of the year. Only in the late summer do I run out of credits and start getting billed. I wish I had over sized mine, they allow up to 110% sizing when installing. I installed mine prior to getting the Lightning and only did about 90% at that point. Now I'm closer to 75% of yearly usage. Still nice to have, 4 more years and it will have paid for itself.

 

[mnastasiuk_flash]

San Diego rate is .409 under 350kw and .509 over 350kw. I get free charging at work so I utilize this as much as possible. Otherwise it would be close to, if not more expensive than gas at the current rates.

What grinds my gears is the rate from chargepoint at the park is 5 cents cheaper than my home rate. Tesla rates are also much cheaper if you charge early morning.

Sponsored