I DC Fast charged for the first time today

[alarmguy]

Wow!
I gassed up our trusty Tundra the other day at Costco; prices shot up again to $4.29 for 87*. I think I paid $3.79 or $3.89 last time...

Of course I pay next to nothing (maybe $10 per month last year after annual true up) to run the house and Tesla on electricity thanks to 330+ days of sunshine...

Yes, you have a good deal for those whacked out utility costs over there. You also got in at a good time with the reimbursement rate before CA took it away.
Kind of sad for the disadvantaged there though, those who can least afford the electric cost also can not afford panels or even live in a place where they could install them. Those rates really are regressive at over 30 cents kWh.

We are lucky in much of the Carolinas. Many of us have non profit electric co-ops. I have since we moved here from NY 18 years ago.
If we were to get panels our electric co-op pays us full retail for the electric we sell back. 10 cents a kWh.

But the thing is, we can afford the luxury of not having panels and associated costs because @ 10 cent kWh electric is dirt cheap. So no need for panels on my Pyramid Hip Roof which I actually like to look at *LOL* No increased insurance cost and having them would most likely decrease the value of the house here. I mean NO one has them except to my surprise recently one new home, owners just moved in, havent spoke to them, I wonder what state they are from , they will never make up the cost and to have that stuff all over the roof and side of the house. I dont know, you know? This is why I say we can afford to have the luxury of not having solar.

Plus the benefit of low taxes, low building costs, we have a truly 1 year old energy efficient home whose cost to run still mystifies me. Here in the land of the free, where we are free to do anything because costs are so low I bet we are more aggressive saving energy than the states that legislate it.

I love electronics and past posts of mine would love to have a small number of panels on one side of the roof that cant be seen from the street (or when I pull in my driveway) to supplement by heat pump which runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week. REPEAT, as a fun thing. I certainly will not save one penny in the next (hopefully) 20 years of my life time but I like electronics, still I would never make up the cost.

As far as vehicles, cost would be a dead heat for us. EV vs Gas. I am interested in an EV as a second car for convenience (no maintenance and I love electronics) but I think it would not save me anything since it is used infrequently plus the cost of insurance WILL be higher. Cheap to charge at 10 cents kWh though but we use little gas anyway so not a factor for us.

Ok, I did a lot of talking, here are my electric bills for the last year. I know you know how cheap as I posted the full bill many times.
But for others reading this thread, may not know. New home, windows never open every day of the year the system is running either in AC mode or Heat Pump mode.
We do have propane hot water, stove cook top and fireplace. Clothers Dryer is electric, oven is electric
This is our "retirement" home, 3 bedrooms plus office (could also be used as a BR) 1,800 sq ft. and these electric bills include EVERY DAY of the year the AC is running or the HEAT PUMP is running. We never open our windows.

BTW!!! I JUST ADDED THIS UP, MY ANNUAL ELECTRIC COST OF $1,368.36 IS WITHIN $100 OF MY PROPERTY TAXES FOR THE YEAR TOO! *LOL* Cant make this stuff up! ... and we live in a gated resort community with its own security force *LOL* Granted we have an HOA fee of $100 a month which is still cheap.

 

[JeffKeryk]

As @alarmguy teaches us, use case is everything.

 

[JeffKeryk]

And I gassed up the Rubicon the other day at the local Sunoco station and paid $2.99 for regular. CA wants you guys driving EVs a lot more than NY wants us driving them I guess.

The swings from week to week can be 50 cents or more.
It's no wonder EVs and hybrids sell like crazy here.

After we had the Tesla for a short time in early 2019, we were driving in town on a Sunday afternoon. At a stoplight there were like 3 other Teslas and 1 Civic (or something). Sue looked at me and deadpanned, "Look at all those poor people. They can't afford gas."

 

[ripcord]

The swings from week to week can be 50 cents or more.
It's no wonder EVs and hybrids sell like crazy here.

After we had the Tesla for a short time in early 2019, we were driving in town on a Sunday afternoon. At a stoplight there were like 3 other Teslas and 1 Civic (or something). Sue looked at me and deadpanned, "Look at all those poor people. They can't afford gas."

"But they have no gas!"
"Then let them drive Tesla's"

 

[Torrid]

The swings from week to week can be 50 cents or more.
It's no wonder EVs and hybrids sell like crazy here.

After we had the Tesla for a short time in early 2019, we were driving in town on a Sunday afternoon. At a stoplight there were like 3 other Teslas and 1 Civic (or something). Sue looked at me and deadpanned, "Look at all those poor people. They can't afford gas."

My wife likes to make these jokes too. i came into owning a Tesla a bit backwards. I was already an enthusiast of EVs even though I never thought of buying one for myself with my wife being the big push to want one. I know $2.99 for gas was brought up. It's still less than half the cost for electricity here to drive an EV than $2.99 on gas at 35mpg. Of course I'm a tuned hooligan so premium for $4.09 is my current cost.

I just don't see a scenario where gas is cheap enough to beat electricity without some crazy outlier power costs. Gas isn't that expensive here and power is crazy cheap in comparison even with the cost increases over the years. I think regular here is $3.59 right now. I just don't pay much attention to fuel costs for regular because everything I use needs ethanol free or premium, which is the same thing here for 91 octane unless you want 93 octane with 10% ethanol and that's even more expensive.

 

[demarpaint]

The swings from week to week can be 50 cents or more.
It's no wonder EVs and hybrids sell like crazy here.

After we had the Tesla for a short time in early 2019, we were driving in town on a Sunday afternoon. At a stoplight there were like 3 other Teslas and 1 Civic (or something). Sue looked at me and deadpanned, "Look at all those poor people. They can't afford gas."

One of many reasons why people and a lot of businesses are moving out of CA.

 

[andrew_j]

And I gassed up the Rubicon the other day at the local Sunoco station and paid $2.99 for regular. CA wants you guys driving EVs a lot more than NY wants us driving them I guess.

More fuel tax has been constant in CA. The upside for rest of us it has driven automakers to build more efficient vehicles (eg hybrid and ICE) as CA is the dominant market.

 

[demarpaint]

More fuel tax has been constant in CA. The upside for rest of us it has driven automakers to build more efficient vehicles (eg hybrid and ICE) as CA is the dominant market.

I think more efficient vehicles is forced upon the automaker by the Federal Gov't and their mandates. Some think they're good, some think they're bad, no comment on that from me today. In any event the higher fuel tax and prices people in CA pay for gas is driving a lot of them out of the state, along with a slew of other reasons that will likely result in getting this thread locked.

 

[andrew_j]

I think more efficient vehicles is forced upon the automaker by the Federal Gov't and their mandates. Some think they're good, some think they're bad, no comment on that from me today. In any event the higher fuel tax and prices people in CA pay for gas is driving a lot of them out of the state, along with a slew of other reasons that will likely result in getting this thread locked.

CA drives the automakers given largest market in US. They do not build CA specific models nor want to.

 

[demarpaint]

CA drives the automakers given largest market in US. They do not build CA specific models nor want to.

I didn't say anything about automakers building CA specific models. Federal mandates imposed on automakers impact all states, big or small. Unfortunately for people residing in CA, they also get slammed on gas prices, along with high property taxes.

 

[alarmguy]

CA drives the automakers given largest market in US. They do not build CA specific models nor want to.

Yes, but the federal government mandates EPA mileage and emission standards.
A prime reason why more vehicles, take GM for example of being forced to use smaller and smaller engines with turbo boosters. Shocked for the first time that I’m seeing three cylinder GM cars.
GM states without electric vehicles it will be impossible for them to meet federal EPA standards.

 

[andrew_j]

Yes, but the federal government mandates EPA mileage and emission standards.
A prime reason why more vehicles, take GM for example of being forced to use smaller and smaller engines with turbo boosters. Shocked for the first time that I’m seeing three cylinder GM cars.
GM states without electric vehicles it will be impossible for them to meet federal EPA standards.

I was incorrect on fuel economy however CA has stricter emissions rules which translate to improved fuel economy and the entire auto industry meeting CA requirements over EPA emissions in their designs.

No viable car maker creates separate CA vs rest of US cars especially since 13 other states follow CA lead.

 

[ripcord]

I was incorrect on fuel economy however CA has stricter emissions rules which translate to improved fuel economy and the entire auto industry meeting CA requirements over EPA emissions in their designs.

No viable car maker creates separate CA vs rest of US cars especially since 13 other states follow CA lead.

Ackchyually , fuel economy requirements hurt fuel economy, at least a bit. Automakers could tune vehicles to get better milage than they do, but it would be at the expense of higher NOX emissions.

 

[andrew_j]

Ackchyually , fuel economy requirements hurt fuel economy, at least a bit. Automakers could tune vehicles to get better milage than they do, but it would be at the expense of higher NOX emissions.

Hybrid tech emits nothing which is part of reason it was developed. Same is reason behind EV or PHEV, they emit nothing in terms of vehicle running.

 

[ripcord]

Oh, sorry. I was talking about the other 97% of cars on the road.