Economics of battery recharging: overnight a no-brainer!
G'day Andrew - welcome to the thread, and thanks for the kind words. EV recharging is a funny thing. Simple maths - and lots of variables.
The simple sum: About $4.50 for a full charge to do approx 100km at the 18 ish cents per kWh off peak.
For a complication: in my case, I have a 10c off peak rate (and 35c peak rate, 22c shoulder rate) as I have the old Vic 66c premium feed-in tariff for my PV cells. So when I charge an EV at home, it's free as I get all bills paid plus a $500-ish as a cheque every 12 months!!!!!!!!! Just reduces my $500 bonus a bit. (by the way, its just a little 1.4kW system - only wish I could have squeezed more onto my difficult space. 1.4kW was all I could design to fit).
As an added complication - emissions are an interesting one: on brown coal only (or compressed peat as I prefer to call it) - you've shifted the emissions, but not done anything to reduce them. On hydro, wind etc - whoopee, you're zero emission! Black coal - better than fossil fuel and gas in your car: but not zero emission by any means.
Another complication - charging at a premium peak tarff could be painful (but avoidable - unlike air conditioner users). i.e. unlike air conditioners, EV's can be charged when it suits you - so as you've worked out: it's a no brainer to charge off-peak, and pay the little extra for non-carbon emitting sources.
NB: Just doing an article on related matters (EV electricity emissions) for the ATA mag ReNew - so will do an update on exact figures when I finish that.
Re wear and tear on batteries: most Li polymer batteries have a guarantee of 2000 - 3000 full charges, so at 2 or 3 charges a week - that more than 10yrs life. The EV at CERES is 4yrs old now and heavily used: I have found no degradation in the capacity of its Li cells at all yet.
Cheers & your in EV'ing
Bryce
G'day Andrew - welcome to the thread, and thanks for the kind words. EV recharging is a funny thing. Simple maths - and lots of variables.
The simple sum: About $4.50 for a full charge to do approx 100km at the 18 ish cents per kWh off peak.
For a complication: in my case, I have a 10c off peak rate (and 35c peak rate, 22c shoulder rate) as I have the old Vic 66c premium feed-in tariff for my PV cells. So when I charge an EV at home, it's free as I get all bills paid plus a $500-ish as a cheque every 12 months!!!!!!!!! Just reduces my $500 bonus a bit. (by the way, its just a little 1.4kW system - only wish I could have squeezed more onto my difficult space. 1.4kW was all I could design to fit).
As an added complication - emissions are an interesting one: on brown coal only (or compressed peat as I prefer to call it) - you've shifted the emissions, but not done anything to reduce them. On hydro, wind etc - whoopee, you're zero emission! Black coal - better than fossil fuel and gas in your car: but not zero emission by any means.
Another complication - charging at a premium peak tarff could be painful (but avoidable - unlike air conditioner users). i.e. unlike air conditioners, EV's can be charged when it suits you - so as you've worked out: it's a no brainer to charge off-peak, and pay the little extra for non-carbon emitting sources.
NB: Just doing an article on related matters (EV electricity emissions) for the ATA mag ReNew - so will do an update on exact figures when I finish that.
Re wear and tear on batteries: most Li polymer batteries have a guarantee of 2000 - 3000 full charges, so at 2 or 3 charges a week - that more than 10yrs life. The EV at CERES is 4yrs old now and heavily used: I have found no degradation in the capacity of its Li cells at all yet.
Cheers & your in EV'ing
Bryce