Charging Dilemma - Fast or Slow?

Klepper

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Here's my situation - I drive about 35 miles to work each day (70 miles roundtrip) using the Taycan. I have been charging up at home at night each day or every other day. It's very convenient to just have the car "full' every morning. My electricity plan doesn't have "nights and weekends" free or anything like that, so it is costing me to charge it at home.

On my way to work I do pass by an EA fast charger. It's right off the highway I take into work, so fairly convenient. It would require me to get on and off the highway though. My "Plug and Charge" works flawlessly at this station (and all others so far), so it would be pretty easy to just pop in and "fill up".

It's so convenient to charge at home, but I can't help thinking that I could charge up for "free" at the EA station.
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dflohr

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I only use EA when traveling. At my cost of KWh at home, its just not worth my time to sit at a local EA charger while receiving the free charge.
 

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You bought a 6 figure car... what's the charging at home going to cost you per year... a few hundred dollars?

If you value your time at $5/hr sure... charge on the road. If you value your time at that you also probably shouldn't have bought a taycan.
 
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Klepper

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You bought a 6 figure car... what's the charging at home going to cost you per year... a few hundred dollars?

If you value your time at $5/hr sure... charge on the road. If you value your time at that you also probably shouldn't have bought a taycan.

Hey, I like to save money where ever I can, and it has worked well for me my whole life. It's the reason I can afford a Taycan.

It's the same reason most on here are trying to get the timers and profiles to work so they charge during their "cheap" times at night. Should all those people not have bought a Taycan either?
 

ljump12

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Hey, I like to save money where ever I can, and it has worked well for me my whole life. It's the reason I can afford a Taycan.

It's the same reason most on here are trying to get the timers and profiles to work so they charge during their "cheap" times at night. Should all those people not have bought a Taycan either?
Perhaps I was a bit harsh, I just view time as the most valuable thing we have. If you derive enjoyment from saving money, then who am I to say don't do it. That being said, I view programming the Taycan to charge at a different time of night differently than sitting on the side of the road for a half hour every week.
 


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Klepper

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Perhaps I was a bit harsh, I just view time as the most valuable thing we have. If you derive enjoyment from saving money, then who am I to say don't do it. That being said, I view programming the Taycan to charge at a different time of night differently than sitting on the side of the road for a half hour every week.
Fair enough. Time is definitely the most valuable thing we have. I waste too much of it on this forum, lol. Hey, I could surf this forum while I am waiting for my car to charge on the side of the road. Hmmmnmm......
 

Reg

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i prefer to charge at at home and set my charger to a very low rate.

it may not make a difference but charging slower is better for the battery.
 

W1NGE

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i prefer to charge at at home and set my charger to a very low rate.

it may not make a difference but charging slower is better for the battery.
You have an 8 year battery warranty that is not dependent on charging speed - will you keep the car for 8 years, probs not, torque up the amps and go for it!
 
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XLR82XS

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Houston doesn't have a "time-of-use" reduced electricity rate? If not, how much is it costing you to charge the Taycan every month? For me it's ~$.33 per day not including free EA DC charging when road tripping.

Whatever I pay to charge at home - it's WAY less than buying gasoline/diesel especially with fuel prices on the rise.
 
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ljump12

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Fair enough. Time is definitely the most valuable thing we have. I waste too much of it on this forum, lol. Hey, I could surf this forum while I am waiting for my car to charge on the side of the road. Hmmmnmm......
You do make good points...
 
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Klepper

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Houston doesn't have a "time-of-use" reduced electricity rate? If not, how much is it costing you to charge the Taycan every month? For me it's ~$.33 per day not including free EA DC charging when road tripping.

Whatever I pay to charge at home - it's WAY less than buying gasoline/diesel especially with fuel prices on the rise.
Yes, Texas does have those "time of use" plans for sure, but I am just in a flat rate contract for the next ~11 months. I may look to change it up when my contract expires. However, you have to be careful with those as well, as sometimes the "nights and weekends" are cheap/free, but the regular hours are MUCH more expensive. I live in Houston and have a pool at my house, so the pool pump runs most of the day, and so does my A/C. The benefit of the cheap nights might be offset by the extra expense during the day.

My current contract has an energy use charge of $0.0846/kWh (energy+delivery charge), so that means it costs me $7.08 to completely fill my 83.7 kWh battery. Yes, much cheaper than gas/diesel!!

You do make good points...
Haha!
 
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submatrix

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I am a "cheapskate" and leased the RWD, but as a result I also don't care as much about battery degradation (as minimal as it may be) so even though I have a charger at home, I only use it as a backup or to fully top off before a road trip. Right now during COVID I'm pretty much exclusively charging at an EA station about 10 min away in order to get the free juice. I only have to do this maybe once every 3 weeks at the rate I'm currently driving. I use the opportunity to walk to a nearby market to do some quick shopping (remember, only 30 minutes free!).

Once I'm back in the office, I'll be charging exclusively at work, which is also free for me. At that point I'll only use EA chargers on road trips.
 
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Klepper

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So I just did some checking on "time of use" plans available to me right now.

My current contract has an energy use charge of $0.051/kWh plus a $0.0355 delivery charge for a total of $0.08455/kWh flat any time of day.

The cheapest "time of use" plan has $0.00/kWh for nights (8PM to 6AM) for the energy charge, but you still have to pay the $0.0355 delivery charge. So total at night would be $0.0355/kWh.

The rest of the time, you pay $0.138/kWh for the energy charge plus the $0.0355 delivery charge, for a total of $0.1735/kWh. Ouch!
 
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Klepper

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Texas has some weird plans. Check this Tiered plan out:

"Tier 1: Charge if you use at least 1 kWh: $90.00 per billing cycle
Tier 2: Additional Charge if you use at least 501 kWh: $0.00 per billing cycle
Tier 3: Additional Charge if you use at least 1001 kWh: $90.00 per billing cycle
Tier 4: Additional Charge if you use at least 1501 kWh: $0.00 per billing cycle
Additional Charge if you use more than 2000 kWh: 11.5¢ per kWh in excess of 2000 kWh

Example #1: If you use 450 kWh, you will be billed $90 plus taxes and fees.
Example #2: If you use 900 kWh, you will be billed $90 plus taxes and fees ($90.00 + $0.00).
Example #3: If you use 1,400 kWh, you will be billed $180 plus taxes and fees ($90.00 + $0.00 + $90.00).
Example #4: If you use 2,200 kWh, you will be billed $203.00 plus taxes and fees ($90.00 + $0.00 + $90.00 + $0.00 + $23.00). $23.00 is 11.5¢ multiplied by 200 kWh."
 

submatrix

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So I just did some checking on "time of use" plans available to me right now.

My current contract has an energy use charge of $0.051/kWh plus a $0.0355 delivery charge for a total of $0.08455/kWh flat any time of day.

The cheapest "time of use" plan has $0.00/kWh for nights (8PM to 6AM) for the energy charge, but you still have to pay the $0.0355 delivery charge. So total at night would be $0.0355/kWh.

The rest of the time, you pay $0.138/kWh for the energy charge plus the $0.0355 delivery charge, for a total of $0.1735/kWh. Ouch!
It's about 17 cents/kWh here too, plus it jumps to 23 cents/kWh after you use 350 kWh in a month. That was another reason I decided to only use my charger as an emergency backup or for topping off before a road trip.
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