Hybrid Drivers and their Holier than Thou FUD

It's funny how a coddled, privileged and very vocal Hybrid Car driver minority will do anything to make sure they keep every perk they've maintained for the past 20 years even to the exclusion of newer, greener technology like pure Battery Electric and Plug In Hybrid Electric vehicles.  Indeed, many of those drivers will do anything to maintain their sense of superiority by producing Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, FUD, in the face of obvious facts to the countary.  Recently my friend at Virginia Clean Cities had got a letter from a Hybrid driver who was worried about the I66 HOV in Virginia was going to switch from HOV-2 with a Tier 2 Clean Fuel exemption to HOT lanes with an HOV-3 requirement to waive the toll.  Or course when you're spoiled by a right that is discriminating against folks more worthy, you'll do anything to keep those more worthy out while wishing to maintain your undeserved right.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Single-Occupancy HOV easements, I just think we need to step out of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.  Hybrids are yesterday's technology and EVs are the wave of the future.  They're cleaner, more energy efficient, cheaper, let you fill your pack in the comfort of your own home and also run on 100% domestic energy.  Yet Hybrid drivers are obsessed with making a case that EVs are as dirty as hybrids by citing the downstream sources of pollution when comparing EVs to Hybrids yet ignoring where one's petroleum comes from.

It took me a few minutes to calm down enough to respond to the FUD this coddled Hybrid driver was throwing in my face, but eventually, I tried to respond in the most reasoned way I knew how.  This is what I said:

Dear [name removed], please don't be blinded by the propaganda.  What you just said is naïve in the extreme because it posits the idea that some how petroleum comes magically to the pump with no consequences.  I know exactly what Dominion Virginia Power's energy mix is, an Electric Car can be powered by Solar and even if not a driver can buy a 1.3^¢⁄_kWh Rider which requires Dominion to generate that much electricity from Renewables only.  But even in the worst case, the Prius is dirtier than a LEAF:   Even at 50 mpg the Prius is 14% more polluting than a LEAF on regular Dominion.  I'm sick of lemmings thinking they can compare where electricity comes from without taking into account the pollution from refining, disasters like the Exxon Valdez—when we're smack dab in the middle of the anniversary—as well as the deepwater horizon that nearly destroyed the shrimp economy of Louisiana, and folks clamouring for more of the same in the Alaskan Arctic and all the terrorism we're funding not just in the places you know but in places like Nigeria and Boko Haram.  You do realize that a plurality of the foreign oil used in this region is coming from Nigeria?

The long and short of it, I am greener, and can be much, much greener.  Can you power your car with photovoltaics?  I didn't think so.  And what's more, your car is just gonna get dirtier and less fuel efficient over time whereas Dominion is constantly installing cleaner power sources making even the worst case energy requirements cleaner over time, not dirtier.

Before you go spouting FUD, try to learn the facts first, please, dirty-prius driver.  Thank you however for being cleaner than a Ford F150.  Now can we move on without any more ad hominem attacks?

Okay, I'll admit it was a bit harsh of me to accuse a prius of being dirty.  It is, of course, probably the most fuel-efficient non-plug-in car available outside of diesel—oh, but what a hybrid diesel could be.  It's just that, clearly EVs are cleaner, from a little cleaner (on the standard Dominion Virginia Power fuel mix) to infinitely cleaner with a solar array.  So can we finally stop with the fuel source FUD?

Note: The above slides come from my failed February 4, 2014 lecture which I had been planning to give during the Electric and Hybrid Vehicles seminar for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of George Mason University, however the slides had not been ready in time.

Mr. TimeHorse's Wild Ride and how he tried to save the Virginia Environment

On Tuesday, 3 February, 2015, members of the Virginia Advanced Energies Industries Coalition (VAEIC) will be gathering in Richmond, Virginia for Clean Energy Lobby Day (CELD) 2015.  The event is in co-operation with Virginia Clean Cities and the Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia Solar Energy Industries Association (MDV-SEIA)—who produce the rather repetitive and wordy Solar Flare newsletter.  A number of industries in the energy sector are also sponsoring CELD, including Dominion Virginia Power, Solar City, Prospect Solar, Standard Solar, and Columbia Gas of Virginia; a complete list of sponsors is available on the official CELD page above.

The Trip

Unfortunately, none of the bills under consideration in the Commerce and Labour committee solve the many problems Electric Car drivers face in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which I hope to summarize in a subsequent article.  None the less, it's my desire to be a part of events like this, but usually I need to be at the job and those silly AdSense ads (sorry about those) aren't gonna pay the bills.  However, due to some abuse I received at my job to which I reacted exceedingly poorly I happen to have the day off so it's absolutely my plan to be there tomorrow.  That is, to drive to Richmond… 115 mi (185 km) away… in #CO2Fre Nissan LEAF… which is lucky to do 80 mi (130 km) on a good day… at 05:00 in the morning… in 20℉ (-7℃) weather… and naturally no heater…

Not only that, but in the evening I'm planning to meet some friends in Laurel, MD—land of the $35 cab to go 3.5 km (2 mi).  Needless to say, if I'm to try anything as ambitious as 320 mi (515 km) in a single day, I'm gonna need some quick charging; I'm gonna need CHAdeMO.

Fortunately, thanks to the folks at NRG eVgo, various Nissan Dealers and Greenlots (not to be confused with Gringotts, though they can be just as pricy), I have some hope.  First, I plan to use ECO routing to get to Pohanka Nissan in Fredricksburg, VA.  From there I should be able to get straigt to Richmond, however, it's possible that the Level 2 plug at the Richmond Omni Hotel will be in use (I plan to call from Fredricksburg to make sure), so as a backup I'll hit the CHAdeMO at Mac's Service Center in Ashland, VA, which is part of Greenlots.  I should therefore arrive in Richmond around 08:00, or so I hope.  Fortunately, the Virginia General Assembly building should be about a 5–10 minute walk from the Omni.

I should be able to bring #CO2Fre to 100% charge at the Omni by 12:30, so if anyone needs the EVSE I'll be happy to move my car during lunch; I need enough charge to get back to Pohanka and have some left over for my next two stations.  Once I'm charged at Pohanka the second time, I plan to drive all the way up to the Alexandria, VA NRG eVgo CHAdeMO.  Then, it's all the way over to the Gateway Overlook in Elkridge, MD for a third CHAdeMO session.

My hope is, after the CHAdeMO in Elkridge, I should have enough energy to visit my friends in Laurel and then drive straight home.  At least that's the hope…

Relevant Legislation

Anyway, as I was saying, I'm planning to go down to the General Assembly on Tuesday, with a focus on a couple of environmental bills before the Commerce and Labour committee.  Specifically, I'm focusing on 2 bills before the committee.

HB2237: Electric utilities; costs of solar energy facilities

Electric utilities; costs of solar energy facilities.  Authorizes an investor-owned electric utility that purchases a solar power generation facility located in the Commonwealth consisting of at least five megawatts of generating capacity to recover the costs of acquiring the facility, with an enhanced rate of return on equity, through a rate adjustment clause.  The rate adjustment clause for recovering such costs may be based on a market index in lieu of a cost of service model. The measure also states that (i) the construction or purchase by a utility of such a solar power generation facility and (ii) planning and development activities for solar energy facilities are in the public interest.

The idea of this bill is to give an incentive to electric utilities which buy solar power facilities within the Commonwealth.  It sets a minimum capacity of 5MW so that trivial purchases don't qualify for these incentives.  The only problem is that it doesn't say much about third-party interests in terms of the initial construction of a solar generating facility.  But otherwise, this seems like a good thing and something I'm happy to support.

SB 1331: Natural Gas Conservation and Ratemaking Efficiency Act; cost-effective programs

Natural Gas Conservation and Ratemaking Efficiency Act; cost-effective programs.  Requires the State Corporation Commission, when determining whether a natural gas conservation or energy efficiency program is cost-effective, to base its determination upon an evaluation of a portfolio of programs as a whole and not upon an evaluation of a program or measure on an individual basis.

The idea here is that we want the elimination of non cost-effective programs to be based on whether their elimination would make the whole package of incentives and benefits more cost-effective rather than subtracting one element and because it's removed some other benefit is hindered and thus the net effect could be worse than keeping the seemingly single less-effective subsidy in place.  By allowing the State Corporation Commission to take the entire package into account, it's hoped that conservations programs can be added and removed with a guaranteed overall net benefit.  This is why I support this bill.

---

Of course, these bills aren't the only reason I'm trying to make this insane trip to Richmond, Laurel, and back again.  In July, I'm planning to go to my 5×5 joint High School reunion, up in West Hartford, CT, a 360 mi (580 km) journey with, hopefully, no 4½ hour stop-over like in Richmond.  Now that's gonna take some planning!

Thinking of buying a Tesla?

Here some great reasons to buy and some important disclaimer for folks in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  It is my belief as an already electric car driver it behooves me to write the caveats in hopes that Tesla and I, once we get those papers filed and service center in Fairfax Country, Virginia on Tyco Blvd., can work together to break the backs of the hybrid lobby and show Richmond and Fairfax that Electric Cars are the future.

	The US government offers a $7,500 federal tax credit when you purchase a new Tesla.
Yes, the tax credit is helpful, but only if you pay at least $7,500 in taxes.  As this would typically be someone earning $40,000 per year or more, I don't think it needs a caveat since no-one earning only $40,000 per year could *every* *dream* of owning a Model S at the equivalent of 2 years salary.
	Alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) displaying the Virginia Clean Special Fuel license plate may use Virginia HOV lanes, regardless of the number of occupants.
Clean Fuel plates are grandfathered, meaning the hybrid drivers ate up all the good ones and all that's left are third-generation access that only allows HOV access on a toll road in Northern Virginia.  We need to work to wrest those first-generation Clean Fuel plates attached to dirty priuses and civic hybrids from those smelly, polluting, dirty cars and reissue them to the proper, truly clean, 100% cars like the Tesla Model S and the car I drive which I won't bother mentioning because I'm just here to promote Tesla and the Model S, even while I can't afford one.  But maybe this point is moot since most of the HOV lanes in Virginia are being replaced by toll-based HOT lanes where the Clean Fuel plates don't even qualify.
	Local governments may reduce personal property taxes paid on electric vehicles.
Some local governments reduce your property tax burden by as much as 50%.  For example Prince William County, Arlington County and the richest county in the nation, Loudoun County, all provide property tax discounts.  However, the most populous and third richest county nationally, Fairfax, provides *no* property tax discounts what-so-ever, not for hybrids, not for electrics.  And the property tax on a Model S can be as high as $2,500 per year.  Though I suppose if you can afford a Model S, you can afford a property tax bill which represents your approximate fuel savings.  And let's not forget, Fairfax County is where the Tesla Showroom and future Service Center are located.
	Virginia Dominion Power offers reduced residential rates for electric vehicle charging.
Dominion's rates are why I used to pay $2,500 on fuel before getting an EV and now pay less than $300 per year for fuel.  The electric cost per kWh out of pocket (including tax, generation, distribution and all riders) can be as low as about 6¢/kWh.  But there is a caveat for this too, since Dominion now requires you to put your whole house on Time of Use for this rate, meaning if you have a stay-at-home parent and kids you'll be running the air conditioner and if you have a heat pump the heater seasonally at peak rates, though the rates fall into 4 tiers so the evenings aren't too bad and the overnights are dirt cheap.  They used to offer a two-meter solution but having gone this route I will say for me it's hard to consider it worth it.  While the whole house solution has effectively no cost to the customer to install, the two meter solution added perhaps $1,000 more installation costs after EVSE tax credits, which would take years to realize in saving relative to the whole-house option.  Then again, I calculated this based on the fact that I don't have a stay-at-home parent in my house.
	Electric vehicles are exempt from biannual emissions inspections.
True, but safety inspections are still required.  Let's not let drivers forget this lest they wish to get a ticket for failing to get their car inspected annually.
	Most importantly… NEVER PAY FOR GAS AGAIN!
Again, true, but what anti-EV Richmond did, secretly in the dark of the Hybrid Lobby highly public excision of a $64 surtax is leave that surtax on Electric Vehicles, in addition to a $50 per year tax already imposed on Electric Vehicles.  So effectively, Electric Vehicles are taxed $114 annually for use of the Virginia Roads (fuel taxes) which is, as far as I can tell, the highest fuel tax in the nation on EVs.  Compare this to a 50 mpg Hybrid driving the average 15,000 mi per year.  This represents only $48.60 in taxes for fuel at the rate of 16.2¢⁄gal as of 1 January 2015.  Thus, for 15,000 mi traveled per year an EV pays more than twice that of a hybrid in Virginia.  This is something which we need to fix.  Never should a hybrid be taxed less than an EV.  It's wrong for Tesla, and wrong for all of Teslas EV-driving supporters.

Thank you for reading

It's good to be back!

Being Green on Arlington Weekly News

Last week, my friend Denis Dineen and I were interviewed by the lovely Miriam Gennari for a taping of the Arlington Weekly News at the Arlington County Independent Media studios in, naturally, Arlington, VA to appear in one of her wonderful Being Green segments.  We were there chiefly to promote the International Plug-In Day event on 28–29 September of this year.  The episode is schedule to premier today, Thursday, 22 August at 18:00 (6 pm), with repeats Saturday, 24 August at 10:30 (10:30 am) and Monday, 26 August at 20:30 (8:30 pm) as well as 3 overnight airings.  Arlington County Independent Media can be recieved on Comcast Channel 69 and Verizon FiOS channel 38 for Arlington residents.

Denis drives a Chevy Volt and is always prepared to give folks advice about electric cars.  Feel free to email him at virginiavolt@yahoo.com; he's more than happy to answer any questions as a Volt driver about how great it is to drive an electric car.  He has a wonderful information sheet he loves to share with folks that I should likewise share here at some point.  He often encourages me to write a similar sheet for CO2 Fre, but then, isn't this website enough??  ☺

1,500 mi (2,400 km) on just $25

In my interview I quoted my estimated mileage cost as 1,500 miles per month and a household electric bill on the order of $25.  My regular readers may remember my excitement for and analysis of the current Dominion Virginia Power Time-of-Use (ToU) power rates two years ago.  Since then, I've picked up my Nissan LEAF and driven over 34,000 miles in 21 months of ownership and have a much better handle on how much it costs to drive electric.  As I announced that October, I went with the Schedule EV dual meter rate plan.

A month at MOM's

Once I signed up for the ToU rate plan, I asked the electrician who installed my Clipper Creek CS-100 to split my EVSE's (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) subpanel from the main subpanel in order to be hooked up to the second, electric-vehicle-only meter to be installed by Dominion, which would happen later.  MOM's Organic Market in Herndon had just opened, replacing the vacant suite that had many years ago hosted the only Hard Times Cafe near my home—I was gutted to see this restaurant go and for the space to be empty for so many years.  Had it been any other store than MOM's which would have replaced it, a boycott of the new occupant would most assuredly be in place!

Now, MOM's is a very EV (Electric Vehicle) friendly business.  Employees even get a $5,000 rebate towards a qualified electric car like the Nissan LEAF.  Part of MOM's commitment to EVs is that at most of their stores, including Herndon, they have free EVSEs where a patron can charge his electric car.  So I went over to MOM's and introducing myself and explained my situation.  That's when I met extremely affable and helpful store manager JP Exon who was more than happy to have me leave CO2 Fre plugged in over night while I waited for Dominion to install the second meter.  I needed the EVSE at MOM's because I drive almost 70 mi (113 km) a day, which is most of my Nissan LEAF's battery pack.  Because a wall outlet could only charge my car to about 90% of the amount used in a day in the 12 hours I'd have it plugged in at home, it meant I had to use a full, Level 2 EVSE with at least 3.8kW power.  Thank goodness, therefore, for MOM's!

So in early December of 2011, my EVSE was disconnected, after just over one month of at-home charging, and I started to plug my car in every night at MOM's in Herndon, then walk home.  In the morning, when I couldn't get a ride, I'd walk all the way back and then drive my car to work only to do it all over again the following night.  This went on for weeks while Dominion dragged its feet about installing my second meter.  As the year drew to a close, and Dominion still hadn't scheduled my second meter install, I started getting anxious.  After a number of calls and e-mails they finally installed my second meter just before the end of the year and I could finally plug in at home again.

20 Months of 30-minute ToU Data

As a part of Dominion's Time-of-Use EV Rate plan experiment, I'm able to view my electric usage in 30-minute increments in terms of both net energy and peak power since the meter installation.  Recall that the 2011–2012 Nissan LEAF has an inefficient 3.8kW charger that in turn feeds the battery at merely 3.3kW, meaning up to 500W of energy is wasted in the process.  Since the power is measured at the plug, these numbers don't reflect the energy the battery receives, rather they reflect the energy used including powering the EVSE and the LEAF internal charger.  Because the increments are in half-hour intervals, the total energy is half that used in an hour, or about 1.9kWh at most for a given interval.

As you can see from the chart, my power spikes at around 01:00 (1:00 am) because that's when the Super-Off Peak rate begins.  There's a small component before that when I want want to get a little extra charge to cover a severly depleated pack but for the most part I start at 01:00 (1:00 am) and finish by 06:00 (6:00 am) on weekdays, just before Peak rates begin, or 05:00 (5:00 am) on weekends, just before the regular Off-Peak begins.

One interesting aspect of my ToU data is there's always a gap at 02:00 (2:00 am) when Daylight Savings begins.  The data has blanks for the two periods from 02:00–02:30 (2:00 am to 2:30 am) and 02:30–03:00 (2:30 am to 3:00 am).  Interestingly enough, when we gain an hour by going back to standard time, there's no corresponding double entries for those same hours.  What my power utility and EVSE are doing then, I have no idea.

For any reader interested in the full, massive data set of charging events, please send me a note and I'll be happy to share it.

My Ride Just Keeps Getting Cheaper

One thing I've noticed over time, watching how my itemized electric bill has changed over the past 21 months is how in general, at least in the short term, my costs for driving CO2 Fre have more or less been steadily decreasing.  So while my fuel cost was $28.32 in January, 2012, my most recent, July 2013, cost only $23.61.  So while I may have averaged $25 per month early on, I'm now paying slightly less.  The following table summarizes all the Riders associated with my Electric Bill and how they've changed over time:

Dominion Virginia Power Electricity Riders

Description	Rider	Initial	Current	Change
Table 1: Schedule EV Distribution Constants
Basic Customer Charge	EV	$2.90	$2.90	Unchanged
On/Off Peak	EV	2.5200¢⁄kWh	2.5560¢⁄kWh	Increased on 2012-12-01
Super Off peak	EV	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.0360¢⁄kWh	Charge instituted 2012-12-01
C1	EV	0.0110¢⁄kWh	0.0000¢⁄kWh	Phased out on 2012-12-01
Peak Shaving Increment	C1A	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.0070¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-05-01 at 0.0100¢⁄kWh; Decreased 2013-04-01
C2	EV	0.0250¢⁄kWh	0.0000¢⁄kWh	Phased out on 2012-12-01
Energy Efficiency Increment	C2A	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.0460¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-05-01 at 0.0240¢⁄kWh; Increased 2013-04-01
Schedule EV Supply Constants
On Peak	EV	10.7690¢⁄kWh	10.7690¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Off Peak	EV	1.4290¢⁄kWh	1.4290¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Super Off Peak	EV	0.6840¢⁄kWh	0.6840¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Transmission	EV	0.9700¢⁄kWh	0.9700¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Fuel
Fuel Charge	A	3.2890¢⁄kWh	2.9420¢⁄kWh	Decreased 2012-07-01 to 2.6970¢⁄kWh; Increased 2012-10-15 to 2.7060¢⁄kWh; Increased 2013-07-01
Other ESS Rider Constants
Biomass Conversion	B	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.0230¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-04-01 at 0.0120¢⁄kWh; Increased 2013-04-01
Bear Garden Generating Station	R	0.1460¢⁄kWh	0.1470¢⁄kWh	Decreased 2012-05-01 to 0.1420¢⁄kWh; Increased 2013-04-01
Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center	S	0.3730¢⁄kWh	0.4660¢⁄kWh	Increased 2012-07-01 to 0.4740¢⁄kWh; Decreased 2013-04-01
Base Rate Credit	BRC/BRX	-0.1320¢⁄kWh	0.0000¢⁄kWh	Decreased 2012-10-15 to -0.1850¢⁄kWh; Ended 2012-12-31
Transmission	T1	0.0000¢⁄kWh	-0.2670¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-08-01 to replace Rider T
Warren County Power Station	W	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.1560¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-04-01 at 0.0660¢⁄kWh; Incremented 2013-04-01
Tax Rate Constants
Sales and Use Tax	Surcharge	0.0500¢⁄kWh	0.0610¢⁄kWh	Increased 2013-01-01
Consumption Tax (< 2.5 MWh)	Tax	0.001520¢⁄kWh	0.001520¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Consumption Tax (> 2.5 MWh; < 50 MWh)	Tax	0.000970¢⁄kWh	0.000970¢⁄kWh	Unchanged

Given that, here is the breakdown of my monthly electrical usage:

Table 2: Monthly Electrical Usage

Month	On Peak (kWh)	Off Peak (kWh)	Super Off Peak (kWh)	Cost
January 2012	3	95	296	$28.32
February 2012	7	79	351	$30.69
March 2012	0	60	330	$26.57
April 2012	2	44	351	$26.81
May 2012	0	41	376	$27.70
June 2012	0	37	350	$25.97
July 2012	0	33	376	$25.27
August 2012	0	30	324	$22.13
September 2012	0	17	175	$13.06
October 2012	0	30	356	$22.70
November 2012	5	34	342	$23.21
December 2012	7	47	354	$25.24
January 2013	7	29	224	$17.70
February 2013	5	29	219	$17.30
March 2013	7	35	322	$23.38
April 2013	7	37	364	$26.02
May 2013	7	26	275	$23.22
June 2013	7	22	343	$23.64
July 2013	7	15	340	$23.61
Totals	71	740	6,068	$452.54

Vampire Power

On 30 October 2012 I finally became a member of the EV Project.  My good friend and absolute favorite elecrician, Sean Ryan, came out that day to add a second circut to my sub panel and install the free Blink charger from ECOTality.  Obviously I'm biased but not a better electrician could I ever recommend, so thank you Sean!

Now the Blink unit is a great charger, apart from perhaps a overly flimsy connector.  With it, I can schedule a charge on the EVSE and leave the LEAF set to always charge when plugged in.  And I can schedule the EVSE timer remotely so if I need to make a change I don't have to walk down to the car, turn it on and fiddle with the timers.  The only problem is the LEAF doesn't realize it's plugged in and then sends me pedantic and eroneous text messages to tell me to do so; so bad is this that when I do forget to plug in I neglect the message because more often than not it's in error.  When I get up the next morning, let's just say the shock and horror on my face would make you think I was in the scariest movie possible.

Of course the disadvantage of being able to schedule a charge remotely is that the Blink EVSE is always on.  In itself this isn't a problem but the unit is even on during Peak Time-of-Use rates.  As you can see in Table 2, since the install I've consistently had to pay about a dollar a month to cover the cost of the EVSE's daytime power.  Since this is power I'm not actually taking advantage of, it's called Vampire Power, indicating that it's power being sucked out of my wall in order to feed a hungry device.

Interestingly, last week I plugged in CO2 Fre to find my Blink unit in a constant rebooting loop.  I called ECOTality to let them know about the issue and since then I've been using my Clipper Creek CS-100 again, so at least the Vampire Power should be low next month.  But now that I'm back on the car's timer, I need to be extra cautious to press the charge timer disable button when I want to charge at a public EVSE.

One year, 19,000 mi (31,000 km)

On 2 November 2012, CO2 Fre celebrated her first birthday!  🎂  For that entire year, apart from a fortnight spent visiting the favourite landing spot of the TARDIS, the birthplace of the Beatles and home of Nessie—for the first time in my life I got to watch Doctor Who live: Asylum of the Daleks and Dinosaurs… On a Spaceship!

Yes, this author is a huge Doctor Who fan and runs a mailing list, a facebook group and a meetup site dedicated to it.  Let it not be said I'm only interested in Electric Cars and I'm well aware and have been psyched about the fiftieth anniversary special, and have been since around the twenty-fifth and Silver Nemesis!  And for the record, Peter Capaldi is going to be the best Doctor ever.  All that said, my heart will now and forever still be with Project Kronosphere.

In any case, since my first 19,000 mi (31,000 km), I've added another 15,000 mi (24,000 km) for a total of over 34,000 mi (55,000 km).  And of course 19,000 mi (31,000 km) divided by 12 months comes to about 1,500 mi (2,400 km) per month of average driving, which is where my favorite statistic derives its other value.

$25 a month for 12 months does not equal near $200

Folks, this is a round-about way of getting to a correction I wanted to make in my broadcast interview.  I somewhat erroneously stated my annual electric cost was near $200.  Clearly $25 × 12 months is $300, not $200.  But then, as you can see from Table 2, I actually pay a little less than $25 per month, and thus less per year, which is why I was thinking about $200.  In fact, if you sum the last 12 rows of the table, you get an exact cost of $261.21, closer to $300 than $200, to be sure, but then that's what I meant by near, as long as near classifies about 31%.  ☺

$261.21 doesn't equal $486.66

Back in October of 2011 I estimated my annual cost to run CO2 Fre would be $486.66.  As you can see above, however, it's turning out to be substantially less than that.  Part of the discrepancy stems from not taking into account vacations like my UK trip or CO2 Fre's stint in the D.C. Auto Show earlier this year.  Falling Electric Fuel costs have also contributed, but the main effect is that I just drive less in my EV than I did in my old ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) Vehicle.  I do probably drive just as much or even more around town with my LEAF, but when you cut out the odd trip to New York or Asheville, NC, you cut out a lot of the miles I used to drive in my old car.  Those kind of trips are just too impractical in my LEAF.  I could, to be sure, probably make it to Rehoboth Beach, all be it with about a 5 hour layover on the way, maybe 2, but the number of 5 hours stopovers to get to New York are just not practical.  Maybe with more CHAdeMO, this'd be different—and thanks to eVgo more CHAdeMO is coming to the area, and quickly—but for now, my range is about 70 mi (113 km) one-way from my home for any comfortable day trip.  But even then, I'd not be charging at home so those costs wouldn't be reflected in my Dominion data.

Conclusion

I just hope even if you can't see my segment on the Arlington Weekly News that everyone, whether you have an EV or not, try to make one of this year's International Plug-In Day events!  This is your Northern Virginia PiD Captain, signing out—take care and let those electrons roll!

International Plug-In Day! Bring out your Plugs!

Generous readers, I'm happy to announce it's that time of year again!  Time to show your friends, neighbors and general passers by our shared love for Electric Vehicles.  Yes, it's International Plug-In Day, the day we all go out and display our love for cars powered by the ubiquitous plug.

This year, Plug-In Day is a two day event, and here in the greater Washington, D.C. area, we're taking it to the neighborhoods!  So mark your calendars, 28 September 2013!

View Plug In Day 2013 in a larger map

Because we have 2 days of events, we've decided to have regional events on Saturday and one huge event in downtown DC on Sunday.  We hope everyone can show their support at their local Saturday event and then everyone come down to Washington for the regional event Sunday on the steps of the U.S. Capital.

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: Herndon, VA

Hello from your Herndon Event team captain!  As the organizer of this event, I hope it to be the biggest of all the regional events.  This is the only gathering scheduled for Northern Virginia.  As such, I hope folks from Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun, Prince William, Manassas and even Stafford Counties and Cities can make it out to western Fairfax to join us in sharing our love for EVs.  Come and commiserate over our failed attempt for equal taxation regardless of propultion and the $64 tax we now have to pay for as both hybrid and electric vehicle owners.  We're planning to have LEAFs, Volts and Tesla Model S a plenty to show, as well as all kinds of electric vehicles.  Learn about Dominion Virginia Power's Time-of-Use Rate Schedules and the Green Option for energy credits.  And teach folks about the around 50% Personal Property Tax discount for Electric Vehicles in Arlington, Prince William and Loudoun Counties.  (Sorry fellow Farfaxians, we still have to pay full price for our tax in our unprogressive county.)

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: Waldorf, MD

Overall Waldorf event organizer and my friend Mark Czajka from MDVolt (the current source for LEAF Meetup events).  Ironcially, Mark doesn't own a Volt—he has a Ford Fusion Energi—but is an amazing event organizer and without him this year's Plug In Day wouldn't be nearly as amazing as it's turning out to be.  The MOMs in Waldorf is in a beautiful, new building and will be an amazing place to discuss all the exciting things going on for EVs in Southern Maryland.  This is a must-see event for anyone in the area, I guarantee.

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: College Park, MD

The College Park event in suburban Maryland, just on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., is at one of my favourite MOM's Organic Markets, being about half-way between work and the normal EVA/DC meeting in Silver Spring, MD.  Word of warning that the EVSE (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) stations at this location, two out-of-the-way units around the left side of the building, are often either broken or occupied by a completely occupied by an often full electric vehicle.  However, anyone needing a charge just contact my friend and Team Captain Lanny Hartmann who will help you find a unit that's available and working as well as work to make sure these units are function come Plug-In Day and beyond.

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: Timonium, MD and Baltimore

The Timonium event is our closest planned event in the greater Baltimore Suburbs.  Located in Central Maryland, the event is just north of the Baltimore Beltway and just off of I85.  As such, I've never personally been there since getting my LEAF, which was before MOM's in Timonium opened.  However, my friend Barry Larkin is hosting this event and I've every confidence he's going to do an amazing job so please show your support Baltimore and bring out your EVs!

Sunday, 29 September 2013, 10:00–16:00: Washington, D.C.

For the regional Sunday event, we're extremely fortunate to be getting permission to have our display right in front of the U.S. Capital building, on Third Street SW, in front of the Reflecting Pool and near the US Botanical Gardens.  This is thanks in no small part to the work of Maryland's Senior Senator Barbara Mulkulski (D).  This website would therefore like to express their personal thanks to Senator Mulkulski.  We're working on sixty spots to display our EVs so that visitors to the Capital can see just how affordable, obtainable and ubiquitous Electric Cars have finally become!

Everyone Welcome

At each event, we hope to have opportunities to test drive our electric cars including, in Herndon and Washington, CO2Fre, yours truly's very own Nissan LEAF.  So come one, come all, see how easy it is to plug in your car at the 2013 International Plug-In Day events!  And if you'd like to show off your car, just click on the link at the start of each event to register with the Plug-In Website.  Hope to see you there, and thank you!

Changes for a Better EV Life: The 6.6kW Charger (Part 1)

Having driven CO2 Fre for over a month now, I feel I can now safely make some recommendations for change that would make my life infinitely easier.  Some of these things I've been writing about long before I purchased my Nissan LEAF; I knew going in some sacrifice would be required for the greater good.  That's not to say there aren't great things like the burgeoning Charging Infrastructure and wonderful LEAF features to help get me through the day!  But there's always room for improvement and if you don't speak up, nothing will get done.

The LEAF Needs a 6.6kW Charger

I've written about this numerous times and even created a Facebook Group for it.  Put simply, there are two basic reasons I would pay a pretty penny for the 6.6kW charger.  The first has to do with situations like the one where I had to spend three hours at Rosenthal's Nissan/Mazda waiting for enough electricity to get home.  With a 6.6kW charger, that would have been a mere ninety minutes.  Put another way, with the 3.3kW charger, you only get about 10–15 miles (15–25 km) of driving per hour of charge.  Since my driving average comes out to 4.0 ^mi⁄_kWh (6.4 ^km⁄_kWh), this comes out to 11.52 mi (18.54 km) for me.  With a 6.6kW you double that!  And that means 45 minutes out at a nice restaurant like the Cracker Barrel in Manassas next to the IBEW Local 26/JATC ChargePoint stations would net about 20 mi (32 km), more than enough to get home on a near-depleted pack; with only 10 mi (16 km), I feel I'd be pushing my luck!

The other reason has to do with the new Dominion Virginia Power Time Of Use rate.  Specifically, by going to a 6.6kW Charger under Schedule EV, I estimate I could be saving $80 per year in electricity costs by limiting my charge time to the hours 1–5 am.  Now, if the 6.6kW charger costs $1,000 to retrofit into a 2011/2012 LEAF, as I once suggested I would still pay it gladly.  Sure, it would be a 12½ year return on investment, assuming current electric rates, but the time I don't have to spend at places like my local Nissan Dealer or Panera waiting for a sufficient charge to my car is quite valuable too.  By some estimates this could be as much as $40 per hour for a skilled software engineer such as myself, and at that rate it doesn't take long to equate an hour wasted waiting here, an hour wasted waiting there and before you know it, you've wasted a grand.

Schedule EV, the rate for me!

After months and days of complex posts and decisions, I finally put in a work order for the two meter solution.  I called Dominion this morning trying to get more information on the meter base that my electrician Joe from Cullen Electric will need to install.  After many attempts to retrieve that last piece of the puzzle, we determined that the work order for the meter has to be submitted first before Joe and I can get the correct meter mounting.  With the work order, a Dominion engineer will examine the premises and hopefully work with Joe to get the meter installed properly.  I trust Joe and just need to find out when would be the latest he could come before the meter itself was installed.  Otherwise, it's pretty much a done deal!

I decided to go with Schedule EV because I really don't trust my calculations for what my household electrical usage is.  I worked out the estimates for my hourly usage 8 months ago and wanted to post this chart at that time, hoping for reader's feedback.  But now I'm up against the decision time; I just couldn't wait any longer.  The simple, one-meter, no new holes, no complex electrical work solution just wasn't enough to put me in that camp, even though I was leaning that way when I first contacted Dominion.  Instead, I get to live as I have been living under Schedule 1, and yet charge my EV, and my EV alone, under Schedule EV.  It's a more complicated solution, but it'll make the charges easier to isolate and I can get a decent picture of how much electricity my car is actually consuming.  That is, assuming I don't also charge at work.

The one major danger is the gap between Joe bringing out the circuit to the meter mounting and when the meter is installed and the circuit goes live.  During that period, I'll not have any access Level 2 charging, and with my long commute, it looks like I'll have to be driving my ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) again.  Sigh.

Electric Vehicle Calculator by Dominion

I wanted to post this sooner, but a post that has been waiting 8 months for me to complete for once had to take precedence.  And although I could have included this there, it would've been buried and it's bad enough how long that last post is!  Schedule 1EV is complicated!

From Affordable Electric Car NOW

Anyway, I digress.  The point is, now you can get a rough estimate of how much it will cost to charge your vehicle under Dominion's new EV rate programs.  Simply visit the this site and enter information about your vehicle, the length you typically drive and how you plan to charge.  Dominion offers 3 vehicles in their HTML application: the Ford Focus Electric, the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Volt.  In terms of charging, you choose between your standard wall outlet running 120 V, which you would typically connect to via the car's included EVSE, or 240 V which assumes you already have an EVSE pre-installed which is set up to use the higher voltage.  Finally, you can set the time to start charging.  Personally, I like to work backwards from the end since I know when I need my car by, but even cars like the LEAF don't let you do that so the start time is quite reasonable, even if it does mean I may not be taking full advantage of all 4 hours of super-off peak.

One final note should be made of the Ford Focus Electric cheating with it's expected range numbers.  This time last year, the LEAF was rated at 100 mi per charge and many of it's promotional materials still maintain that.  The EPA, however, though on an environmental penalty of about 30% when they derived the 73 mi per charge rate used by the Dominion calculator.  The Ford Focus has yet to be tested by the EPA and thus it's marketing of 100 mi per charge is taken as an official value, making it look like a more efficient car than the LEAF.  The truth is, when the EPA evaluates the Focus it will likely receive a grade of about 70 – 75 mi per charge with its 23 kWh battery as opposed to the LEAF's 24 kWh pack.  The Volt values are also based on their EPA evaluation.

Dominion Virginia Power EV Rates Revealed (Part 3)

Calling Dominion

During the Canadian Thanksgiving Day weekend I called Dominion's Electric Vehicle information and sign up line to discuss which pilot project I should choose: Schedule EV or Schedule 1EV, below.  I found out that if I signed up then I'd be getting my new meter before my EV arrived which wouldn't be useful for the program.  We thus decided to punt the decision until after my next meter reading on the 17^th of October.  That way, the new meter would be installed during the subsequent meter reading in November, which should be after my LEAF arrives.

Not So Smart Meter

The other thing I found out was that the Smart Meters Dominion installs are an earlier design.  These units are only capable of sampling electrical usage at fixed intervals which allow them to calculate for each of the prescribed Time-Of-Use intervals under the given rate plan.  They don't have the advanced technology of having 3 lines to the house, where, for instance, one has a household line, an EV line and potentially a line to a Solar or Wind generator.

In fact, the Schedule EV program installs 2 meters on your home.  You keep your original meter for your household, ticking off net electrical usage under the standard Residential Schedule 1 rate.  Typically next to this, they add a second meter to the mains which is the smart meter monitoring the EV usage under Schedule EV.  However, if they find it convenient, they may place the meter anywhere where an electrical line in can be tapped, though the location of the current meter seems the most logical.

The other new Smart Meter technology is the ability to create a mesh network, as they're doing in Austin, TX.  This technology allows the customer to monitor their current and historical electrical usage via a wireless network that sends information to Austin Energy.  What's more, these new Smart Meters can communicate with smart household appliances to regulate appliances like a refrigerator or central air conditioning, allowing the power company to reduce household electrical usage during peak hours.  On the surface this may sound like big business controlling we the consumers, but it benefits us too.  After all, throttling our appliances during the most expensive, peak demand will save us money, especially if we're under a Time-Of-Use rate.

Second Meter?

As stated above, folks interested in the Schedule EV plan will be getting a second meter to monitor the EV electrical usage.  Because this is a second meter, it needs to have its own line into the house which must be provided by an accredited electrical contractor.  Dominion's responsibility is only to the meter.  They'll hook up the meter if and only if there's already a line into the house with a empty mounting for a that meter, as would be for Schedule 1EV (household Time-Of-Use).  If your electrician hasn't yet run the line out for the second meter and installed the meter mounting, Dominion can't connect the meter to your EV.

So today I spoke with my favorite Electrical Contractor, Joe from Cullen Electric, Inc..  Unfortunately, for most of the conversation I had him confused with a representative from Dominion, much to my chagrin.  I'm waiting for a call from the Net Metering folks at Dominion to answer a question I still have about hooking up solar panels under one of the EV schedules.  So unfortunately I dragged Joe into a long and only partially productive debate about installing Photovoltaic panels on my home.  My plan is still to consider installing Solar Panels on my home, especially if I can get the guidelines of my HOA overturned this week, but obviously that's not why I asked Joe to call me.  Sorry about that Joe!

Anyway, Joe estimates the job to be about three-quarters of a day's work and estimates about $700 – $800.  Basically, since there's already a circuit breaker panel in the garage for the EV, Joe just needs to pull the 125A 1/0 SER cable out of the main breaker, hook it into a new cut-off switch and then run a wire out from the cutoff to the new meter mounting.  The cutoff switch is for safety since it needs to be within a minimum number of feet from the meter, but is convenient since it doesn't require the current 125A wire to be extended.  As of the time of this writing, I'm still checking with Joe on whether he knows which meter mounting to get but if I do go with Schedule EV, it looks like he can install it pretty close to the Smart Meter installation date, assuming it's 17 November as Dominion indicated to me when I first called.

I'm considering just going for the Schedule 1EV to simplify the work by Dominion and not have to run a new wire out of my house, though I certainly could budget the extra electrical work.  I certainly have always preferred the EV-Only Schedule EV, but it's looking more and more like I'll be going with Schedule 1EV.  But each day this changes and Joe is still trying to track down information on the correct mounting…

Schedule 1EV

Finally, we come to the long sought after description of Schedule 1EV — it's only taken me 8 months to write!  Recall from Part 2 that we start with ^4.417¢⁄_kWh for fuel, transmission, taxes and other various fixed costs.  We then need to add in the base Distribution and Support rates for Schedule 1EV; these rates are summarized in the following two tables:

Schedule 1EV Rate 16 April – 15 October

Hours	Distribution rate in ¢⁄kWh	Supply rate in ¢⁄kWh	Net Cost (EV)	Net Cost (House)
01–05 (Super Off-Peak)	0.000	0.444	$10.32	$0.73
05–10 (Off-Peak)	2.053	1.652	$0.17	$164.49
10–13 (Intermediate)	2.053	3.818	$0.16	$57.92
13–19 (Peak)	2.053	9.501	$0.63	$398.98
19–22 (Intermediate)	2.053	3.818	$0.16	$193.08
22–01 (Off-Peak)	2.053	1.652	$46.59	$56.35
Totals			$58.04	$871.56

Schedule 1EV Rate 16 October – 15 April

Hours	Distribution rate in ¢⁄kWh	Supply rate in ¢⁄kWh	Net Cost (EV)	Net Cost (House)
01–05 (Super Off-Peak)	0.000	1.388	$32.14	$1.25
05–06 (Off-Peak)	2.053	2.106	$0.04	$11.24
06–11 (Peak)	2.053	4.605	$0.30	$155.89
11–17 (Off-Peak)	2.053	2.106	$0.23	$56.18
17–22 (Peak)	2.053	4.605	$0.30	$179.88
22–01 (Off-Peak)	2.053	2.106	$52.08	$34.65
Totals			$85.10	$439.09

This by far is the most complicated rate of all that I've analysed.  Not only is it a Time-Of-Use rate, like Schedule EV, Schedule 1T (The old Time-Of-Use household rate) and Schedule 1S (The Time-Of-Use rate used for houses with Solar Net-Metering), but its seasonal periods break mid-month so it means I have to compute complete months then prorated, partial months in during the summer schedule and add that to prorated, partial months in the winter schedule.  Thus, my sheet does 3 look-ups for each month and each hour, making it bulky, slow, hard to maintain and from which it's hard to get specific details.

What's more, Schedule 1EV is an alternate rate, not an additional rate.  You use Schedule 1EV instead of Schedule 1, not in additional to it like with Schedule EV.  This means that your entire household rate could be effected by the change, not just by the addition of the EV, but now your usage and time of usage matters for everything.  When you run your A/C or Electric Heater, when your Refrigerator cycles or when you watch Television or Browse the Internet can all effect your total electricity rate.

Since my home is currently on the 2-tiered, fixed-rate Schedule 1 plan, I don't have any information about how many kWh of electricity I use at say 10 am (hour 10) or 10 pm (hour 22), or when I may be my peak usage and when do I use the least.  The EV is easy to estimate because I know when I plan to charge it, how long it takes to charge and thus when the charging will typically stop, not so with the whole household.  All I know for sure is the total electricity usage in my one month billing cycle.  Any more detail than that, and I have to guess.

Estimating Home Electricity Usage

I've literally wanted to post this since I wrote the first part of this article back in February.  Indeed, it's the entire inspiration for this series I've made about explaining the electric rate.  Of all the things I've discussed thus far, I can show evidence, trace steps, and point to solid sources of information to back up my claims.  When it comes to estimating household electrical usage, however, things reduce to an educated guess.

To start with, I decided to assign an arbitrary point system to my daily electrical usage.  The points don't correspond to any real-life value, they just follow the rule that if hour x value is greater than that for hour y, then that hour is estimated to use more electricity and if the value at x is twice y then x used twice as much electricity as y,  The following table details the numbers I used and some of my reasoning.

Daily Electrical Usage (Estimated)

Hour	Value	Percent	Reasoning
00	0.25	0.30%	Sleeping, for the most part
01	0.25	0.30%
02	0.25	0.30%
03	0.25	0.30%
04	0.25	0.30%
05	3	3.56%	Wakie, wakie!
06	6	7.12%	Get ready for work (or sleep in on weekends)
07	6	7.12%
08	6	7.12%
09	6	7.12%
10	2	2.37%	At work with alarm active or relaxing in front of the Television or Computer
11	2	2.37%
12	2	2.37%
13	2	2.37%
14	2	2.37%
15	2	2.37%
16	5	5.93%	Chillin after work
17	5	5.93%
18	5	5.93%
19	7	8.31%	Primetime: The height of activity
20	7	8.31%
21	6	7.12%	Evening slowdown
22	6	7.12%
23	3	3.56%	Getting ready for bed

Phew!  So, that's what I estimated.  I took those numbers, summed them to get a total points used, then divided each by that number to get a percent usage, which you can see next to the raw values above.  I take these percents and multiply the total monthly usage by them to get the estimated total monthly electrical usage for that hour of the day.

Because I've never been on a Time-Of-Use rate before and I'm no-where near confident with these numbers, I would be happy to hear from one of my readers to show my my mistakes.  Barring that, I could just go with the Schedule 1EV rate and see what happens.  They won't break out my usage in hours for me, as I explained above, but I could at least see if my estimates were near the mark.

Rate to Rate: Who's cheaper for a household?

Up until now, I've only been talking about EV rates.  The amount of money it costs to run the household electricity is different than that for an EV because the costs for an EV already assume some electricity usage so the electricity is never metered from zero.  For instance, under Schedule 1, there are 2 tiers of electrical usage for the base Distribution and Supply rates: the first 800 kWh are charged charged at one rate and anything above that at another.  As such, since my home already uses more than 800 kWh per month, my EV would always be charged the abouve 800 kWh rate.

In addition to this, there are taxes like the State Consumption Tax, the Special Regulatory Tax and the Local Consumption Tax, as well as the Fairfax County tax.  In the case of the three Commonwealth taxes, they are each 3-tired taxes.  In Part 2 I estimated that most of my EV's electricity would be in the in the first Tier, with a little less than ⅓ in Tier 2.  With the household, we're counting from zero so all again most usage is at Tier 1 with a bit in Tier 2 with the above 2,500 kWh usages over Summer.  Also, where as the Fairfax County Tax has already reached its $4 cap by the time we start to count the EV, that entire $4 is paid at the household level.

Household Rate Fixed Costs

Fortunately, the only thing different between the Schedule 1 rate household and the Schedule 1EV rate household is the Distribution and Supply usage rates.  Even the monthly rate of $7 is the same under both schedules.  These invariant values a summarized in the next table:

Name	cost in ¢⁄kWh	Annual Cost
Schedule 1 & 1EV: Distribution (Monthly cost, $7.00)		$84.00
Rider C1: Peak Shaving	0.009	$1.93
Rider C2: Energy Efficiency	0.044	$9.43
Rider S: Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center	0.280	$60.03
Rider R: Bear Garden Generating Station	0.117	$25.09
Rider BRC: Base Rate Credit	-0.132	-$28.30
Rider T: Transmission	0.616	$132.08
Fuel Charge Rider A	3.289	$705.19
Sales and Use Surcharge	0.056	$12.01
Consumption Taxes (Tier 1) (< 2.5 MWh)	0.155	$31.08
Consumption Taxes (Tier 2) (2.5 MWh ≤ x < 50 MWh)	0.099	$1.38
Consumption Taxes (Tier 3) (≥ 50 MWh)	0.075	$0.00
Fairfax County Tax (Min 56¢; Max $4)	0.605	$48.00
Totals	4.430	$1,081.92

As before, we need to explain the base rate calculation here.  I currently estimate about 21,441 kWh per year of electrical usage in my household given the pattern of data I have going back almost two years.  How this breaks down in terms of the Consumption Taxes is 20,051½ kWh of that is under the Tier 1 level and only 1,389½ kWh falls under Tier 2.  I again use these estimates to calculate the last 0.151¢ of the tax total.

I've also eliminated the County Tax from the calculation but not because it isn't paid, but because it's always always $4.00 per month for me, regardless of how much electricity I use.  For this rate to be relevant, I'd have to use less than 661.157 025 kWh of electricity in a given month and that is no-where near happening.  After all, I'm never even going below 800 kWh to stay within the Schedule 1 Tier 1 Base rate.  Thus, the County Tax and Monthly Distribution rate are not counted in the total cost per kWh, but are included in the annual totals.

I spend about $1,081.92 each year … on all secondary items

In summary, I spend about $1,081.92 each year in electricity regardless of rate schedule on all the secondary items, riders and taxes.  This value is without the Base Rate, which turns out to be the lion's share of the calculation.

Comparison of Rate Schedules

As I stated before, Schedule 1 is a 2-Tiered system.  It's also a seasonal schedule, with different rates depending on the time of year.  These rates are summarized in the following table.

Rate Category	Non-Summer Rate, 1 October – 31 May, in ¢⁄kWh	Summer Rate, 1 June – 30 September, in ¢⁄kWh	Net Cost (EV)	Net Cost (House)
Distribution ≤ 800 kWh	2.233	2.233	$0.00	$214.37
Distribution > 800 kWh	1.260	1.260	$90.49	$149.20
Supply ≤ 800 kWh	3.795	3.795	$0.00	$364.32
Supply > 800 kWh	2.927	5.773	$278.48	$574.71
Totals			$368.97	$1,302.59

Putting it all together

Compare this to the results from the Schedule 1EV rate above.  In the tables describing the Schedule 1EV rate, we have the totals for both the car and the household for the base Distribution and Supply rates.  The household rates are based on the estimated electricity usage from that section, and as such are only my best estimate for how much it would cost under Schedule 1EV: my own mileage may vary.  Summing together the values from that table and the one for Schedule 1 and finally pulling in the results for the Schedule EV in Part 2, we can finally compare each of the above rates:

Rate	Schedule 1	Schedule 1 with Schedule EV	Schedule 1EV
Distribution Cost per Year (EV)	$90.49	$98.83	$52.17
Supply Cost per Year (EV)	$278.48	$70.63	$90.97
Subtotal Cost (EV)	$368.97	$169.47	$143.14
Total Cost (EV)	$686.16	$486.66	$460.33
Distribution Cost per Year (House)1	$363.56	$363.56	$434.96
Supply Cost per Year (House)	$939.03	$939.03	$875.69
Subtotal Cost (House)	$1,302.59	$1,302.59	$1,310.65
Total Cost (House)	$2,384.51	$2,384.51	$2,392.56

The Subtotal in the table above contains the sum of the Distribution and Supply costs and the Total adds this to the cost for everything else, including Taxes, Fuel, Transportation and the various other Riders.

The main take-away here is that if my estimates are correct, there's not much difference for the household electricity cost under Schedule 1 and Schedule 1EV; my calculations show less than $10 per year!  Stranger though is that the Distribution is about $70 higher under Schedule 1EV but about $60 lower than Schedule 1 for Supply.  Secondly, as you can see, the cost to run an EV under Schedule EV and Schedule 1EV doesn't differ much either.  Schedule 1EV looks to be about $25 cheaper than Schedule EV, but both are clearly less than half the rate under just Schedule 1.

What if the LEAF had a 6.6 kW charger?

I would be remiss if I didn't do the same analysis for the Schedule 1EV that I did for Schedule EV with respect to 6.6 kW charging.  Specifically, the $98.68 I pay per year for charging my LEAF from hour 22 to hour 1 (Off-Peak) could be reduced to a mere $0.22 cents and my Super-Off-Peak per year goes from $42.46 to $65.38 per year because of the greater overall electricity usage.  Thus, the cost to run the LEAF under Schedule 1EV goes down to $384.78 per year, about $75 in savings per year.

And that's all you need to know when you choose a new EV rate schedule.  So call Dominion right now: 1-866-566-6436 and join the EV Rate Revolution!

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¹Doesn't include the Monthly Charge since this is already assumed in the fixed cost independent of the rate program.

Dominion EV Pilot Program opens today!

Dominion Virginia Power Electric Vehicle Charging Pilot Program Begins

As I've indicated numerous times before, I'm very keen to make my Power Utility, Dominion Virginia Power, aware of my intent to use an Electric Vehicle so that they can better prepare for the load I would be drawing and be able to provide sufficient power at times optimal for charging.  Fortunately, like most EV drivers, my intention is to charge my car overnight, when the demand for electricity is already at its lowest, which allows my PU to balance generation between the peak daylight hours and the nighttime hours when my car draws energy.

In return for this, I've asked my PU to set me up to be charged a Time-Of-Use rate which would reduce the cost to charge the EV when it's charged over night versus during the daylight hours.  Back in February, I reported that Dominion Virginia Power was proposing two new pilot program rates specifically for electric vehicles which would use new smart meters and allow the calculation of rates based on Time-Of-Use.  Excited, I sought more information and was able to calculate a $200 savings by switching over to either of the new EV-based TOU rates.

Dominion Virginia Power EV Rates Revealed (Part 2)

I explained how rates are calculated back on Valentine's Day because I ♥ calculating this kind of stuff.¹  And although the rate for Fuel has gone up slightly since I wrote Part 1 — it's now ^3.289¢⁄_kWh — all the calculations remain the same.

So take for example the Nissan LEAF with its 24 kWh battery pack.  If we estimate the LEAF's wall-to-wheel efficiency to be 3⅓ ^mi⁄kWh (5.364 ^km⁄_kWh), with a 38 mi (61 km) commute each way, this represents 22.8 kWh (2 × 38 mi ÷ 3⅓ ^mi⁄kWh) or 95% of the 24 kWh pack on the LEAF.  I then assume the weekend driving consists of more local, around town driving equivalent to exactly half of the weekday driving or about 38 mi (61 km) per day or 11.4 kWh.

In addition to each of these, it's important to remember that the EVSE also draws power to maintain its status and remain in a ready state.  My EVSE only draws 5 Watts to maintain its ready state — EVSEs with more Internet connectivity and wireless capabilities will draw more power than a plan nuts and bolts EVSE like my Clipper Creek CS-100.

Since I plan to only charge my vehicle over night and be out of the house around 5:00 am, I set my calculations to assume I can finish charging by that time.  This would be different if I could charge my car at work, but with a 3.3 kW charger on the Nissan LEAF, it will take 6.09 hours (22.8 kWh ÷ 3.3 kW) to charge the LEAF during the weekdays and 3.45 hours (11.4 kWh ÷ 3.3 kW) on the weekend.

The Missing 4 cents revisited

Once the total electrical energy required for charging the EV is known, we can calculate the cost for Transmission and Fuel rates and Use, Consumption and County Tax, as well as the various Distribution and Supply riders to get the base price for charging our EV.  These rates are summarized in the following table:

Name	cost in ¢⁄kWh	Annual Cost
Rider C1: Peak Shaving	0.009	$0.65
Rider C2: Energy Efficiency	0.044	$3.16
Rider S: Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center	0.280	$20.11
Rider R: Bear Garden Generating Station	0.117	$8.40
Rider BRC: Base Rate Credit	-0.1322	-$9.48
Rider T: Transmission	0.616	$44.24
Fuel Charge Rider A	3.289	$236.21
Sales and Use Surcharge	0.056	$4.02
Consumption Taxes (Tier 1) (< 2.5 MWh)	0.155	$7.68
Consumption Taxes (Tier 2) (2.5 MWh ≤ x < 50 MWh)	0.099	$2.20
Consumption Taxes (Tier 3) (≥ 50 MWh)	0.075	$0.00
Fairfax County Tax (Min 56¢; Max $4)	0.605	$0.00
Totals	4.417	$317.19

Now, the Fairfax County Tax will typically hit the $4 maximum without the EV so the EV won't add to that tax.  Also, for the Consumption Taxes, many months my household never goes over 2.5 MWh.  Generally, I still do come close to if not going over in the warmer months of June, July, August and September, even after going to R-49 attic insulation but not in the winter since I have methane-based (natural gas) heating.  In my calculations, I use my actual historical household data to compute the Consumption Taxes, so in months where the usage does go over 2.5 MWh, I calculate my EV's electricity rate accordingly using the Tier 1 or Tier 2 Pricing as necessary.

Total energy usage [is] about 7,138 kWh.

Now, to compute my total electricity usage, I take the average usage per day using a weighted average of ⁵⁄₇ × 22.8 kWh each weekday and ²⁄₇ × 11.4 kWh each weekend day for an average of 19 ¹⁹⁄₃₅ kWh per day.  If we multiply that by the number of days in each month, we can get an estimate of how much energy we use per month and if we multiply by 365.2425 days per year, we have the total energy usage of about 7,138 kWh.  This is the value multiplied by each of the rates in the above table to get the total cost per year.

In the case of the Consumption Taxes, this further breaks down by my estimates to about 4,957 kWh taxed at Tier 1 and about 2,225 kWh taxed at Tier 2.  The Consumption Tax part of the Total in the table above is weighted using these estimates as a percent of the total electricity usage annually.

Taking these numbers, we can see a total cost of $317.19 to run my Nissan LEAF not including the base rate schedule.  Thus, no rate schedule can come to a total less than $317.19 per year.  However, depending on the Rate Schedule chosen, the additional cost could vary between $150 and $350.

The Base Rate Schedules

Dominion Virginia Power customers have 3 basic choices when it comes to their base electricity rate: Schedule 1, Schedule EV and Schedule 1EV.  Each of these is outlined below.

Schedule 1

Most Dominion Virginia Power residential customers are under this rate schedule.  Thus, these numbers represent no special EV rate and just plugging your car in under the normal rate schedule.  Since the monthly fee of $7 is already covered by your current electric bill, this can't count toward the cost to charge the EV since you have to pay it either way.  For Distribution and Supply, Dominion Virginia Power breaks the bill up into summer and off-summer months as well as usage under 800 kWh and usage beyond that.  In the case of the EV, my house never uses less than 800 kWh per month so I'll always be paying the above 800 kWh rate for my EV.  Thus, the rate for Distribution is ^1.26¢⁄_kWh.  The rate for Supply varies throughout the year so from June to September it's ^5.773¢⁄_kWh and ^0.02927¢⁄_kWh the rest of the year.

Thus, the total base Distribution cost is $90.49 for the entire year and $138.49 for Supply for the Summer months and $139.99 for Supply the rest of the year.  The total Supply annually is therefore $278.48 for a total of $368.97 per year under Schedule 1.  Adding this to the fixed result, we get the total annual cost to run your EV under this rate schedule of $686.16.

Schedule EV

Technically, the Schedule EV rate plan isn't a primary rate schedule.  Instead, a dual meter is set up at your household with the main residence still under Schedule 1 and a dedicated line to EV metered using the Schedule EV rider instead.

Because Schedule EV is a Time-Of-Use rate, the time at which electrical energy is drawn becomes significant.  Fortunately, this is easy to calculate because we know from above how long it takes to charge the LEAF under my scenario, and thus how much power is required each hour.  When the EV is charging, since it's using a 3.3 kW charger, it will require that much power per hour and thus use 3.3 kWh per hour in use.  You also have the base EVSE power of 0.005 kW which comes to 0.005 kWh per hour, each hour.

In the case of Schedule EV, there is an additional Distribution charge for the second meter of $2.90 per month for a total of $34.80 per year.  The Distribution and Supply rates are then given by:

Hours	Distribution rate in ¢⁄kWh	Supply rate in ¢⁄kWh	Net Cost
01–05 (Super-Off-Peak)	0.000	0.684	$31.74
05–06 (Off-Peak)	2.520	1.429	$0.07
06–22 (Peak)	2.520	10.256	$3.73
22–01 (Off-Peak)	2.520	1.429	$99.12

For simplicity, I've show the results for the entire period blocks, which generally fall into the following categories: 01–05 is full 3.3 kW charging, 05–06 is only the EVSE, as well as 06–22 and finally 22–01 is used to charge the EV during weekdays since at 3.3 kW the LEAF required more than 4 hours to charge to 95% from 0.  For that final block, it breaks down into no charging on weekends and 2.09 hours during the weekdays, where the rest of the charging occurs in 01–05 on both Weekdays and Weekends.

The Distribution and Supply results together for each of the time blocks yields $134.67.  Add to that the monthly Distribution charge and we get $169.47, less than half the cost for base Distribution and Supply under Schedule 1.  Because the final bill is a combined bill between the household and the EV meters, the taxes are cumulative, so if under Schedule 1 the Tier 2 Consumption Tax threshold be reached for the household, it would also do so under Schedule EV.  The final result is a grand total of $486.66.

One final thing to note is the $99.12 spent from 22–01 could be avoided if the LEAF had a 6.6 kW charger instead of the cheap 3.3 kW charger it currently has.  With this charger, it wouldn't need to draw electricity in the more expensive off-peak period; all the needed energy could be added and metered during the Super-Off-Peak time for a mere $48.87 during that period and only $0.22 for the 22–01 Off-Peak.  Thus, the total cost with a 6.6 kW Charger would be $404.89, an over $80 per year in savings.

Schedule 1EV

Schedule 1EV is a household rate plan that replaces the Schedule 1 with a special Time-Of-Use rate specifically tailored to EV owners.  As such, it is far more complicated than anything I've discussed thus far and as such I shall hold off to discuss this in its own post.

Conclusion

As you can see, there's a lot of savings that can be made by just switching to one of the 2 experimental EV rate programs.  I'm personally looking very much forward to participating in the program; won't you join me?  Just sign up here and be a part of the future!

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¹Okay, technically the posting date was just a coincidence but sometimes I like to embellish to make these posts more readable.

²For Schedule 1, Schedule EV and Schedule 1EV.