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This is what I am doing. 42 kWh battery, 6 kW solar and fully electrified house, 2x EVs. I am able to charge cars at work and so in the depths of winter I am ab
by reyoz 3mo ago
This is what I am doing. 42 kWh battery, 6 kW solar and fully electrified house, 2x EVs. I am able to charge cars at work and so in the depths of winter I am able to run the house by charging during the 3 hour window. There have been just a couple of cold (~2-4 degC) days when the battery was depleted 1-2 hours before the window starts.
As the weather warms and we get more solar exposure we will easily be in excess. We get a very small export rate with a bonus for no energy consumption during peak evening hours which can offset the fixed daily charge.
There are a lot of gotchas that you need to be aware of. 42 kWh is nominal capacity not the actual usable capacity. House load, max grid import and export capacity, max inverter capacity, AC or DC coupled panels, battery charging profile, battery temp are all factors in how much you can charge in the window. For example I have max 15 kW grid draw, with a 10 kW inverter that can charge the battery. I can put in max ~30 kWh into the battery, so I also run other loads in the house to use the other 5 kW capacity. If I go over 5 kW house load the battery charge is clipped to maintain grid import limit.
- throwaway2037 3mo ago> I am able to charge cars at work Nice perk! Does you know who pays for the electricty? Is this "virtue signalling" by the company or landlord... or a subsidy from the local/state/national gov't? To be clear, I am not making any value judgement about providing free charging for EVs. It seems like good gov't policy to promote the adoption of EVs.
- freshpots 3mo agoIt costs $5-$10 for the electricity to charge a car using level 2 charging. It is a trivial "perk" for an employee that costs an order of magnitude more per hour of work.
- yandie 3mo ago[dead]
- pjc50 3mo agoNever mind that, the cost of an urban parking space is considerable. Here's a £50k London parking space: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136662200#/?channel=RES_BUY https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136662200#/?channel=R... While that's an extreme, I would expect the cost of any urban parking space with a low speed charger to be dominated by the land, then the charger one-off install price, and thereafter electricity use is a pretty trivial cost. Sydney will also charge you 3,000 $AUS annually for central parking spaces: https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/taxes-duties-levies-royalties/parking-space-levy/understanding-parking-space-levy/levy-rates-and-calculations https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/taxes-duties-levies-royalties...
- vondur 3mo agoNot trivial if they a bunch of chargers. I work for the state in California and we have chargers at work but are charged for them around $.29/kWh which is cheaper than Tesla I think.
- ggreer 3mo agoAre they fast DC chargers or level 2 chargers? If it's the former, then that is cheap. If it's latter, then that is some expensive electricity. I'm in Washington where electricity is cheaper, so 29 cents per kWh is not much cheaper than Tesla's superchargers. The closest one to me is 31 cents in the middle of the day and goes as low as 20 cents per kWh at night. I pay 8 cents per kWh at home, which is where I charge (at much slower speeds) unless I'm on a road trip.
- throwaway2037 3mo agoYeah, I was thinking the same. If you look on Google Maps, California has some epic large parking lots next to office complexes. If you had 100+ "free" EV chargers that could add up pretty fast with California's expensive daytime electricity prices.
- insane_dreamer 3mo agoit costs me ~$5 to charge my car overnight at home (level-2) thanks to a residential electricity plan that offers very cheap night/weekend rates in exchange for more expensive rates at peak hours
- yen223 3mo agoOften think about how the most expensive part of driving in Sydney, especially in an EV, is parking.
- reyoz 3mo agoWe have a company fleet which is being slowly converted to EV where possible in line with company net zero policy so there is good charging infrastructure that is extended to all employees. We also have other initiatives such as solar and biogas generation.
- bahmboo 3mo agothrowaway account and "virtue signalling" plus a dig at so called subsidies. Oh and "no value judgement" except for the value judgement. You are not helpful here.
- throwaway2037 3mo agoFair point: I work in an industry that checks social media before job offers, so it is not possible to have a public Internal persona. If you look at my profile, you will see that I have been here many here with a modest amount of "Internet points".
- sjsdaiuasgdia 3mo ago> Is this "virtue signalling" > I am not making any value judgement Calling something "virtue signalling" is a value judgement.
- wat10000 3mo agoIt’s a pretty nasty insult wrapped up in friendly-sounding language.