Tesla Charging Station...huh, yeah! What is it good for?*

I wished I used only 1,000KWH a month. My electric company loves me.

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I donā€™t understand what you guys are talking about. My last two monthā€™s electric bills were $17 and $12ā€¦

Wholly crap. I wish mine was that low. Mine run 2-350$

Abel,

I donā€™t understand what you guys are talking about. My last two monthā€™s electric bills were $17 and $12ā€¦

Huh.

I didnā€™t know you were Amish (or lived underground) - cool!

But seriously, please explain the low usage rate in more detail.

JAG ā€œSubterranean Science Labā€ MAN

[quote=ā€œJAGMAN, post:24, topic:6261ā€]
But seriously, please explain the low usage rate in more detail
[/quote]http://www.news4jax.com/image/view/-/26887888/highRes/2/-/w/300/-/6k3thez/-/jumpers-on-pole-jpg.jpg

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Well to be fairā€¦

I live in a 900-ish sqft 1br apartment built 5years ago. One side is all windows, half of which is shaded.

My low usage is characteristic of my living situation since it was low even when I lived in a 1,500 3/2 house built in 1958. Soā€¦ I live alone and no one is home if im not.

Biggest consumer of your energy is your air conditioning. Iā€™ve always had a <$20, 7 day programmable thermostat. When Iā€™m not homeā€¦ Summer = 80Ā° Winter=60Ā°. Pets are just fine at those temps, though I have none.

Rememberā€¦ The biggest energy saver is the OFF switch. :wink:

Some time ago, I asked why there was a Tesla charging station. I was told it was for experimental purposes. I was good with that. I think that was long ago enough for the results of the experiment to be known. What are the results? That being said, and not because I have an agenda, I think it is time to turn off the experiment unless there is a real reason to continue. Lets face itā€¦ Teslas are subsidized by the government. https://www.tesla.com/support/incentives And the power that comes from the charging station is not environmentally sound since the power comes from natural gas as best I can tell https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX So I suggest we unplug the ā€œspecialā€ Power and parking space allocated until we also add a gasoline pumpā€¦ I personally have a hybrid but that is because I am interested in the technology but I support no allusions it is ā€œsaving the planetā€, rather I think it is an interesting test in energy conservation. So ā€¦ I think there is no valid reason for this experiment to continue. Please correct me if I am wrong. Otherwiseā€¦ lets free up another parking space.

As an addendumā€¦ IF someone is willing to put solar panels on the roofā€¦ AND ā€¦ acquire batteries to supply energy 24/7 for Tesla rechargingā€¦ AND willing to pay for it all because this is not a Makerspace expense. I say Keep the charger and parking spaceā€¦ Otherwiseā€¦

The Tesla charging station is NOT an experiment. The cost of operation of the car chargers doesnā€™t even show up on our electric bill. It is a rounding error. It isnā€™t enough to justify putting in equipment to monitor it.

Also, the ā€œparking spaceā€ you advocate freeing up, isnā€™t a parking space, it is a loading dock. The only time it should be used is for loading/unloading and active car charging.

The Tesla charging station was donated by Tesla, along with $1500 to pay for the 100A circuit to it. Part of the agreement for the donation was that it would be outside, available for use by any Tesla driver as part of the Tesla ā€œDestination Chargingā€ program. It advertises Dallas Makerspace to every Tesla driver in the area via the center console of the car. This is very cheap, very good quality exposure of Dallas Makerspace to people that have disposable income and think outside of the box.

Many (most) of the Tesla owners that have used the charger have donated after using it.

https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Monetary_Ln_EV_Charger_TaskForce#EV_Charging_Cost

As of last summer (2016) Dallas Makerspace was paying a commercial rate of $0.079/KWh for electricity (down about 9% from summer 2014). Our current rate is even cheaper, but I donā€™t have it handy.

To get the cost per hour, multiply the cost per KWh ($0.079) by the Kilowatts drawn by the car (208v x Amps). Many EVs, like most 2011/2012 Nissan Leafs, pull only 15A when charging and will cost less than $0.25 per hour to charge. The Tesla EVSE is on a dedicated 100A circuit and is set to the 80A charge rate, but it only gives that higher rate to the few Tesla cars that are equipped with dual chargers.

Amps Volts KiloWatt $/Hour	Examples
15A	 120v  1.8KW    $0.14	Bikes, Scooters, Motorcycles, older DIY
15A	 208v  3.1KW    $0.24	Volt, iMiEV, older LEAF, most Hybrid, most DIY
30A	 208v  6.2KW    $0.49	new LEAF, BMW i3/i8, Focus EV, some DIY
40A	 208v  8.3KW    $0.66	most Tesla, RAV4 EV, high-end DIY
80A	 208v 16.6KW    $1.31	Tesla Model S/X (Dual Charger)
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The Tesla charger is used quite rarely relative to the J1772 charger, itself used infrequently at best. Getting members to close the ramp door promptly during the summer will yield immensely more savingsā€¦

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Can we not get the charging station converted to the style that has a pay kiosk built in? One of the drs I do work for has a tesla but his charging station in front of his office has a card reader so any one can pull up pay and charge their car?

That seems like the simplest solution even if it is just a break even cost aka the cost to fill or charge your car vs a flat fee

Adding pay kiosk capability would cost several hundred dollars. We would never break even on the cost to convert.

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If it was removed I donā€™t think it would give us much additional space or any extra benefit. It doesnā€™t seem to take up any room or cause any problems.

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That. Even setting aside the benefit of it being a Tesla donation and easy positive publicity, trying to find a downside to it being there is an exercise in making mountains out of molehills.

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at least weā€™re MAKING something.
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