New EV owner about 2 months in. One of the biggest reasons I went with an electric vehicle was for the cost savings. After my 500kWh of Electrify America (EA) charging was depleted, I began crunching numbers. Some fast charging can be almost as expensive as gas for my previous vehicle on an MPG basis. I only have a level 1 charger at home, which works well for most of our needs. But now I’m considering getting the free bus pass my work offers and using it to get to a free charging station while my car charges. Is this going too far in trying to save money?
I’ll opportunity charge at a mall, shopping center, or grocery store if I happen to be shopping there anyway, but free public charging saves me about $1/hour. Since my home charging is around $40/month, I won’t inconvenience myself for that.
I have 3 years of free EA charging, but I rarely use it. Public charging is frustrating due to lines and bad etiquette. I just charge at home now, even if it costs a little more.
It seems like you’re going a bit overboard with the free charging idea.
Buying a bus pass for this seems a bit much. Personally, I’ll walk 10 minutes out of the way to use free Level 2 charging, but not much more than that.
I got a job at an EV company to access free charging, so I guess I went pretty far!
Take the bus pass, but consider the value of your time. Calculate how much you’re saving compared to the time you spend commuting to and from the charger.