Rivian now charging $.68 per kwh

[Trinculo73]

That's $22 per gallon of gas equivalent now. No way this makes sense any more. Good luck EVs.

That's how much many other DC fast charging stations cost already, from Tesla to EV Go. That's not news. Meanwhile I'm charging at home for a fraction of this price if I'm not on a road trip.

So why the breathless reaction here?

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[DD4ST]

Given the current anti-EV climate, I’d think you would want to keep prices low to entice people to migrate from ICE. New EV owners don’t normally use home charging for comparison, but still think they need to charge at a “station” and do that comparison.

But also, putting another hat on, companies are always trying to finesse their pricing. Notice how lone gas stations in faraway places are always significantly higher due to lack of competition? Perhaps Rivian is starting to do this analysis.

 

[Roads76]

Sadly there are now places it's cheaper to use the Tesla supercharger nearby, even without a subscription, rather than the RAN for our own vehicles.

 

[CO-Ed]

I'm bothered by some of the information in this post. For what it's worth...

• A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is a unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ).
• A U.S. gallon of gasoline, although not technically a unit of energy, contains about 120 MJ, thus expressing the energy in a gallon of gasoline in energy units.
• RAN CHARGER pricing expressed in a common unit of energy, in this instance is $0.68/kWh times kWh/3.6MJ = $0.1889/MJ
• A gallon of GASOLINE at $3.13/gallon times a gallon/120MJ = $0.0261/MJ expressed in the same common unit of energy using the current national average cost for a gallon of gasoline as of Feb. 13, 2025 (finder.com).
• The energy in a kWh, using these commodity prices, is 7.24 times higher than the energy in a gallon of gasoline.
• 7.24 times $3.13/gallon = $22.66/gallon
• BUT..., at home charging rates like $0.05/kWh (my local overnight rate), it equates to about $1.67/gallon of gasoline.

The OP is correct that the equivalent price for ENERGY at this specific RAN charger, at that specific time, would be equivalent to paying about $22/gallon of gasoline. Those who calculate this any other way are conflating efficiency and/or other variables with a straight energy price calculation.

What this really shows me is the range of pricing between the best at home charging rates to the peak DCFCs. I'm not saying it's more expensive to own and operate an EV - it isn't. Home charging definitely makes it even less expensive.

And, to be really accurate, if you are grid-tied with any type of solar-storage net metering plan, your electricity from your panels directly to charge your EV is not free, since you're missing the opportunity to earn money back for excess electricity sent to the utility - my buy-back rate last year was $0.042/kWh (or, for this conversation, about $1.40/gallon equivalent).

I think the best way to present the comparison of pricing between an EV and an ICE vehicle is with $/mi - but that adds a whole other dimension because then, to really show where the cost of ownership of an EV benefits you, you have to include at least all operating and maintenance costs, and maybe capital costs (and maybe with some estimation of resale to offset the capital costs)... messy business to say the least comparing the true $/mi. So I go back to my point, that the OP was right, this $0.68/kWh is like paying the equivalent of $22/gallon for ENERGY. It's just not the entire story IF you want to talk total cost of ownership.

 

[Patrick87]

Looks like my local(ish) RAN station in Cookeville, TN has jumped again from $0.50/kwh to $0.62/kwh...

Of the 6 stalls there, the most I've seen is two other Rivians there. Most other times, I'm the only one.

Meanwhile, there's several Tesla chargers that range in pricing from $0.38-$0.48 at the non-member pricing.

Come on Rivian...

 

[TomServo2112]

It's just not the entire story IF you want to talk total cost of ownership.

Or the more commonly used across all types of vehicles, cents-per-mile.

 

[Bullwinkle]

This is one of the reasons why someone who can't charge at home probably shouldn't buy an EV (from a financial point).

You don't really save any money on a road trip in an EV verse gas, at least my experience, unless you consider your first "tank" is cheaper because you charged from home, and your last "tank" is cheaper because you fill up when you get home.

This can also cause confusion for new EV customers, not knowing the price before they pull up to charge. They will assume its the same as last time they did it. Electric prices can vary throughout the day, depends on location, season, etc. It varies for their home also, but they may not know or care since they do the same thing at home day to day, verse the occasional road trip that requires charging.

I have a friend that just bought a Bolt and doesn't have a home charger. There are a number of free level 2 chargers close to his house. He can charge while in Walgreens, the liquor store, the grocery store and two different malls. He also can put 50 miles on overnight plugging it into an outlet, but he needs to use an extension cord.

 

[Davethadog]

On a 20 mpg car that’s about $7 a gallon equivalent assuming 2mi/kwh. I know the department of education isn’t gone yet but sometimes I feel like it has been for years. I don’t give a fuck how much energy is actually in a gallon of gas only how far it gets me.

 

[QGessner]

One gallon of gas is 33.7kwh. just multiply the two numbers.

In other math, $.68 / 2.4 miles per kwh is $.28 per mile which is my overall efficiency.

Our gx470 at 20mpg and $5 per gallon would be $.25 per mile. This means that the rivian in an overall energy sense, with their sustainable new charging infrastructure, is worse than 20mpg. Whatever claim of mpge is just inefficiency pushed somewhere else in their system.

Wrong. One gallon of gas does not equate to 33.7kwh unless your getting 67+ MPG from you gas "equivalent."

 

[Antonio]

I just surveyed Washington RAN and Tesla SC near them. That $.44 Tesla SC is Moses lake, far from Spokane. Liberty Lake is down the road from that Spokane Mall RAN and charges $.54.

It seems Rivian is finally implementing market prices, good for them. I'm ready to see a Rivian membership pricing model.

Yes, but there are some EV connect options at 0.36 around here. By the way, not saying they are wrong at increasing their price. It did catch me by surprise. I did t do my homework prior to going to the RAN

 

[HaveBlue]

CA has the highest electricity prices in the nation so that gets reflected in RAN prices

I guess Las Vegas too then

 

[Riviot]

Yes, but there are some EV connect options at 0.36 around here. By the way, not saying they are wrong at increasing their price. It did catch me by surprise. I did t do my homework prior to going to the RAN

The only $.36 option is the 50kW in Kendall Yards (which is always broken or ICEd in my experience), all of the 180kW chargers went up to $.42. Even EA went up there, $.64 now.

 

[HaveBlue]

I'm bothered by some of the information in this post. For what it's worth...

• A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is a unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ).
• A U.S. gallon of gasoline, although not technically a unit of energy, contains about 120 MJ, thus expressing the energy in a gallon of gasoline in energy units.
• RAN CHARGER pricing expressed in a common unit of energy, in this instance is $0.68/kWh times kWh/3.6MJ = $0.1889/MJ
• A gallon of GASOLINE at $3.13/gallon times a gallon/120MJ = $0.0261/MJ expressed in the same common unit of energy using the current national average cost for a gallon of gasoline as of Feb. 13, 2025 (finder.com).
• The energy in a kWh, using these commodity prices, is 7.24 times higher than the energy in a gallon of gasoline.
• 7.24 times $3.13/gallon = $22.66/gallon
• BUT..., at home charging rates like $0.05/kWh (my local overnight rate), it equates to about $1.67/gallon of gasoline.

The OP is correct that the equivalent price for ENERGY at this specific RAN charger, at that specific time, would be equivalent to paying about $22/gallon of gasoline. Those who calculate this any other way are conflating efficiency and/or other variables with a straight energy price calculation.

What this really shows me is the range of pricing between the best at home charging rates to the peak DCFCs. I'm not saying it's more expensive to own and operate an EV - it isn't. Home charging definitely makes it even less expensive.

And, to be really accurate, if you are grid-tied with any type of solar-storage net metering plan, your electricity from your panels directly to charge your EV is not free, since you're missing the opportunity to earn money back for excess electricity sent to the utility - my buy-back rate last year was $0.042/kWh (or, for this conversation, about $1.40/gallon equivalent).

I think the best way to present the comparison of pricing between an EV and an ICE vehicle is with $/mi - but that adds a whole other dimension because then, to really show where the cost of ownership of an EV benefits you, you have to include at least all operating and maintenance costs, and maybe capital costs (and maybe with some estimation of resale to offset the capital costs)... messy business to say the least comparing the true $/mi. So I go back to my point, that the OP was right, this $0.68/kWh is like paying the equivalent of $22/gallon for ENERGY. It's just not the entire story IF you want to talk total cost of ownership.

Exactly and thank you. From the very beginning, Rivian has stated that their stations are powered by renewable energy. The implication is wind, solar or hydro contracts. Those have little to do with fossil fuel, their demand or inefficiency in conversion. The implication is that either renewables cost more than fossil to make electricity or they/someone is cashing in. The disparity between this and home energy pricing is enormous. Supply and demand I guess. They'll charge until people buy somewhere else or use gas because it's cheaper per mile traveled.

120MJ / 3.6 MJ = 33.3 kwh

 

[mroe]

Got surprised by this at Truckee RAN yesterday. Total scam!

 

[jambaman84]

It's kind of crazy charging for an hour and paying ICE vehicle prices. They really need to lower the price of electricity. And I know 95% of charging is done at home, but if you have PGE it's also very expensive to charge at home (at least in California).

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