Are you using Tesla membership?

[RickRivian]

The “plug & charge” challenge is, there is no way for Rivian to know IF you have a tesla charging membership, so they can’t pass through the Tesla vehicle only rate through their interface, integration and billing system. It would be nice, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.

As for the value of the Tesla membership (12.99 in most areas), most have commented just use it dynamically, variably however you are going to be charging. For road trips, I simply sign up for the Tesla membership the day we leave - as we’ll most likely be using Tesla SC starting that day.

With the majority of the daytime price differential being at LEAST .20 cents Per kw between the Tesla preferred rate and the non - Tesla rate, the math comes out to be about 65kw. If you’re willing to charge early, sometimes before 08:00 or 10:00 in some places, the differential can be much higher.

65kw is about what an R2 will take going from 10% to 80% charge ONE TIME.

For any roadtrip where SC’s are on your charging plan, it’s a no brainer. And yes, you can signup in real time pulling into an SC.. my recommendation is have the app setup in advance with a login, credit card authenticated etc. Then it’s just a simple click to add a 30 day membership before selecting IN THE APP which charger you plan to use.

Ford tested providing the EA discount with their Plug and Charge, and it worked great. You would pay Ford the membership fee. They tested it, it worked, and it never rolled out. One can hypothesize on the reasons, including they didn't want to handle the customer service of people adding, cancelling, and it glitching, the cost of handling the charging activity, the fact that they wanted an annual fee and most people want to turn it on for a month, then maybe again months later, etc.

Your Tesla numbers are off. No, the differential isn't AT LEAST 20 cents. In fact, it would be rare for it to be that high. It's usually around 15 or 16 cents. Breakeven is closer to 80kWh.

No, the differential isn't higher in off hours, it's actually SMALLER. The COST is LOWER, therefore the differential is SMALLER...

I picked a location, 16 cents different. $12.99 / .16 = 81
Picked another, differential is 16 cents there too...
And another, it's 18 cents. $12.99/.18 = 72kWh.

Sponsored

 

[iamnid]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong. It seems like Tesla app needs cellular data connection from the phone to detect location. My phone is always connected to vehicle hotspot. And Tesla app can't determine location when the phone connected over WiFi. Are you supposed to enter the address of location?
Another quirk of Tesla app, I can't add a new vehicle, because Save button is overlaying the phone's Close button, so every time I try to Save the new vehicle it closes the app instead:

You might be able to fix the second problem by adjusting the text on your phone. For the first problem, you can manually enter your location and select the site and then tell it which stall you're trying to use. There's really no reason to add your vehicle information into the app.

 

[tivoboy]

Ford tested providing the EA discount with their Plug and Charge, and it worked great. You would pay Ford the membership fee. They tested it, it worked, and it never rolled out. One can hypothesize on the reasons, including they didn't want to handle the customer service of people adding, cancelling, and it glitching, the cost of handling the charging activity, the fact that they wanted an annual fee and most people want to turn it on for a month, then maybe again months later, etc.

Your Tesla numbers are off. No, the differential isn't AT LEAST 20 cents. In fact, it would be rare for it to be that high. It's usually around 15 or 16 cents. Breakeven is closer to 80kWh.

No, the differential isn't higher in off hours, it's actually SMALLER. The COST is LOWER, therefore the differential is SMALLER...

I picked a location, 16 cents different. $12.99 / .16 = 81
Picked another, differential is 16 cents there too...
And another, it's 18 cents. $12.99/.18 = 72kWh.

I just checked one nearby, it’s .71$ in the rivian app, and .48 for the Tesla rate.

Let me see here, carry the one, divide by pi, hmm, soon I’ll get.. give me a sec.. maybe there’s an app on my phone? I know I have an abacus around here somewhere. Was there something I could do with shells maybe?

 

[SANZC02]

Ford tested providing the EA discount with their Plug and Charge, and it worked great. You would pay Ford the membership fee. They tested it, it worked, and it never rolled out. One can hypothesize on the reasons, including they didn't want to handle the customer service of people adding, cancelling, and it glitching, the cost of handling the charging activity, the fact that they wanted an annual fee and most people want to turn it on for a month, then maybe again months later, etc.

Your Tesla numbers are off. No, the differential isn't AT LEAST 20 cents. In fact, it would be rare for it to be that high. It's usually around 15 or 16 cents. Breakeven is closer to 80kWh.

No, the differential isn't higher in off hours, it's actually SMALLER. The COST is LOWER, therefore the differential is SMALLER...

I picked a location, 16 cents different. $12.99 / .16 = 81
Picked another, differential is 16 cents there too...
And another, it's 18 cents. $12.99/.18 = 72kWh.

It is hard to try to give a formula as most cases are going to be site dependent.

For instance, this site in HB, CA at low congestion you pay for the monthly charge with 31 kWh. If you were adding 80 kWh the membership on that one charge puts $21 in your pocket. I realize this is on the far end of the spectrum but is not a unique case as other sites are out there similar to this.

 

[RickRivian]

Charged in over 30 states, including CA, but never saw those kind of prices. Looks like some substantial increases since I was there.

So, except for the west coast, breakeven is a bit more charging.

SLC - .57 / .41
Denver - .63 / .45
Chicago - .55 / .40
Boston - .60 / .43
Dallas - .63 / .40

 

[CharonPDX]

I see that you own 2016 Model S. Doesn't that vehicle have lifetime free supercharging?

Are you saying you'll charge for free but not it you have to pay for it???

Exactly. At least on that network. I will happily use it when it costs them money when I use it.

 

[CharonPDX]

Appropriate responce. EA was created by VW for their sins and VW was started by Hitler.

That association ended a very long time ago - when Hitler killed himself.

The topic of this thread’s association is sadly still ongoing.

 

[Zoidz]

I'm confused, how did you get a better price through the Tesla app without an active membership? The plug-and-charge rate should just be the non-member rate billed indirectly via Rivian instead of directly through Tesla.

Dunno, perhaps I'm the one that is confused. As I mentioned, I DCFC only every few months and some of that is RAN.

As I recall, I planned my trip and during that planning (Rivian, ABRP, or Plug Share, I don't remember) I saw a pretty high price. When I got there, I used the Tesla app to start the session and the rate was lower than what I was expecting, and I absolutely did not pay the monthly fee, it was a quick "range insurance" charge session. So I was assuming that there were 3 rates - non-Tesla Plug and Charge, Tesla app without monthly membership fee, and Telsa app with monthly membership fee. Or to express it another way, it led me to believe there was a non-Tesla vehicle Plug and Charge surcharge, like what was discussed earlier in this thread.

Is it possible that what really happened is I was seeing a higher price when planning due to Tesla's surge pricing, and when I got there the price had dropped, making me think just using the app got me a better price?

 

[Joules Burn]

That association ended a very long time ago - when Hitler killed himself.

The topic of this thread’s association is sadly still ongoing.

The Tesla V2 chargers are extremely efficient. Germany’s V2 rockets were not so much. Products, entertainers, services, a company - somewhere everyone one will find somebody or something they dislike - left or right. Signal your virtue but it is probably a downwind smoke signal that hurts more people in the middle than the top - from Bud Lite to Target to Elon.

I use EA chargers when there is no other choice because they are as reliable as Germany's V2 rockets.

 

[CharonPDX]

Products, entertainers, services, a company - somewhere everyone one will find somebody or something they dislike - left or right. Signal your virtue but it is probably a downwind smoke signal that hurts more people in the middle than the top - from Bud Lite to Target to Elon.

You're right, it's possible to find something to dislike about nearly everything. But I do make an effort to not support companies/people who are *loudly* against things I support. Sure, my individual dollars redirected may not make enough of a difference to their bottom line for them to notice. Mentioning it online may not convince anyone else, thus not have any impact. And there are a few of them that I know I haven't mentioned anywhere, online or in person, so it's not a "public boycott" that will cause action, either.

But it makes me feel better knowing my money isn't supporting those causes, even a little bit.

I massively disagree with the Westboro Baptist Church, with their vile protesting of veteran/servicemember funerals, so if a company was donating money to them, I would absolutely not spend any money with that company. (An extreme made-up example - I'm pretty sure no company donates to them.)

 

[Golferguy]

The Tesla V2 chargers are extremely efficient. Germany’s V2 rockets were not so much. Products, entertainers, services, a company - somewhere everyone one will find somebody or something they dislike - left or right. Signal your virtue but it is probably a downwind smoke signal that hurts more people in the middle than the top - from Bud Lite to Target to Elon.

I use EA chargers when there is no other choice because they are as reliable as Germany's V2 rockets.

V2 Tesla chargers are Tesla only. They use power sharing and can be a PIA to use. Did you mean V3 or V4 Tesla.

 

[Joules Burn]

V2 Tesla chargers are Tesla only. They use power sharing and can be a PIA to use. Did you mean V3 or V4 Tesla.

Yes. You are correct. The comparison was lost in the numbers. EA chargers have blinded my reality.

Sponsored