Saved so much $$$ buying a Rivian 😂

[R1Thor]

If you can charge at home, especially off solar, and also at work (often free) then yes, any EV is going to have lower 'fuel' costs. Now how about we factor in:
- using public chargers (vs $3 national avg. gas price)
- the TIME you waste and the hassle factor of public charging
- higher insurance costs, tire wear (offsetting lower maintenance like oil changes)
- generally higher LFL cost of ICE vs EV
- higher costs when out of warranty

Just saying.

Ooh! I'll play

-I don't have any need for or use public chargers at all
- I haven't wasted any time at all on public chargers, not once!
- My insurance went DOWN coming from a 2018 Volvo V60 Polestar. And my tire wear is better than the my Polestar (hot heavy hatch on soft rubber = first set of Michelins burned through in 12k)
- Polestar had high maintenance costs. My Rivian has virtually none!
- Warranty is much longer on the Rivian, so while I cannot speak one way or another on that, it's irrelevant for now.

So...I'd suggest you don't overgeneralize. For SURE you can find good solid evidence of specific vehicles and use cases that validate your points. But it's not sweeping across the board!

...Just saying!

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[Nine_One_Six_R1S]

Come join us in Sacramento, CA! For EVs, it's only $0.1275/kWh in the Summer and $0.1 /kWh in the Winter. And for $20 a month, the community owned utility (SMUD) will supply your electricity from 100% renewable resources.

SMUD Rocks,

the savings from SMUD are being eaten by insurance costs though. So I estimated is breakeven.

 

[srnyoung]

Poll needs a "$0.00" option as some of us have enough solar panels that it covers our household consumption and our EV fleet consumption as well.

Are those of you with solar saying your panels were free? Do you not have a breakeven per kWh cost for the panels?

 

[R1Thor]

Are those of you with solar saying your panels were free? Do you not have a breakeven per kWh cost for the panels?

I can't speak for everyone, but I bought my solar to handle my house utility needs way before I even thought about buying an EV.

Since my state has net metering and I have only ever over-produced (over the course of a year), I consider it a wash. Had I purchased and spec'd my system FOR my EV, I might have a different idea of what it 'costs' to charge. My .02

 

[calpolymatt]

Gas at $4.05/gallon yesterday and PG&E charging me $.49/kw - it's officially cheaper to drive my Wrangler than my Rivian. Sad state of affairs out here in CA.

I sold my Rivian last month for the same reason. I bought a Canyon AT4. While that truck is not in the same class as the Rivian, I figure I'm spending $200 less on gas than electricity, $250 on payment, $20 on insurance and registration is $600 cheaper.

 

[srnyoung]

I can't speak for everyone, but I bought my solar to handle my house utility needs way before I even thought about buying an EV.

Since my state has net metering and I have only ever over-produced (over the course of a year), I consider it a wash. Had I purchased and spec'd my system FOR my EV, I might have a different idea of what it 'costs' to charge. My .02

I understand. That still means you came up with a total electrical need per day and spec'd your system for that. (Hopefully you didn't overbuild your system so much that you can still be net positive even after adding the EV.)
So, do the math for us, how much energy does it supply per year, time the number of years you expect it to last. Divide the total cost by that number of kWhs. The additional consumption of the EV just means the panel will breakeven sooner.

Anyway, I'm genuinely curious.
Here in Oregon, with cheap hydro power and lots of clouds, solar panels take a long time to pay off, though shorter with 2 EVs in our house. Still haven't decided to jump in yet.

 

[R1Thor]

I understand. That still means you came up with a total electrical need per day and spec'd your system for that. (Hopefully you didn't overbuild your system so much that you can still be net positive even after adding the EV.)
So, do the math for us, how much energy does it supply per year, time the number of years you expect it to last. Divide the total cost by that number of kWhs. The additional consumption of the EV just means the panel will breakeven sooner.

Anyway, I'm genuinely curious.
Here in Oregon, with cheap hydro power and lots of clouds, solar panels take a long time to pay off, though shorter with 2 EVs in our house. Still haven't decided to jump in yet.

I'll put it this way.
The most we've paid for an electric bill since I've had my R1T is ~$150 (over the winter months when we barely produce).

Driving used cost me about $250/month in fuel due to my lofty commute. SO, I'm saving $100/month driving the truck during the worst time of the year (and even more when we consider the costs I was responsible for maintenance-wise with that car). I haven't done the math on the kilowatts, kilowatt hours, and overall savings. We WERE on track to breakeven around the 7.5 year mark, and I'm sure Thor pushed that back a bit. This is a guess without actual calculations assessed, but I imagine my breakeven if closer to 12 years now (if I maintain my current usage).

But my system has a 20 year warranty, so that's not a great concern, to be honest.

 

[TrashPanda]

Super off peak times in atlanta are from 11pm-7am year round where it’s only 1 cent/kwh. Awesome

 

[SANZC02]

Sounds like time to install solar + battery storage given the high cost of electricity from your provider.

Especially in SoCal, with the federal tax credits and high cost for electricity along the coast, the system I installed with a battery will pay for itself in less than 45 months. That was what I calculated when I had it installed, 30 months in and it is still tracking, looks like closer to 42 or 43 month for payback and all free after that.

 

[IGR]

A single 100A circurit can support up to 5 EVs charging(1) at a rate which adds 10-12 mile/hour. Which sounds reasonable for an office, hotel, resort, etc.

1. Tesla Universal Wall connector $600-ish each. 4+ chargers qualifies the location for Tesla Commercial Charging services. $0.01 kWh administration cost to Tesla gets you lots of metrics on the charging, ability to set pay-per-use. Check your state, local, utility incentives to add EV charging to your workplace. Plus 30% IRS tax credits.

Thanks for the information.
Wish it was that easy, some people just hate EVs. They heard something on the news and now everyone in the office thinks that EV pulls megawatts every time you would connect it...

 

[NY_Rob]

Are those of you with solar saying your panels were free? Do you not have a breakeven per kWh cost for the panels?

No, not free, but after 6.5 yrs they're paid off in lieu of utility bills and now just give free electricity going forward. We annually produce a bit more than we consume even with 3 EV's in the family.

My 43 panels/system cost $24K after fed and NY rebates, our electric bill based on consumption (3 EV's and a 5 bedroom house) would be $325-$350/month. The math is $24,000/$337 = 71 months for system payoff.

 

[Friar_J]

I'm on an EV rate plan in the SF Bay Area on PG&E with 3rd party generation by San Jose Clean Energy. Doing some math on my latest bill it seems my off-peak rate when including generation, distribution, and fees comes to $0.34/kWh. But I generally charge my R1T at work where I get charged $0.25/kWh.

The charger at home gets used to charge my wife's Volvo XC90 PHEV. In our use case it gets roughly 22 mpg when it doesn't get plugged in and around 2 mi/kWh on EV mode. Based on this, the break even point is around $3.74 per gallon. I haven't seen premium gas prices drop this low around here so we still plug in regularly.

 

[JR72]

We definitely aren't saving that much money buying a Rivian lol

Went from a Ram 2500 with Cummings diesel to a Rivian. Free charging at work vs $175 for last fill up in the RAM. Would fill it up 4 times a month.

 

[pricedm]

Thanks for the information.
Wish it was that easy, some people just hate EVs. They heard something on the news and now everyone in the office thinks that EV pulls megawatts every time you would connect it...

Yes. I am in the process of getting EVSE installed in my condo garage. I requested a simple one paragraph statement from HOA board supporing the project, as a requirement to access Charge Ahead Colorado grant money. Board declined-- however, they did ask me to come back with details (fire marshal worries, insurance increase if HOA owns the hardware, etc.) But yes, too many are anti-EV.

 

[SANZC02]

Are those of you with solar saying your panels were free? Do you not have a breakeven per kWh cost for the panels?

Hard to get a real number as my rates are all over the place, we have TOU, winter/summer, below/above base line. I added a Powerwall with my installation so I run off that during peak so it sends any generated between 4 and 9 pm back to the grid at the higher NEM rates.

These are what they have for averages

I’ve generated 24.5 megawatts in 29 months. Based on the above using 1/3 peak 1/3 off peak and 1/3 super off peak it averages to 43.6 cents a kWh so I’ve generated $10,682 in power, paid just under 15k for my system after tax rebates and credits. It will have broke even in another 15 months or so.

I paid $0 to my utility company in 2022 and a total of $12.04 to them since I purchased my R1S in January of 2023. So no the panels were not free but the ROI is going to be less than 4 years on panels with a 92% guarantee after 20 years.

Also have the benefit of the main rooms in the house on battery backup during a power outage.

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