My company has moved to a new swanky building and interestingly has ChargePoint stations right there, which got me excited. However, my excitement diminished when I found that the charge is $1/hour.
For my Chevrolet Volt, I found that in one hour (with a 3.3kW Onboard Charger (OC)) I could add 8 miles of range. That means for my 30 mile commute, I will need to charge for 4 hours to get home on electricity. Given that gas is currently $3.11 at my local Valero, and I can drive 37 miles in gas/hybrid mode in my Volt, that is not economically viable - when gas is over $5/gallon, it will b e another story for my Volt. The 30 miles would be $2.50 of gas (prorated), so I'd save $1.50 per day by going non-green (or roughly $360 per year).
Turning to the Karma, it also has a 3.3kW OC. How many miles of range have folks been able to get on an hour of charge (from a 240 Volt ChargePoint)? The Fisker OC is not able to use the available 6.6kW of the ChargePoint and I have not conducted the experiment myself yet. Given the Karma does around 20 mpg, I will require 1.5 gallons to get home on gas/hybrid mode. This would be around $5 of gas. So if I can charge 30 miles of battery range in under 5 hours, it might be an economic proposition in the Karma.
Thoughts?
Simon
For my Chevrolet Volt, I found that in one hour (with a 3.3kW Onboard Charger (OC)) I could add 8 miles of range. That means for my 30 mile commute, I will need to charge for 4 hours to get home on electricity. Given that gas is currently $3.11 at my local Valero, and I can drive 37 miles in gas/hybrid mode in my Volt, that is not economically viable - when gas is over $5/gallon, it will b e another story for my Volt. The 30 miles would be $2.50 of gas (prorated), so I'd save $1.50 per day by going non-green (or roughly $360 per year).
Turning to the Karma, it also has a 3.3kW OC. How many miles of range have folks been able to get on an hour of charge (from a 240 Volt ChargePoint)? The Fisker OC is not able to use the available 6.6kW of the ChargePoint and I have not conducted the experiment myself yet. Given the Karma does around 20 mpg, I will require 1.5 gallons to get home on gas/hybrid mode. This would be around $5 of gas. So if I can charge 30 miles of battery range in under 5 hours, it might be an economic proposition in the Karma.
Thoughts?
Simon