How much are you guys paying to charge in public?

[ttxgpfan]

I know many stations are free at the moment but I was planning an imaginary trip on my imaginary Empulse to an imaginary race (not bored, just curious), and noticed there were Blink and Chargepoint stations along the way.  I have myself stopping every 30-50 miles just because of the distances.  Looking at the Blink and Chargepoint fess it's something like $2 and hour!  Most Leafs and Volts are only 3.3kW chargers so an assumed $0.14/kWh that is $0.46 worth of electricity.  I'd have to pay 4X the cost of electricity!?  And since I am paying per hour, and not for energy used that is $2 to go 40 miles, or $10 one way for the 300mile trip not including the lay over and charging over night at a hotel.  That seems really high.  On the other hand, on my 500 I could make it on 2 tanks probably.  So 9 gallons at maybe 3.50/gallon is $31.  But I would get there much sooner. 

Either way $2 an hour seems like highway robbery.  What do you guys think?

[flar]

$2 is highway robbery and I once had to stop at a Walgreens for an emergency session with a Chargepoint - all of the Walgreens are charging $2/hour for their Chargepoints, grrr...

You can sign up for Blink Plus for free through the end of 2013 and get the reduced $1/hour rate.  That's at least something.

Blink chargers seem to all charge a fee around here, but at least 50% of Chargepoints are free.  I haven't stopped at a Chargepoint at a company (i.e for their employees), but I did use a free one at a hotel and stopped into the lobby to make sure they were OK with it. The evening clerk was psyched that the chargers were being used and very curious about the bike so it was cool.  I once had to use one that charged per kwh and it was about as bad as the $2/hour, but it was near where I wanted to stop.  If I was planning a trip I'd hunt more for free ones and just amuse myself wherever the free ones were.

The Chargepoint Android app allows you to filter on free chargers, but I didn't find a way to do that on the web site.

Another site/app to use is Plugshare.  It lets you search multiple networks and even privately owned charging stations if you sign in.  Not sure how the negotiation goes to use a privately owned charger, though - I'm too shy to try that...

[implovator]

I was stoked to learn about Chargepoint when we got our first charger from them near where I live (Raleigh, NC). Mostly I was amazed at their Web 2.0 approach to they're hardware and network. We've got a handful of their stations at my office and there are a few others sprinkled around the area.

Well with the Empulse's extra range, I find myself a lot more interested in finding not-so-nearby stations. Saturday, I tested out four different level 2 charging stations installations around town. I found them by pure dumb luck from this wiki for the area: https://trianglewiki.org/EV_charging_station_location . One of the stations was free to charge, pay to park. Non EVs can park there for 15 minutes only. The parking was free on the weekend so that was free. The rest of the stations were completely free. One was at a local business for their employees and the other two were at city buildings (library and community center). For my area, it's a good resource for finding non-Chargepoint stations. I just hope the data doesn't go stale. I know that there are other semi-public stations too, but they're going to be trickier to find.

Even though there might be listings of other charging stations to be found,

[kingcharles]

I pay €0.25 per kwh
and one card works on all charging platforms (except chademo)

[ttxgpfan]

I checked out Blink's site first and found it less friendly than Charge points.  Blink has different levels and the lowest means you're paying $2/hr, the Plus like you said gets you $1/hr.  Charge point seems to have more stations near me than Blink, but I was using PlugShare to plan my route, which was really handy.  I'd be using mostly Nissan dealers in my imaginary trip to get to my destination, so really it wouldn't cost even $10.  But our free charging days are numbered and I was a bit shocked at the cost.  I had foreseen it, but was still sticker shocked.

Thanks guys!

[FreepZ]

I'd be using mostly Nissan dealers in my imaginary trip to get to my destination, so really it wouldn't cost even $10.

You mean your "fantasy" trip. As far as I know, the Nissan dealership policy for non-Nissan vehicles is to say "No. The chargers are for Nissan Leafs only."

In Florida, stations used to be forced to charge by the hour, but the government changed the law to allow stations to charge by the kWh. Rates are generally either free, 0.14 per kWh, or 0.50 per kWh. 0.14 is close to residential rates, so I would pay that. 0.50 is for desperate people only, I keep away from those. Free is of course best, but when I use them I would often be a good citizen and shop or eat at whatever facility is supplying the energy.