Cost of charging Battery

[Panzer Leader]

I recently purchased a 2017 Energi and my kill o watt meter measured only 96 Kwh for the month but my electric bill showed higher usage by over 300 Kwh per month ever since I purchased the Energi. Has anyone else experienced unexpectedly high electric usage in their electric bill?

[murphy]

Kill-O-Watt meters reset if incoming power is lost for an instant.

 

At about 7 kWh per full charge that would be 7 x 30 = 210 kWh per month if charged once per day.

 

If you want to measure your charging kWh usage, install one of these.

 

http://www.ekmmetering.com/120-volt-basic-pass-through-kwh-meter-2-wire-50a-60hz-ekm-15ids.html

 

I have the 120 volt version and the 240 volt version.  They retain their reading for at least 10 years in the absence of incoming power.

[Panzer Leader]

Thanks for your reply Murphy. I don't fully charge my battery every night since so using 100 Kwh during the month was reasonable. Also I measured my charges using the Kill O Watt meter for one entire month and each day the amount of Kwh shown in the meter per mile was consistent. Therefore it is a mystery why my electric bill shows much higher usage than what I should have spent charging my car. I am testing by driving only on Hybrid mode so see the impact on my next electric bill compared to the prior year. Is the increase in your electric bill (in Kwh) consistent with the expected usage to charge your car?

[murphy]

Thanks for your reply Murphy. I don't fully charge my battery every night since so using 100 Kwh during the month was reasonable. Also I measured my charges using the Kill O Watt meter for one entire month and each day the amount of Kwh shown in the meter per mile was consistent. Therefore it is a mystery why my electric bill shows much higher usage than what I should have spent charging my car. I am testing by driving only on Hybrid mode so see the impact on my next electric bill compared to the prior year. Is the increase in your electric bill (in Kwh) consistent with the expected usage to charge your car?

My electric bill doesn't increase because I have 10 kW of solar panels on the roof of my house.

[Russael]

Do you have a tiered electric rate?  For example, paying .10 per kwh up to 500kwh, and then pay .15 per kwh, from 500 to 800, and then .25 for anything over 800 per month?  The Fusion could be pushing you in to a new pricing tier.

[tripper]

I think you can see the amount of energy you use on your myford account.  look on the "my driving page" and switch the chart to energy used

[bdginmo]

I think you can see the amount of energy you use on your myford account.  look on the "my driving page" and switch the chart to energy used

 

Oh, that's pretty cool. I didn't know about that. Anyway, yeah, so take that number and multiple by 1.4 to get an estimate for how much is pulled through the meter. You have to use a multiplier because charging isn't 100% efficient. 1.4x is a pretty conservative multiplier that takes into account the charging efficiency on 120v and the fact that the MFM slightly underestimates kwh used (at least in my experience).

[Panzer Leader]

I stopped charging my 2017 Energi (120V outlet) for most of my March to April monthly billing period and my Kwh usage dropped by more than 300 Kwh compared with prior month and with prior year. In the prior month I used only 100 Kwh but my electric bill increased by more than 300 Kwh compared with the prior year.  I am really surprised that I am using 3x the amount of electricity charging my Energi than I expected so it seems it makes little economic sense for me to continue charging my Energi since it gets great average 48 MPG using only the hybrid engine.  Has anyone else seen much higher Kwh usage from their electricity bill than expected with charging their Energi?

[murphy]

Driving electric is not about saving money.  It's about saving the planet.  Driving electric puts zero pollution into the air. 

 

The battery is 7.6 kWh maximum.  Charged once a day that is 30 * 7.6 = 228 kWh per month.  Why did you think it would be less than that?

[bdginmo]

In my case driving electric does save money. That's because my electric rates are so low. But, like murphy said, you're usage is in line with expectations. In the summer I curtail my charging because my rates jump up 4 months out of the year so it's not as economical, but it's also because I don't want to stress the HVB too much in the high heat.

[Panzer Leader]

For an entire monthly billing period, I charged my Energi 4 times per week and most of the time I had about 15% battery remaining, which is why my Kill o Watt meter only showed approximately 100 Kwh of charging during the monthly period. Unfortunately my actual electricity bill consistently showed much higher usage of approximately 300 Kwh over the prior year. I am very interested in lowering my carbon footprint and don't mind spending a little more to drive EV over Hybrid but I am dumbfounded by the actual increase in Kwh per my electricity bill over my expected usage per my Kill o Watt meter.  Therefore, has any new Energi owner looked at their electricity bill and see if their increased Kwh usage is consistent with their expectations?

[Kaleido]

I don't know if anyone is aware of this fact from the Ford web page, I found it interesting.

 

Q: Why does my vehicle start charging immediately when I have a Value Charge Profile created for this location?

 

A: The vehicle overrides the Value Charge Profile if the State of Charge of the traction battery is less than 10%. After the vehicle charges up to 10%, it will delay the remainder of the charge until the lower-cost times selected in the Value Charge Profile.

[bdginmo]

For an entire monthly billing period, I charged my Energi 4 times per week and most of the time I had about 15% battery remaining, which is why my Kill o Watt meter only showed approximately 100 Kwh of charging during the monthly period. Unfortunately my actual electricity bill consistently showed much higher usage of approximately 300 Kwh over the prior year. I am very interested in lowering my carbon footprint and don't mind spending a little more to drive EV over Hybrid but I am dumbfounded by the actual increase in Kwh per my electricity bill over my expected usage per my Kill o Watt meter.  Therefore, has any new Energi owner looked at their electricity bill and see if their increased Kwh usage is consistent with their expectations?

 

Ok, yeah, that doesn't add up then. 4x per week at 85% "fill up" probably would be a bit more than 100 kwh. Either you have a 200 kwh load that you need to identify or your meter is wrong. 

[jsamp]

Panzer,

 

The only thing I can think of is if for some reason your Climate Control is on all night while you charge.  That would add a significant draw, but the system shouldn't do that (at least I don't think so).

[YoloSwaggins]

Driving electric is not about saving money.  It's about saving the planet.  Driving electric puts zero pollution into the air. 

 

The battery is 7.6 kWh maximum.  Charged once a day that is 30 * 7.6 = 228 kWh per month.  Why did you think it would be less than that?

This is only true if you get your electricity from renewable sources. 90% of US power comes from coal or natural gas, so if that's the case for you; you are just putting less pollution into the air. 

[YoloSwaggins]

all you guys saying "Kill-O-Watt" sound Hilarious XD. It's just "kilowatt" Kilo as in "1000"

[YoloSwaggins]

Panzer,

 

The only thing I can think of is if for some reason your Climate Control is on all night while you charge.  That would add a significant draw, but the system shouldn't do that (at least I don't think so).

in order for that to happen you would need to leave the car running without noticing it somehow. It honks at you twice when the keys leave the car while its still running so you would have to be deaf not to notice. I actually do this to keep my dog nice and cool while I run into the store for 5-10 mins. it works well but drains the battery by a few miles. 

Edited December 4, 2017 at 06:03 PM by YoloSwaggins

[murphy]

This is only true if you get your electricity from renewable sources. 90% of US power comes from coal or natural gas, so if that's the case for you; you are just putting less pollution into the air. 

All of my electricity for car charging comes from the 10 kW of PV solar panels on the roof of my house.  Since they were installed in September 2013 they have generated 50.4 MWh (50,400,000 Wh) of electricity.

[jj2me]

all you guys saying "Kill-O-Watt" sound Hilarious XD. It's just "kilowatt" Kilo as in "1000"

 

Misspelled slightly from Kill-A-Watt, referring to the most common consumer-grade electricity usage meter.

[jsamp]

This is only true if you get your electricity from renewable sources. 90% of US power comes from coal or natural gas, so if that's the case for you; you are just putting less pollution into the air. 

 

Not sure where you get your info from, but in 2016 the US electrical grid average was only ~65% fossil fuels and that is dropping every year.

 

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

 

 

In my case it is 100% renewable, so every mile replaced by electricity is a mile of 0 pollution.

[jsamp]

Driving electric is not about saving money.  It's about saving the planet.  Driving electric puts zero pollution into the air. 

 

 

Driving electric is about whatever your reasons are.  For some it is saving money, for some it is zero pollution, for some it is a political statement, for others it is getting in on the future of driving.

 

Driving electric saves me over $1/day for my commute vs gas for a standard Fusion SE, and $2.50/day due to reduced tolls for PHEVs.  I paid (used) about a $2000 premium for the Energi over a Fusion ICE.  So my payback would be a little over 2 years just using my commute (not counting other trips).  So long term I will be saving money.  That is a lesser reason for me to get the Energi, but a reason none the less.

 

My main decision driver was reduced pollution, with saving money and being part of the future being lesser reasons.