Did you know many utilities across the country are willing pay you for the cost of driving thousands of miles if you own an EV?
What’s known as off-peak charging discounts are growing in popularity as utilities incentivize EV owners to charge their cars at home while they sleep when electricity usage is at its lowest point.
Program details vary between utilities and not every utility offers one, so for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to use my utility as an example.
Jacksonville, Florida’s public utility is JEA. EV owners here can sign up to charge their EVs and plug-in hybrids between the hours of 10 pm and 7am on weeknights and at any time on the weekends.
In return, customers get $7 a month per vehicle credit that’s paid quarterly.
In my family’s case that adds up to $21 a month since we have three EVs: two cars and a motorcycle. JEA also allows three anytime charges per month for emergencies or anything unexpected that might crop up.
If you’re thinking that’s not worth the effort, keep in mind that just about every EV and plug-in hybrid built within the last seven years or so comes standard with charging automation software that is designed to take advantage of the incentives.
If you can set your alarm clock, believe me, you can program your EV so you can set it and forget it.
JEA estimates drivers that take part in its program that own the most fuel efficient EVs can get up to 2,400 miles worth of free fuel per year.
As an example, the last time I checked, my Ford Mustang Mach-E cost $12.74 to fill up at home. In combined city/highway driving, Ford estimates the Mach-E gets 277 miles per charge, which based on my personal experience seems accurate.
But even assuming I only get 240 miles or so per charge, which can be the case during interstate travel, I’d still be receiving more than 1,400 miles of free fuel for the Mach-E per year.
The free fuel miles are even higher for our other EVs, a Mini Cooper SE and Zero Motorcycles SR/F, which are more efficient.
The easiest way to check to see if your utility has a similar program is to do a Bing or Google search, typing in something like your utility’s name and “EV incentives” or “off-peak incentives.” If that doesn’t work, try going to your utility’s website and doing a search.
Related
In the video at the top of this post you’ll find some examples of how you can automate your EV’s charging using its built in software to easily take advantage of off peak incentives if your utility offers them.
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