NRG eVgo

I attended the Dulles eVgo opening and the payment scheme makes no sense to me. These charging stations need to make it easier for people to give them money not harder. All charging systems should have an ability to swipe your credit card so you can use it once and be done with it.

These are good critiques. @fryfrye, who have you contacted at NRG? I know senior management there well enough to follow up; would you please send me whatever you sent to NRG so I have some specifics? There aren't any EVGo stations in New England, so I'm not very familiar with their pricing policies.

FWIW, the CEO of NRG usually drives his Fisker Karma, but also has a Roadster, a Volt, and a Model S. There are 3 (free) EVGo stations at the front door of NRG's HQ. So, NRG really is trying to do the right thing.

Out here in California, my understanding is that credit card readers are coming to the installations they've put in and future installs.

The CPUC settlement NRG made requires ala carte pricing per session for DC FC, and also has minimum / maximum pricing limits per session as well for DC Fast charging.

Pricing is a very difficult situation in this EV charging market. The providers can't make much (if any) money billing at cents per kWh for people that will use the stations infrequently.

So my take is that eVgo is trying to implement a "gym membership" model with a modest charge per month and a few cents per minute for electricity. If you charge 3 times per month or higher, it works out to be modestly priced...

Some places don't allow pricing per kWh, so that makes it harder on the providers if they have to bill differently depending on location.

Here in California, eVgo will be billing $14.95 per month plus 10 cents per minute for DC Fast charging. I find that to be very reasonable, as long as you're using it a few times per month. Given that the stations can cost upwards of $100K each to install, I think it is a good value...Having a network installed in a region gives you a lot of charging options (especially for cars like the LEAF that need more frequent charging)....

The last time EVGo quoted a price to me (a few months ago now) it was $50 per month whether you charged or not. If they supplied an EVSE it was $75 month. It seemed very expensive.

RandyS said:

The CPUC settlement NRG made requires ala carte pricing per session for DC FC, and also has minimum / maximum pricing limits per session as well for DC Fast charging.

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I've read that California is pushing through legislation for ala carte pricing for all charging stations. The rationale is you don't need memberships to use gas stations, so charging stations should be no different. It may end up higher per session, but that's better than having to sign up for a membership for every network out there.

According to their website, it's 5/mo for Level 2 charging and $35/mo for CHAdeMO, at least in DC.

Neither sounds particularly compelling.

$5/month is good if you use it once a week or so. But what if you're just passing through? No EVGp up here, so I'd never subscribe.

When I talked to them the pricing on the website was for a "standard EV". They wanted $50/month for a Model S and closer to $100 for CHAdeMO. They said it was because the Model S batteries were larger than other EVs so we would use that much energy. My response that the bigger batteries meant that we wouldn't use their services nearly as much so probably use less energy in reality fell on deaf ears.

Their pricing model is OK in a world where charging stations are everywhere and everyone drives an EV with a <50 mile range. It doesn't work at all in Elon's world.

SteveH said:

When I talked to them the pricing on the website was for a "standard EV". They wanted $50/month for a Model S and closer to $100 for CHAdeMO. They said it was because the Model S batteries were larger than other EVs so we would use that much energy. My response that the bigger batteries meant that we wouldn't use their services nearly as much so probably use less energy in reality fell on deaf ears.

Their pricing model is OK in a world where charging stations are everywhere and everyone drives an EV with a <50 mile range. It doesn't work at all in Elon's world.

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Wow, yeah--that's goofy. The only way an EvGo account would make sense for me is if I were traveling and they had a charger somewhere out of town that was convenient. That translates into, what, maybe once a year? I suppose I could just sign up and cancel every time I took a trip, assuming there's no minimum term commitment.

I also cannot understand how they expect to make any money with an installation that contains just a single J1772 and CHAdeMO outlet. The fixed costs for multiple J1772s can't be that much higher, can they? I mean, as a total percentage of the construction costs of putting in one of those giant pedestals?

I really hate the eVgo fixed membership plans. It's like they expect one size to fit all, when that's far from the case.

Even with just a LEAF I might need public charging once or twice a month at most, and then a couple hours of L2 would do.

How can I justify any fixed monthly expense on that unless the monthly charge was truly nominal?

I loaded a ChargePoint card with $20 over a year ago - only used it once, but at least I haven't been paying $20/month for it!

I'd tell you how much I spent with Blink last year, but their damn website won't let me log in. It's probably about $20.

Edit: Finally logged in, spent $26 in 2013 on the Blink network.

$100/mo for CHAdeMO... what on earth for?? Our current kWh usage costs me way less than that per month...

:scared: $100/mo for occasional CHadeMO usage is ludicrous. It's like they're trying to price themselves out of business.
If I were on a road trip and had the CHadeMO adapter I'd be willing to pay as much as I used to fill up a tank of gas in my old car. So maybe $50-60 and that's assuming no SuperChargers was available.

Currently their biggest market for CHadeMO EVs is the Nissan Leaf and the Model S once the adapter is available. If they were smart they'd start experimenting with putting their stations in CA on routes that aren't covered by the superchargers and see how much use they get. With so many EVs in CA they'd be able to assess the viability of the single use scheme and role it out to other areas. Georgia would be a great next step for Tesla Model territory untouched by the superchargers. They're quickly running out of time with how aggressive Tesla is with rolling out Superchargers.

In California at least, the a-la-carte rate is reported to be:

$4.95 plus 20c / minute for CHAdeMO
$1.50 / hour for L2

that works out to $12/hour for CHAdeMO (+$4.95). If you actually get the full 62.5 kW rate that's not too bad IMO (compared to filling up an ICE anyway)

772 said:

that works out to $12/hour for CHAdeMO (+$4.95). If you actually get the full 62.5 kW rate that's not too bad IMO (compared to filling up an ICE anyway)

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Yeah, for public charging it seems reasonable.

Agree. If we could get a-la-carte pricing in Texas, I would be thrilled and eVgo would get some of my money.

loganss

This article says there's an eVgo station being installed at Bowie Town Center.

Charge 'Er Up: Bowie Electric Car Owners Get New Station - Business - Bowie, MD Patch

Lanny said:

loganss

This article says there's an eVgo station being installed at Bowie Town Center.

Charge 'Er Up: Bowie Electric Car Owners Get New Station - Business - Bowie, MD Patch

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Interesting that there is also a tie-in with Simon Properties reported in that article.

EDIT: Just had a chance to read the whole thing. The rate structure quoted there makes a lot more sense to me, and would actually be viable for a casual user who needed a charge a few times a year.



Option 1: A $14.95 monthly fee and a 10 cents per minute charge ($1 plug-hour for Level 2)
Option 2: No monthly fee; $4.95 per session, plus 20 cents per minute ($1.50 plug-hour for Level 2)
Option 3: Call-in credit card, $9.95 per session ($2.50 for Level 2)
Option 4: $20 a month unlimited with home plan