Charging as Employment Benefit - Value?

It's a huge perk. Such employers are considered "cool" and "in touch" in the Bay Area for sure. Makes for a decent recruitment tool too; candidates who come for on-site interviews do take note of the EVs charging out front.

Actually, the one month last summer that I had to charge exclusively at home - when I moved house and before my employer had setup all the charging stations - my tiered rate plan with the utility put me all the way in the top tier paying over $0.35 a kWh; a utility bill of over $400 was, well, a shocker!

My savings - without switching to a time-of-use plan and the accompanying inconveniences with watching the clock for non-EV electricity use - are atleast $200 per month so, it's definitely a great indirect monetary perk from the employer.

scaesare said:

What value do/would you place on employer-provided chargers as an employment benefit?

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Not much for me. I doubt I'd ever use it. This would change if the electricity rates went up to California leves but the two EVSEs (for several hundred employees) are pay ChargePoint.

scaesare said:

I think it's a great perk. While charging at home is relatively inexpensive and convenient for my particular circumstance.. I think it's one of the many small things (free coffee, flexible schedule, etc...) that demonstrates an employer interested in providing a good atmosphere and interested in employee satisfaction.

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If your employer cares about that. Free coffee - gone, Water fountain - gone, Medical benefits - gutted. fine if you never get sick, otherwise it's bankruptcy time, Retirement plan - 90% gone unless you are an executive. Plan on working until 71+.

Isn't it true, that charging at employer's charging stations is environmentally and economically unwise? In most cases it means that prime time energy is used and prime time tariffs apply.

Kuuuurija said:

Isn't it true, that charging at employer's charging stations is environmentally and economically unwise? In most cases it means that prime time energy is used and prime time tariffs apply.

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I had the same question before, at Teslive last year:

What time do you charge your car? - Page 3

Kuuuurija said:

Isn't it true, that charging at employer's charging stations is environmentally and economically unwise? In most cases it means that prime time energy is used and prime time tariffs apply.

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I suppose that all depends on the source(s) of energy. If the employer uses solar panels for its covered parking, then it may be a moot point.

I probably wouldn't utilize the charging much during the course of my regular routine...but if I'm doing a lot of driving that day after work, or leaving from the office for a road trip, I'd love the ability to top off conveniently. I agree that it's one of those perks that simply demonstrates an employer's true estimation of the value of workforce satisfaction.

Since where I live I only have street parking available, it would be very, very helpful for me.

Be careful with this question - the IRS is watching. Agree on a value and it becomes taxable.

My employer has 2 30amp chargers in our lot for all to use, 4 hr limit. When I was paying tier 2 rates of .17$/hr I figured I was saving 1$ for every hour I charged. Now that I have an separate EV time of use meter and pay .06$ per hour, I am figuring it isn't worth it as the spots are near the front and between other cars. Not worth the risk of a door ding to save 1.30$.

Kuuuurija said:

Isn't it true, that charging at employer's charging stations is environmentally and economically unwise? In most cases it means that prime time energy is used and prime time tariffs apply.

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On particularly hot days we get emails at work that they are reducing cooling as part of their rate plan agreement with the electric utility. I asked facilities if we should try to limit car charging as well, and they said not to worry about it. The building uses far more power.

Value to me is $0.

Not worth the hassle of adapters, cords, and cards every morning, plus needing to go out in the middle of the day to move my car or see if someone else needs plugging in, to save $1 a day.

Plus, as has been pointed out already, EVs should be charged at night to reduce (or eliminate in most cases) the environmental impact of charging.

The value to me is not the office I work out of but those I visit. I drive to Boston twice a month to see employees I have there. If there weren't public chargers in the lot across the street I would definitely want my company to have chargers. Of course, they would be occupied by daily Leaf and Volt drivers

Mine provides it for free and I use it. Good stuff!

gg_got_a_tesla said:

It's a huge perk. Such employers are considered "cool" and "in touch" in the Bay Area for sure. Makes for a decent recruitment tool too; candidates who come for on-site interviews do take note of the EVs charging out front.

Actually, the one month last summer that I had to charge exclusively at home - when I moved house and before my employer had setup all the charging stations - my tiered rate plan with the utility put me all the way in the top tier paying over $0.35 a kWh; a utility bill of over $400 was, well, a shocker!

My savings - without switching to a time-of-use plan and the accompanying inconveniences with watching the clock for non-EV electricity use - are atleast $200 per month so, it's definitely a great indirect monetary perk from the employer.

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Yep. I suspect that for some candidates, it can help w/influencing them to come aboard. It means they're more likely to be able to drive a vehicle eligible for CA white HOV stickers w/o breaking the bank for a car w/lots of battery capacity (e.g. Model S or Rav 4 EV), and save time by taking advantage of HOV lanes, if they commute during rush hour.

And even w/o the HOV benefit, yep, for me, I almost always stay within tier 1 of PG&E (known for high rates). If I charged only at home, I'd go well beyond tier 1 and probably into tier 3, where it starts getting real pricey.

Those who have only lived in places w/cheap electricity (e.g. WA) have not experienced how bad it can be in some other parts of the US. PG&E is notoriously bad, but folks in Hawaii have it really bad (since most of their electricity comes from oil).

EarlyAdopter said:

Value to me is $0.

Not worth the hassle of adapters, cords, and cards every morning, plus needing to go out in the middle of the day to move my car or see if someone else needs plugging in, to save $1 a day.

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I don't need adapters nor cords w/my Leaf. Our stations have J1772 handles and my Leaf uses J1772. Card stays with me.

I normally just start charging late in the day (4 or 5 pm or even later) since I leave late on most days. By that point, numerous EV spots are empty.

It also enables me to make further trips after work than if I charged only at home. My commute is 12 miles 1 way and when your EV only has an EPA rating of 75 miles... And, if I made a very long trip after work and then charged at home, my overnight charging at 120 volts (don't have any 240 volt charging solution at home), I wouldn't be at 100% by the time I needed to leave for work again.

We also recently started an EV valet service. Some other Bay Area companies w/EV charging have EV valets.

We kinda had to do valets anyway because our parking was getting too full due to our growth and not being able to expand to new buildings until next year.

Over here where our standard rate is .36/cents per kWh, I would certainly view it as a benefit. Many folks on the island commute 40+ miles a day to/from work and sit in traffic for over an hour each way in rush hour (Honolulu fell to #2 this year for the worst traffic in the nation, behind Los Angeles (yes, last year, we were #1)). My electric bill went up ~$200/month with my MS. I don't have solar at this time so it's all out-of pocket.

This said, it's still cheaper than gasoline which is ~$4.26/gallon for regular today.

Needless to say, I would certainly be appreciative of any employer that took initiative to install a charging station in its parking lot.

^^^
FWIW, my electric bill last month was $27.24 for 241 kWh. It was relatively cheap since stayed within tier 1. I sometimes charge my Leaf at home on weekends. Sometimes not at all.

For those who might be curious about PG&E's byzanetine rate structure if you go on a TOU plan, see pages 2 and 4 of http://www.pge.com/tariffs/tm2/pdf/ELEC_SCHEDS_E-6.pdf (plan I'm on). I'm in area X w/code B, so my tier 1 allocation in "summer" is 11.0 kWh/day and for winter it's 11.7 kWh/day.

You sure as heck don't want to charge during "peak" times esp, if you're in the 131+% of baseline portion...

FlasherZ said:

Be careful with this question - the IRS is watching. Agree on a value and it becomes taxable.

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As it should be. While it may be cleaner due to daytime NG instead of nighttime coal,, I think of it as economically inefficient because you're just exacerbating the differential between daytime and nighttime demand. Additionally, it helps support long commutes, underpurchase of capacity in PHEVs and does nothing to resolve home charging infrastructure problems. I think that the current government support for it is completely wrong-headed, and is trading short-term benefit for long-term loss.

cwerdna said:

^^^
FWIW, my electric bill last month was $27.24 for 241 kWh. It was relatively cheap since stayed within tier 1. I sometimes charge my Leaf at home on weekends. Sometimes not at all.

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If only.

My average consumption is somewhere between 3,000 kWh (winter, propane heat) and 6,000 kWh (summer, dual-zone A/C). I offset a chunk of that via solar.

Then again, my power charges are opposite that of California. I start at $0.09 and after the first 2,000 kWh, it goes to $0.08.

I ran in to some "politics" around charging at work that I raised in this thread a while back. While it may be a perk, there can be downsides.

Actually, it's worth pointing out that in some markets there's *so much distributed solar power* going online that it's more environmentally conscious to charge during the day. Peak demand from the grid is now evening just after the sun sets. You don't want to contribute to that peak, do you? Charge at noon instead!

This is specific to places with truly massive solar power deployment.