Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PracticalMac

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 22, 2009
2,857
5,242
Houston, TX
Many corporations and merchants are offering FREE or discounted recharging of EV and Plug-in Hybrids.

The reasons are simple:
1. Load balancing of grid (with night time charging)
2. Attract customers to location (store or restaurant)
3. Government programs
4. Carbon offsets for Dino Juice (Shell does this, link below)
5. Company perks
6. Prize award
7. Referrals (Tesla does this)
8. Friends. :)

(not as easy to give someone a gallon of gas).

Other links to start with

Your Free Hours EV Charging Plan​


GM and Shell Will Give You Free Electricity for Your Electric Car​


Free night charging (line fee apply)

Give away elec is not expensive either. For a restaurant it would cost them $1 to gain $40 in business (what I heard a year ago, not look), pretty much free advertising.

How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Car?​

Let’s say you drive about 540 miles per month. For an EV, you will use 180 kWh in that time frame. Then, using the U.S. household average of 12 cents per kWh, that gets you to $21.60/month to charge an EV.
I would be need $15 / mo by that figure, IF I paid the 12c/KWh price, which I would not. Elec discount Programs will cost 1/2 that.

The True Cost of Powering an Electric Car​


What if a gallon of gasoline cost $3 at breakfast time, was free at lunch, bumped up to $8 in the afternoon, but was only $2 in the middle of the night? Welcome to the world of charging up plug-in electric vehicles.


Plenty of other resources, this was 5 min of looking.
 
Last edited:

pshufd

macrumors G3
Oct 24, 2013
9,967
14,446
New Hampshire
I like that Google office where they have carports with solar cells on the roof. They provide free charging for employees and your car is parked underneath so it doesn't get baked in the sun.

I saw a video about one guy who put a charging station at his auto repair shop for his own EV. It somehow got onto a map of public EV charging stations so people went there to charge their vehicles because he had no metering equipment on it. He didn't really mind until one person got upset with him because his car was using it for so long.

Companies offering charging stations also have to deal with people that aren't otherwise authorized to be on their property, on their property.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PracticalMac

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,464
53,304
Behind the Lens, UK
We looked into it at work when my boss bought a Tesla. But we rent and it’s a glass fronted building. So taking the power out was going to be a massive job.
Things are getting better. But there aren’t enough charging points in the U.K. for me yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pshufd
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.