PHEVs are for people who have garages

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SwannyBC

New member
Joined
Oct 13, 2020
Messages
4
I really wanted an Outlander PHEV. It has decent cargo space, awd and we could drive to our cleaning customers each day in our big city with its gazillion stop lights and not burn a single litre of fossil fuel. The problem is, it makes zero financial sense because like probably half the 500,000 people who live here in downtown Vancouver, BC, we don’t have access to a garage (sure, we could pay $250 a month, but we can’t afford that and we might not have access to a charger anyway).
The city of Vancouver used to have free public charging stations, but selfish people would park their EVs at the chargers and leave them for hours, basically using the stations as free parking spaces. So, the city started charging, not for the charging stations, but for parking at the charging station. Now, to charge a PHEV for one hour costs $3.50. Even with a fast charger this makes no economic sense. Do the math. Even if you can get a full charge in one hour, that means 35-40km costs you $3.50. With gas prices at $1.20l this works out to the equivalent of 7.3-8.3l/100km. Many gas only awd vehicles, including a few gas only small crossovers either exceed or come close to this, at a far lower sticker price.
I’ve read that, at least in Canada, the days of free public charging stations are coming to an end and unfortunately there seems to be no serious plan in most cities to offer an economical way for apartment dwellers to charge up. There is one free curbside charger a few blocks from our place that was part of an abandoned pilot program and whoever installed it didn’t think to make the parking spot EV/PHEV only, so basically anyone and everyone parks there, meaning the charger sits mostly unused.
It’s really frustrating. We would love to buy a PHEV but right now it only makes sense for suburban home owners or the few lucky city dwellers with access to free charging,
 
At a minimum, one needs a driveway with an outlet on the side of the house... Which is what I did for many years.
 
It really does piss me off. The public electric utility in British Columbia charges $.0935 per kWh to charge your EV or PHEV if you own your home. A full charge of an Outlander PHEV takes 9.8 kWh. So it costs a homeowner $.92. If you are a renter in Vancouver with no charging station in your garage and you use public charging, you would pay between $2-$3.50 per charge, over 2-3.5 times as much as a homeowner. It’s like having a homeowner pay $1.2 for a litre for gas while charging apartment dwellers $2.40-3.80 for the same gasoline!
What is even more unfair is that both homeowners and apartment dwellers are both expected to drive fully electric vehicles in the next two decades under government regulations. The wealthier homeowners will be doing this with taxpayer subsidized cheap electricity, while lower income apartment renters will be getting gouged.
 
Here in the UK no ordinary person uses a garage for putting the car in - too full of other "stuff". What you mean is off-street parking ;)
 
I'm sure the infrastructure will improve over the years. The ideal situation would be public transport in the cities, electric cars suburban and regional (that is where the PHEV comes in) and rail for long distance.
 
SwannyBC said:
It really does piss me off. The public electric utility in British Columbia charges $.0935 per kWh to charge your EV or PHEV if you own your home. A full charge of an Outlander PHEV takes 9.8 kWh. So it costs a homeowner $.92. If you are a renter in Vancouver with no charging station in your garage and you use public charging, you would pay between $2-$3.50 per charge, over 2-3.5 times as much as a homeowner. It’s like having a homeowner pay $1.2 for a litre for gas while charging apartment dwellers $2.40-3.80 for the same gasoline!

It's almost as though there's a cost to installing electric charging infrastructure that must be recovered somewhere, from someone. As jaapv points out, the more electric vehicles there are, the more the cost can be spread, but early adopters inevitably pay a penalty. Be grateful you aren't in the UK, where our government's support for 'green crap' requires us to pay more than double your costs for domestic electricity (it could be worse, of course, you might be in Germany).
 
Even if the charging infrastructure improves, I generally find the commercial companies are charging 25 cents with a discount/membership card... up to 66 cents per kilowatt hour. At that price, I'll charge at home or burn gasoline, thank you.
 
jaapv said:
I'm sure the infrastructure will improve over the years. The ideal situation would be public transport in the cities, electric cars suburban and regional (that is where the PHEV comes in) and rail for long distance.
I don’t see this as ideal at all. What you propose is a world in which wealthier homeowners get the luxury and freedom of driving anywhere they want anytime they want in the comfort of their own electric vehicle while poorer apartment dwellers are stuck with public transit. In the UK and Europe at least public transit and rail can take you most places but not here in NA. And this pandemic has laid bare the heightened risks for those whose only option is to commute in crowded buses and trains. A fairer world would be one in which the government ends subsidies for homeowners to install EV chargers and redirects that money into free charger infrastructure in the cities. Government rebates and tax credits should also be given to lower income household towards car share and car co-ops that use electric vehicles.
 
Well, that goes for access to all comforts in our society. The rich are better placed than the poor. I don't think that mass transport is the place to rectify that injustice, rather a result of it.
 
Indeed - and lacking public transport can hardly be blamed on Mitsubishi.
Anyway, who says that city dwellers are poorer - I live in a nice house in the suburbs - but I could not begin to afford to buy a two-roomed flat in the centre of Amsterdam, let alone a city like London.
 
Many condos and apartments buildings in metro Vancouver have charging stations. BC Hydro offered a rebate about a year ago and it was offered to homeowners and to apartment buildings/condos alike. Many stratas opted to take advantage of it, while others did not/could not. It's unfortunate for you that yours did not. In addition, most new buildings plan for the infrastructure of EV chargers because they know the future demands it.

Homeowners who have a charging station and pay $0.92 to top up their vehicle had to pay for that charging station. So it's the equivalent of a homeowner installing a gas pump in their home for approximately $1000 (less if they got a rebate) in order to have the ability to pay $1.20 per litre and the convenience of charging at home while you pay $2.40-3.60 at a public gas station. It doesn't sound that unfair to me. They could opt not to have a home charger and instead charge it publicly as well.

I know many people in metro Vancouver with EV's. Some have houses, some live in condos. But you are correct in saying that where they lived made a difference on whether or not an EV was right for them. But I don't think you can just say it's not for people renting in downtown Vancouver. You're just not in the right building.
 
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