With the advent of plug-in electric vehicles in the marketplace, workplace charging has become an avenue to provide convenient charging that supplements or even replaces home charging. In January 2016, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (American Honda) completed the installation of 30 ChargePoint CT-4021 dual-port, networked charging stations that allow 60 drivers to charge at a time.
Upon opening the stations with initial pricing set at 24 cents per kWh for employees and 27 cents per kWh for contractors, American Honda conducted informal research that indicated high price sensitivity among users. Only those who had a high mileage commute or did not have charging at home consistently used the stations. Plug-in hybrid users found the pricing to be approximately equivalent to driving on gasoline. Eight months after opening the stations, the price was reduced to 12 cents per kWh (for all employees), which substantially increased demand, and spurred growth that is still ongoing.
Without demand fees, as seen on the TOU-EV-4 rate, the stations roughly break even on electrical costs (although installation costs are not recovered). In this situation, the all-inclusive cost is approximately 12 cents per kWh, which the drivers found reasonable to pay. However, if Honda was not exempt from demand fees, the stations could not recover the full electricity cost incurred by Honda.
There is an opportunity, from a policy perspective, to lower the cost barrier by reducing or eliminating demand fees so that more workplaces can install charging. In tandem, reduction in site level demand is possible by slowing the charge rate. Charging large numbers of demand-responsive vehicles during the day would allow for an adaptable large load that could provide grid services. Finally, connecting solar to the stations would allow for true zero emissions driving, and low carbon fuel standard credits could help further offset the costs of such an installation.
