How many kilowatts does it take to FULLY charge a RAV4 EV?

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davideski

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2014
Messages
9
Hi -

Due to my commute, I will need to charge the RAV4 EV every night and am wondering what my electric costs will be every day (during the week).

Does anyone know (esp in LA) how many kilowatts it takes to fully charge a RAV4 EV?
 
davideski said:
Hi -

Due to my commute, I will need to charge the RAV4 EV every night and am wondering what my electric costs will be every day (during the week).

Does anyone know (esp in LA) how many kilowatts it takes to fully charge a RAV4 EV?

We need to know how many miles you intend to drive per month and what electric company provides your electric power.
 
FYI, you should say "kilowatt hours", or kWh, not kilowatts. kW are like miles per hour and kWh are like miles.

Anyway, a full "normal charge" on a new battery is 35 kWh, which at ~80% efficiency will take 44 kWh from the wall. A full "extended charge" is 41.8 kWh, or 52 kWh from the wall.

However, it's extremely unlikely you'll be doing a full (0-100%) charge every night (or ever, for that matter.) To better answer your question you need to assess how many miles you're likely to drive each day. In my case, I drive about 50 miles per weekday, and I do it fairly efficiently, so I need to replenish about 40% of a normal charge each night, or 14 kWh, so that's 17.5 kWh from the wall.

For a rough rule of thumb you might assume you need about 0.4 kWh from the wall per mile driven.
 
I live in Los Angeles (manhattan beach) and I will be driving 80 miles/day commuting.

Southern Cal Edison is the provider of electricity.

Trying to get them on the phone but I BELIEVE they will charge 34 cents/kwh(!)

David
 
You need to switch to a time-of-use rate plan (TOU-D-TEV) and keep all your charging between midnight and 6am. Unfortunately you can't really trust the car's timer to keep your charging in that window, which is why I developed RavCharge. ;)

That way all your charging will cost about 9.5c/kWh, so about $3/day by my earlier rule of thumb. This has the side effect or raising your electric rates somewhat during on peak hours (10a - 6p), so hopefully you don't use a lot of electricity then. If you install solar, however, that just means the power produced by it is worth even more!
 
It looks like you can charge for 9 to 10 cents per kWh from midnight to 6am

https://www.sce.com/wps/portal/home/residential/electric-cars/residential-rates/

Home & Electric Vehicle Plan (TOU-D-TEV)
Summer Winter
Tier 1 Rate Tier 2 Rate Tier 1 Rate Tier 2 Rate
On-Peak
10 AM to 6 PM weekdays 32 ¢ / kWh 49 ¢ / kWh 20 ¢ / kWh 37 ¢ / kWh

Off-Peak
6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
6 p.m. to midnight 15 ¢ / kWh 32 ¢ / kWh 13 ¢ / kWh 30 ¢ / kWh

Super Off-Peak
Midnight to 6 AM every day 9 ¢ / kWh 9 ¢ / kWh 10 ¢ / kWh 10 ¢ / kWh



Notes About This Rate Plan:
Home and electric vehicle energy are measured using a single meter.
The Summer season is June through September. The Winter season is October through May.
Tier 2 rates apply when your home and electric vehicle usage exceeds 130% of your region’s baseline allocation.
 
If you are driving 80 miles per work day, then some number on the weekends, let's say 500 miles per week, or about 2100 miles per month. First, get the unlimited mileage lease !!!! Do not purchase the car.

The car will consume about 1kWh per 3 miles, and recharge at about 80% efficiency, so:

2100 / 3 = 700kWh for transportation * 125% = 875kWh to buy per month at 9.5 cents per kWh from SoCal Edison =

$83.13 per month

$3.17 per 80 mile trip

about 4 cents per mile
 
Hi Tony -

What about buying one used (2012) -- for around $32k and 5,000 miles?

Thoughts on buying a used one?

David
 
Buying a used one for that much would be a terrible idea unless you live outside of California. You can buy out a lease on a new one for $32-33k.
 
Hi fooljoe -

Why do believe it is a terrible idea to buy this used --- any context/insight would be greatly appreciated.

Also, buying out a lease on a new one…would I get that via a dealer??
 
Toyota frequently offers incentives that will bring the total purchase price of the car to be around the same amount as the used one you're looking at. A new 2014 RAV4 EV for around $33k is obviously a better value than a used 2012 RAV4 EV at the same price. Even if the 2012 is in perfect condition, a 2014 will have fresh batteries.

Toyota's RAV4 EV leases are open-ended, meaning that you can purchase the car at the end of the lease period for an agreed-upon amount. Check out Dianne's posts in the Business Ads part of the forum to get an idea of what this option looks like, she updates her posts frequently with specifics on these types of deals. You would indeed get the lease through a Toyota dealer.

Also, know that to close out the 2012 models, Toyota lowered prices and offered incentives for new purchases of up to $10k on top of the $7500 federal tax credit and $2500 California rebate for new EVs. Many of us, including myself, purchased new 2012 RAV4 EVs for less than $30k after haggling down the MSRP, getting Toyota's incentives, and the $10k back from government.
 
eschatfische said:
Toyota frequently offers incentives that will bring the total purchase price of the car to be around the same amount as the used one you're looking at. A new 2014 RAV4 EV for around $33k is obviously a better value than a used 2012 RAV4 EV at the same price. Even if the 2012 is in perfect condition, a 2014 will have fresh batteries.

Toyota's RAV4 EV leases are open-ended, meaning that you can purchase the car at the end of the lease period for an agreed-upon amount. Check out Dianne's posts in the Business Ads part of the forum to get an idea of what this option looks like, she updates her posts frequently with specifics on these types of deals. You would indeed get the lease through a Toyota dealer.

Also, know that to close out the 2012 models, Toyota lowered prices and offered incentives for new purchases of up to $10k on top of the $7500 federal tax credit and $2500 California rebate for new EVs. Many of us, including myself, purchased new 2012 RAV4 EVs for less than $30k after haggling down the MSRP, getting Toyota's incentives, and the $10k back from government.
Yup, what he said. $32k for a used 2012 is very likely more than it cost new! My 2012 was $27,500 (pre-tax, post-rebates) when I bought it new last April. Of course the incentives that were in place then are no longer in place now, so it makes more sense to compare to the current new price. Check out Dianne's post: You can get a new one from her right now with an unlimited mileage lease for $0 down and $479/month for 35 months, which is $16,765. You get a $2500 rebate from the state, bringing that down to $14,265. If you choose to buy at the end of the lease you can do so for the residual value of $18,429, bringing the total pre-tax "purchase" price to $32,694.
 
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