EV charging and PUC rates

[insaneoctane]

One consideration: I am not sure what TOU plan you are on nor what utility you are connected to. But, I am on SCE TOU-A. I now have two EV's and this plan gives you a $0.09 per kWh credit for net used. I am a net user every month of the year. So even when their rates are higher during super off peak in the winter, I only pay $0.0437 per kWh for the amount used that isn't balanced out by credits from the rest of the day. In the summer I exceed the baseline and pay somewhere between $0.04 and $0.14 for my super off peak useage.
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I'm on the same plan (SCE TOU-A) and find it quite lucrative for my use case. The limitation with the $0.09 credit is that it stops after you've exceeded your baseline allocation. With 2 EV and 1 of them putting on over 100 mil/day, I will only see that $0.09 credit for a portion of my total super off peak usage. Nonetheless, excellent point and I'm glad to see others benefiting from the plan too.

[DanKegel]

We paid $9,500 for a 4 year old VW TDI; the registration is $89 a year. We recently paid $7,300 for a 3 year old Fiat 500e; the registration is $453.

Yikes! What year are they both? (And this is California, right?)

[maximizese]

Yikes! What year are they both? (And this is California, right?)

The TDI is a 2001. Registration has never been more than $150 (it started out really low because of campaign promises, but creeped higher later) and it was smog exempt until that also was reversed in 2010 IIRC. The EV is a 2013 and I'll pull out the remaining hairs on my head if this car requires a smog check at some point. And yes, this should by now clearly the state of California I'm referencing. Initially, I was peeved with the reverse on the smog exemption. They charged 3 times more for the smog check and seemingly did absolutely nothing; just a visual inspection with a dyno/sniff test. However, years later I found out some diesel drivers were removing their emissions equipment and modifying their fuel delivery systems to "roll coal." For the life of me I cannot get my head around the practice, other than for the sake of being obnoxious and revolting against the idea of a cleaner environment.

[wwu123]

The TDI is a 2001. Registration has never been more than $150 (it started out really low because of campaign promises, but creeped higher later) and it was smog exempt until that also was reversed in 2010 IIRC. The EV is a 2013 and I'll pull out the remaining hairs on my head if this car requires a smog check at some point. And yes, this should by now clearly the state of California I'm referencing. Initially, I was peeved with the reverse on the smog exemption. They charged 3 times more for the smog check and seemingly did absolutely nothing; just a visual inspection with a dyno/sniff test. However, years later I found out some diesel drivers were removing their emissions equipment and modifying their fuel delivery systems to "roll coal." For the life of me I cannot get my head around the practice, other than for the sake of being obnoxious and revolting against the idea of a cleaner environment.

My 2002 Prius just had its first and last smog check last December. Initially hybrids were supposed to be exempt from smog for 10 years, IIRC. But I think they kept extending that because they couldn't figure out how to test emissions on a hybrid systems accurately. So was surprised when I got the smog check notice at my last renewal - but it was just a OBDII type check, where they verify all emissions equipment is reporting working properly, I think they didn't bother to try to come up with an actual tailpipe emissions test.

I put in "and last" because my niece smashed the car into a guardrail last month, so the Prius is RIP now...

[maximizese]

My 2002 Prius just had its first and last smog check last December. Initially hybrids were supposed to be exempt from smog for 10 years, IIRC. But I think they kept extending that because they couldn't figure out how to test emissions on a hybrid systems accurately. So was surprised when I got the smog check notice at my last renewal - but it was just a OBDII type check, where they verify all emissions equipment is reporting working properly, I think they didn't bother to try to come up with an actual tailpipe emissions test.

I put in "and last" because my niece smashed the car into a guardrail last month, so the Prius is RIP now...

So I guess in both our cases, we had vehicles that were understood at some point to be smog exempt until they weren't (my guess was due to state revenue reasons). I suppose this can be extrapolated to utilities too with the ever-changing rates and fees; however, it is nice to have NEM agreements that can offer some stability and reasonable expectation. I'm sure a lot of us would be upset to sink $6K-$30K into a solar array and have the utility company change their structure on us. I've only heard of a few horror stories about customers not getting the interconnect approval, but those instances seem to place the fault on the solar installer.

Sorry to hear about your Prius, I hope your niece came out unscathed.

[DanKegel]

The TDI is a 2001. ... The EV is a 2013...

dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr34 says
"Vehicle License Fee (VLF) (.65% of value)
Most vehicles are assessed a VLF, in lieu of property tax, based on the purchase price/value when acquired... VLF decreases for the first 11 renewal years or until the vehicle is transferred..."
(And lao.ca.gov/1998/061798_vlf_primer/061798_vlf.html shows how it was calculated back in 1998, when the rate was 2%, and VLF decreased by 10% every year.)

My 2013 Leaf cost me $12000 last year, and dmv.ca.gov/wasapp/FeeCalculatorWeb/vlfFees.do says I paid $77 VLF. Yup, that's 0.65% of $12000.

So I dunno why you paid $453 VLF for your $7300 2013 Fiat 500e, should have been $47. Maybe you were including the sales tax by mistake? That might account for it.

[sensij]

We paid $9,500 for a 4 year old VW TDI; the registration is $89 a year. We recently paid $7,300 for a 3 year old Fiat 500e; the registration is $453.

So I dunno why you paid $453 VLF for your $7300 2013 Fiat 500e, should have been $47. Maybe you were including the sales tax by mistake? That might account for it.

It looks like maximizese was stating the registration fee, not just the VLF. The registration fee includes the use tax of typically 7.5%-10% of the purchase price, as described here:

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/de...t_facts/ffvr34

Comparing a registration renewal (no use tax) to the initial registration (which includes use tax) is always going to yield a big difference.