RV Fuel Issues & Prices - Post 'Em Here!

LindsayRichards wrote:
Our town has two solar charging stations (adjacent) that after 2 years are awaiting their first customer. It was put in for free by a federal grant.

NJ source of electricity

Yah, you know they do the same stupid stuff up here. What are they thinking. They put these publicly funded ones in the dumbest of places. Colleges, city hall parking lots, libraries. If they really feel the need to spend tax dollars to put in charging infrastructure to encourage electric vehicles then do local studies to find out where they would have the most usage. We have one down town on a public lot thats actually not to badly located. It's a few extra blocks to most of the stuff we need but still doable. If I am down town for a couple hours we use it. On this one it is tap and go with the credit card. Technically you are just paying for parking and since you have to pay for parking anyway, what the heck.

Plug share is a good app and I can see where some places including malls are getting on board. It'll get better in time.

jfkmk wrote:

John & Angela wrote:

LindsayRichards wrote:
http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/24/heres-how-govt-makes-buying-gas-more-expensive/#ixzz3mmGIREsw

Interesting article although it seems to suggest (or maybe I'm reading to much into it) that EPA or clean air regulations are in some way a detriment to our lives because of higher fuel costs. If that is there intention, that would be nonsense. I have travelled to places in the world that don't have governing bodies in place like the EPA and it is not a pretty or healthy situation.

Other than our motorhomes fuel needs we have found the switch to Electric vehicles to be a huge step forward...for us anyway. I know the electric vehicle is not the right answer for everybody depending on their needs and certainly doesn't make sense in all areas depending on how power is generated but it still surprises me that there is not a faster embrace of the technology by the commuter crowd. There is so much mis-information out there. The big trick is getting people to take a test drive. AFter that it is pretty simple. Even shopping malls and places like costco I think are missing the boat a bit in setting up charge stations. It'll come but I think it will be slow in coming on this side of the pond.

What do you mean by malls and Costco missing the boat on charging systems? Do you mean they should be setting them up? Who would pay for them?

The reason I ask is, I had an interesting conversation with someone who owns a Volt. Here in New Jersey, electricity is relatively expensive. So I asked him that, given the price of electricity and the higher price of the EV, did he feel he was saving money. His answer was that of course he's saving money, the state university he teaches at provides free charging for EVs. Hardly a fair comparison to gas, is it? I could save a lot too if my employer paid for my gas.

Good afternoon. What I mean is whoever has the charging stations will attract the EV drivers. Kinda like having covered parking. Those who have it are more likely to get those who want to park in the shade. Who pays for i?. The business of course. Not the power. Thats just tap and go with a credit card. Although some will make the argument that giving away 40 to 80 cents of power and getting the customer to shop at their location could make sense. Really though, I don't see why they would want to or have to give away power. A buck of power goes a long way in an electric vehicle.

Saving money?, probably. Honestly I would buy it just from the point of view of how it drives. All kinds of power and just a real nice driving car. We paid about 20 grand for our electric. Its a commuter vehicle and only has about 140KM of real world range but then again we never seem to go more than about 60 or 70 KM at a shot. And having said that, it would still be nice to "fuel up" while shopping. I suppose its not a big deal but I'm guessing that even as the range of these things gets longer and longer many of us would "hook up" if we were parked some where where they had a charge station. It will be interesting to see how things evolve as electrics become more mainstream on this side of the pond. Kinda interesting looking at stats from Europe. In August 26 per cent of all vehicle sales in Norway were full electric. That is expected to double within 3 years when 1 of every 2 vehicles sold will be electric. Nissan and Tesla are still king but surprisingly it is the VW E golf that sold the most in Norway. Gas retailers there may find themselves dropping their prices there just to try and entice people to buy a gas vehicle. Its a changing world. :)

jfkmk wrote:
What do you mean by malls and Costco missing the boat on charging systems? Do you mean they should be setting them up? Who would pay for them?

The reason I ask is, I had an interesting conversation with someone who owns a Volt. Here in New Jersey, electricity is relatively expensive. So I asked him that, given the price of electricity and the higher price of the EV, did he feel he was saving money. His answer was that of course he's saving money, the state university he teaches at provides free charging for EVs. Hardly a fair comparison to gas, is it? I could save a lot too if my employer paid for my gas.

What exactly is your rate? Quick Google say 11 to 14 cents per kWh.
Gasoline would need to be about $1.25 or $1.50 per gallon to be equivalent. On top of that an EV gets about 100 mpge. So yes you save money. If your employer pays the cost is not huge like gasoline either. Random fluctuation is probably greater than the EV cost.

Malls and Costco can easily profit if the EV patron stops there instead of WalMart and lingers a bit longer to get an extra $1 of 'free' electric.

For what many employers pay to subsidize carpool vans or bus passes etc. the electricity is cheap.

Our town has two solar charging stations (adjacent) that after 2 years are awaiting their first customer. It was put in for free by a federal grant.

NJ source of electricity

John & Angela wrote:

LindsayRichards wrote:
http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/24/heres-how-govt-makes-buying-gas-more-expensive/#ixzz3mmGIREsw

Interesting article although it seems to suggest (or maybe I'm reading to much into it) that EPA or clean air regulations are in some way a detriment to our lives because of higher fuel costs. If that is there intention, that would be nonsense. I have travelled to places in the world that don't have governing bodies in place like the EPA and it is not a pretty or healthy situation.

Other than our motorhomes fuel needs we have found the switch to Electric vehicles to be a huge step forward...for us anyway. I know the electric vehicle is not the right answer for everybody depending on their needs and certainly doesn't make sense in all areas depending on how power is generated but it still surprises me that there is not a faster embrace of the technology by the commuter crowd. There is so much mis-information out there. The big trick is getting people to take a test drive. AFter that it is pretty simple. Even shopping malls and places like costco I think are missing the boat a bit in setting up charge stations. It'll come but I think it will be slow in coming on this side of the pond.

What do you mean by malls and Costco missing the boat on charging systems? Do you mean they should be setting them up? Who would pay for them?

The reason I ask is, I had an interesting conversation with someone who owns a Volt. Here in New Jersey, electricity is relatively expensive. So I asked him that, given the price of electricity and the higher price of the EV, did he feel he was saving money. His answer was that of course he's saving money, the state university he teaches at provides free charging for EVs. Hardly a fair comparison to gas, is it? I could save a lot too if my employer paid for my gas.

LindsayRichards wrote:
http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/24/heres-how-govt-makes-buying-gas-more-expensive/#ixzz3mmGIREsw

Interesting article although it seems to suggest (or maybe I'm reading to much into it) that EPA or clean air regulations are in some way a detriment to our lives because of higher fuel costs. If that is there intention, that would be nonsense. I have travelled to places in the world that don't have governing bodies in place like the EPA and it is not a pretty or healthy situation.

Other than our motorhomes fuel needs we have found the switch to Electric vehicles to be a huge step forward...for us anyway. I know the electric vehicle is not the right answer for everybody depending on their needs and certainly doesn't make sense in all areas depending on how power is generated but it still surprises me that there is not a faster embrace of the technology by the commuter crowd. There is so much mis-information out there. The big trick is getting people to take a test drive. AFter that it is pretty simple. Even shopping malls and places like costco I think are missing the boat a bit in setting up charge stations. It'll come but I think it will be slow in coming on this side of the pond.

Michigan holding tough 2.49 for either gas or diesel. Most spots in southeast Michigan.

Keremeos, BC, Canada

Gas $1.21 / litre

Diesel $1.16 / litre

North Alabama
Gas $1.82
Diesel $2.02