Just before the first wave of electric vehicles hits the market, DTE Energy is offering incentives to 2,500 early adopters to help the company learn when and how often drivers will charge their cars.
DTE is trying to understand electric vehicle owners' habits and how much of a burden the vehicles will be on the grid
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In a pilot program that launches today, DTE also is trying to steer drivers toward charging their plug-in cars overnight.
DTE is offering volunteers a $2,500 incentive toward a separate meter, which tracks only vehicle charging, and a high-voltage charger.
As many as 250 people can choose from a monthly rate of $40 to charge their vehicles or a lower rate for charging during off-peak hours, between 11 p.m. and 9 a.m.
DTE will be offering the incentives through 2012.
Special charging rates are trickling out across the country in anticipation of the nation's first mass-market electric vehicles, the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.
"We need to better understand the customers," said Edward Falletich, Detroit Edison's manager of pricing. "We just have very little information on electric vehicles."
Electric cars spark power concerns
With two major electric vehicles to hit dealerships this year, power companies are trying to steer consumers toward charging vehicles at night.
These companies are boasting the low rates available during off-peak hours, usually between 11 p.m. and 9 a.m.
DTE Energy is starting a program today seeking 2,500 early adopters who would agree to have their vehicle's electricity usage tracked, and who could choose from two rate plans: A $40 flat monthly fee, or a lower rate for charing the vehicle during off-peak hours. That $40 a month is based on a price of about 13 cents per kilowatt hour. Overnight, electricity costs about 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
San Diego Gas and Power is offering several rates based on the time people charge their cars. The rates cost less overnight. "When you take into account how the electricity grid is underutilized at night, there is very large capacity for charging at night," said Marcus Alexander, manager of vehicle systems analysis for the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif.
The push for off-peak charging is supported by consumer research for how people think they'll use their vehicles.
A survey by the Electric Power Research Institute, posed to nearly 900 customers of Southern California Edison, shows that 84% of respondents expect to charge their electric vehicles at night.
Even at $40 a month, charging an electric vehicle would cost a fraction of what it costs to fuel up at the pump.
But the convenience of charging anywhere remains a wild card. "We have some idea of what we think customers are going to do," Alexander said. "There's still a lot of uncertainty."