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Power management device and optional rate a fit for new EV owners

Power management device for EV's. JT Pawar and her husband knew they would rely on a Level 2 home charger for their new electric vehicle (EV). They discovered that adding a power management device would allow them to charge their car without requiring the cost of an upgraded electrical service to their home.

'If we were going to get an EV, we wanted to be able to charge it at home'

The gas car was fun to drive, except for the fact that it was a noisy, gas-guzzling V8 that woke the neighbours when fired up for early morning drives to her son's hockey practices.

"Our poor neighbours! We loved the car, but it was time to get rid of it," says JT Pawar of North Vancouver. "We had also enrolled our son at a Vancouver school, and we live on the North Shore. We'd be commuting more, and gas prices were over $2 a litre at the time."

Enter the family's first electric vehicle, and a plan to get a Level 2 charger installed in the North Vancouver home by the time the new EV – an Audi Q4 e-tron – arrived.

After getting two quotes from electricians, they went with the contractor with the most electric vehicle charging expertise. And along came a solution, with two rebates from BC Hydro in the mix. The family settled on a Level 2 charger that qualified for a $350 rebate, plus a power management device that earned a $200 rebate and avoided a costly power capacity upgrade.

Not every home requires either a capacity upgrade or a power management device to accommodate Level 2 charging. But Pawar says that the home's electrical service was already nearing its capacity limit. The power management device was installed to monitor the home's power usage and, when the limit is approached, switches off EV charging.

Pawar then went one step further, signing up for BC Hydro's new optional time-of-day rate that provides per-kilowatt-hour discounts for electricity use outside of peak demand times on the BC Hydro electricity grid.

"I use an app to set a schedule for charging the car between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., when the rate is lower," she says. "We charge it to 80%, it costs us something like $5, and we only need to charge it about every three days."

Did you know? BC Hydro customers who choose an eligible smart charger and enroll in Peak Saver can earn $50.

Effective EV charging brings peace of mind and increases home value

Pawar says she has zero regrets around buying an electric car and setting up her home to charge it.

"My husband is busy and wasn't going to shop around to find out where to charge his car," she says. "That was never an option for us. If we were going to get an electric car, we wanted to be able to charge it at home."

She said that while cost and installation of the charger and power management device was about $4,000, they'll be saving on fuel in the long run, and their home's value will increase with EV charging in place.

The Canadian Automobile Association's car cost calculator estimates that at an average of 20,000 km of travel per year, the family will save about $4,000 in fuelling charges with the switch from their gas car to the Audi.

And it turns out, the Audi's a whole lot of fun.

"The Audi is so smooth and so quick – the ride is unbelievable," she says. "We just drive and never worry about when we have to stop for gas."

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