In April of 2020, we saw negative oil prices for the first time since the New York Mercantile Exchange commoditized crude oil. Although commodity prices have been at an all-time low —and even in the negative—the pricing for consumers at the pump has not reflected this as quickly as you might expect. As most consumers move to an EV for savings purposes, many will question how oil prices could impact the EV market.
Below are a few great data points courtesy of the Smart Electric Power Alliance, with the info coming from survey data in the SEPA report “Residential Electric Vehicle Rates That Work.”
The Importance of Residential EV Rates
Residential EV rates are important because an EV has charging needs capable of matching peak home consumption. Coupled with the fact that EV owners will largely be charging during peak hours, this presents a challenge for utility companies who are keen to take pressure off the local power grid, especially at these peak times.
Residential Customer Behavior
Price incentives are particularly appealing to residential consumers. Time-varying rates are useful in incentivizing customers to modify behavior.
EV Usage Range
The usage range of electric vehicles varies from 3.3 - 20kW.
Consumer Savings
Of course, customers in every sector love to save and this is no different when it comes to electric vehicles, as highlighted in the SEPA graphic below.
Community Engagement
When it comes to consumer EV adoption, community engagement has been identified as a driving factor by utility companies surveyed by SEPA.
YSG Solar is a project development vehicle responsible for commoditizing energy infrastructure projects. We work with long-term owners and operators to provide clean energy assets with stable, predictable cash flows. YSG's market focus is distributed generation and utility-scale projects located within North America.
Sources:
https://sepapower.org/resource/what-we-know-about-utility-ev-rates-for-residential-customers/
All images used in this blog post are courtesy of SEPA.
