EV Charging Schedule Optimization for Peak/Off-Peak Rates

The EV showed up in my driveway last year. Not mine. My neighbor’s. A Tesla Model Y. He was proud. He talked about zero emissions, instant torque, and never going to a gas station again. I asked him how he charges it. “I plug it in when I get home,” he said. “Around 6 PM.” The Time-of-Use Rate Comparator can show you why 6 PM is the worst time to charge.

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Time-of-Use Rate Comparator

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I did the math for him. His utility’s peak hours are 2 PM to 7 PM. The rate is 30¢ per kilowatt-hour. Off-peak is 10¢. He was charging during the last hour of peak. Not the worst, but not great. He was also driving to work at 8 AM, so his car sat in the driveway from 9 AM to 5 PM. That is off-peak. He could have charged then. But he did not. The Electric Bill Estimator can help you see the impact of EV charging on your total bill.

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Electric Bill Estimator

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The math on his charging. He drives 12,000 miles a year. His Tesla uses 0.3 kWh per mile. That equals 3,600 kWh per year. At the off-peak rate of 10¢, that is $360 a year. At the peak rate of 30¢, it would be $1,080 a year. He was charging partly during peak, partly during off-peak. He was spending about $600 a year on electricity. He could spend $360. The Appliance Cost Calculator can help you see your EV as an appliance.

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Appliance Cost Calculator

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I showed him the numbers. He shrugged. He said “I am not waking up at 2 AM to plug in my car.” I told him about scheduled charging. Almost every EV has a feature that lets you set the charging time. You plug it in when you get home, but the car waits until off-peak hours to start. He did not know that. He read the manual that night. He set his car to charge from 9 PM to 6 AM. His bill dropped by $20 a month. He called me and said “I owe you a beer.” The Smart Thermostat Savings Estimator is not for EVs, but the idea of scheduling applies. This is the bigger picture. In 2026, EV adoption in Texas is surging. The state has over 300,000 registered EVs. Austin is a hotspot. The grid is struggling. The monopoly is worried. They are encouraging EV owners to charge off-peak. Some utilities offer special EV rates. My utility offers a 5¢ off-peak rate for EV charging between 11 PM and 7 AM. That comes to half the regular off-peak rate. I calculated my neighbor’s savings if he switched to the EV rate. His off-peak charging would be 5¢ instead of 10¢. That would drop his annual cost to $180. But the EV rate also increases his peak rate from 30¢ to 35¢. He would have to shift all his other usage to off-peak to avoid the higher peak rate. His AC runs during peak. He works from home. He cannot shift. The Solar ROI Calculator can help you decide if solar + EV makes sense. I ran the numbers for my neighbor with solar. If he installed a 6 kW system, it would generate about 9,000 kWh a year. That would cover his home usage (6,000 kWh) plus his EV (3,600 kWh). He would pay almost nothing to the utility. His payback period would be 7 years. He is now saving for solar. The Home Energy Score Calculator can help you see if your home is ready for an EV. Look at your action plan for EV charging. To startcheck if your utility has a special EV rate. Some offer super low off-peak rates for EV charging. Some also offer rebates for level 2 chargers. Next upset your scheduled charging. Plug in when you get home, but set the car to charge during off-peak hours. Most EVs let you do this from the app. Thenif you have solar, charge during the day when the sun is shining. That maximizes self-consumption. Avoid exporting to the grid at low rates. Alsoif you have a time-of-use rate, avoid charging during peak hours. Peak is usually 2 PM to 7 PM. That works out to when your AC is also running. Your load can spike. Finallyconsider a level 2 charger. It is faster and more efficient than a level 1. The payback is the convenience, not the energy savings. My neighbor now charges his Tesla from 11 PM to 7 AM. He uses the EV rate. His electricity cost is 5¢ per kWh. He spends $180 a year to drive 12,000 miles. That means less than $0.02 per mile. A gas car at 25 MPG and $3 per gallon costs $0.12 per mile. He is saving $1,200 a year compared to gas. The monopoly wants you to charge during peak. They want to sell you expensive electricity. Do not let them. Watt and Volt do not care about EVs. They care about the warm spot on the driveway where the car was parked. My neighbor is happy. His car is cheap to drive. His bill is low. He bought me that beer.

EV Charging Schedule Optimization for Peak/Off-Peak Rates

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