Adam Young is a true believer in electric driving; both he and his wife have happily driven EVs for the past few years. Adam also happens to be part of the Burns & McDonnell team that designed the recently launched Time of Use (TOU) rates for Evergy. As an EV advocate himself, we asked him how TOU rates are particularly beneficial for fellow EV drivers.

Evergy’s Time of Use Plan is an optional rate plan that rewards customers with rate discounts when you shift energy usage away from the weekday peak hours of 4-8 p.m. 

How are Time of Use rates beneficial for EV drivers?

“TOU rates are designed with EV drivers in mind. Just making the single, simple change of charging overnight instead of after work can make a big difference. I was the first person to sign up for the TOU rate and now, we just set our timer to start charging at 12 a.m. I plug in and forget about it. It couldn’t be easier and — between our two cars — we have the potential to save almost $1,000 a year.” 

What if we still use electricity throughout the day? 

“These rates are designed to be revenue neutral for the average consumer who doesn’t make any changes in how they use electricity. But if you do change behavior, you can see savings. For an EV driver, it’s so easy to make a change. If you were charging at home under the normal rate, you should still save money if you make no other changes except charging your EV from 12 to 6 a.m. Of course, if you can also run your dishwasher or dryer during non-peak times, the potential savings will be greater. And weekends and holidays are always at the lower rate.” 

What if I don’t see significant savings based on the online plan comparison? 

“When you compare plans, it’s based on historical usage, so the tool may not show significant savings because you haven’t made any behavior changes yet. But with changed behavior — such as the impact of charging overnight instead of after work — it’s a different story.” 

What do you love about driving electric?

“It just makes sense. I drove an SUV and the fuel and maintenance costs were significant. I’m a numbers person and the cost of ownership for an EV was cheaper than continuing to drive a gas-powered vehicle. Both my wife and I have access to free charging at work, so that helps, but it’s so easy to charge when we’re out and at home too. In our garage, we ran a 220 V 24-amp circuit from the dryer outlet. It doesn’t have to be fancy to work well. Plus, EVs are just fun to drive. They are practical vehicles, but they offer the performance of a Porsche or BMW. For me, EVs are a lower-cost, environmentally friendly version of a high-performance vehicle.”

What would surprise people about an EV?

“Some people have the perception that EVs are for in-town driving only, but we road trip everywhere. The nationwide network of fast chargers and superchargers is steadily growing. When we need to, we stop and charge for 20 minutes, and it usually coincides with the kids needing to stretch their legs or take a bathroom break anyway. For Christmas, my mom installed an outlet in her garage so we could charge while we were visiting. But now that she sees how much we love driving electric, she’s bought an EV of her own.”