Power Your Drive EV Drivers
Congratulations! Your employer, apartment community or condo association is participating in SDG&E’s Power Your Drive program, which provides charging stations for your electric car. These Level 2 charging stations are just for your use and not open to the public.
To use these chargers, reach out to your employer or property manager to get a private Site ID and Enrollment Instructions. Please make note of your enrollment type – you will either be an “A” or “B” driver based on the following:
A. Rate to Driver: you manage your charging costs and are billed directly by SDG&E for charging. This the most common type of enrollment.
B. Rate to Host: charging is provided as an amenity by the site manager.
The Rate to Driver process begins with enrolling through your SDG&E Account.
Enroll through My Energy Center
Don’t have My Energy Center? No problem. Just call our Customer Care Center and we’ll help you get enrolled: 800-411-7343.
- Form an EV Club: Create a group where current EV drivers can share the latest EV news and learn from one another about their experiences. Open the group to drivers considering going electric so they have a place to get answers to basic EV questions.
- Develop best practices: New charging stations means EV adoption at your location will grow…and that’s great! Develop best practices to ensure a pleasant charging experience for all.
- Communicate: Create a way to easily communicate to your EV Club – whether through monthly emails, events or via an online community.
- Partner with EV dealerships: Reach out to your local EV dealerships and invite them to show off their newest EV models and offer test drives.
- Promote, promote, promote: Let the world known about all the great EV efforts you have in place at your business, apartment community or condo association.
- SDG&E’s EV Guide: Find the EV that best fits your lifestyle.
- EV Rate for Single Family Homes: If you use the Power Your Drive pricing plan at your workplace, you can still save money at home with these rates.
- Driver Support (ChargePoint) - 1-888-758-4389 or email [email protected]
- Site Host Support (ChargePoint) - 1-877-850-4562 or email [email protected]
- Damaged Charging Station (SDG&E) - 1-800-411-7343
- Billing or SDG&E MyAccount Questions (SDG&E) - 1-800-411-7343
Frequently Asked Questions
You need to sign up with SDG&E first for a Power Your Drive account. Once finished, you’ll receive an email from the charging station vendor to sign up with them.
That’s great! You’ll still need to sign up with SDG&E first, then the vendor will email instructions to link your Power Your Drive account with them.
By signing up with SDG&E first, then via the email you receive from your charging vendor, you could be charging within 30 minutes. In many cases, the location requires their own approvals to allow you to charge and will have communicated this to you in your email from them.
Power Your Drive offers an hourly rate that incentivizes drivers to charge during grid-friendly times, by providing them a cheaper rate at those times.
During mild weather days, prices could start around 13 cents per kilowatt-hour and can go up to 25 cents per kilowatt hour. During very hot days of the year where the grid is heavily constrained due to high usage, the prices could start low and go over 50 center per kilowatt-hour.
Power Your Drive charging stations are meant to do this…to incentivize drivers through price to avoid hours where the grid is constrained and at peak.
Yes, your charging station vendor’s app will help you do just this by putting a maximum price you want to pay. The charging station will stop charging when the hourly price exceeds your max price. OK with paying more to get a charge? Just increase your hourly price.
An hourly rate charges you electricity by the kilowatt-hour. The hourly prices are sent the day before by the California Independent Systems Operator that helps manage California’s electric grid from a statewide level.
Power Your Drive is the first time we can offer an hourly rate to EV drivers. This means that in the middle of a winter day, when not a lot of electricity is in use – but solar and wind are producing a lot of energy – we can offer a low hourly rate during this time.
No, you are only approved to use the charging stations your employer, apartment community or condo association emailed you about.
SDG&E has had EV time-of-use rates available for single family homes for more than five years. With these rates the day is divided by on-peak (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.), super off-peak (midnight to 6 a.m. weekdays, and midnight to 2 p.m., weekends and holidays) and off-peak (all other times). Each has a different price.
For the Power Your Drive rate, the price changes hourly. Often it is below SDG&E’s EV time-of-use rates, and during hot days when the grid is constrained it can be above those rates.
Furthermore, SDG&E wanted to offer lower charging rates to EV drivers at businesses, apartments and condos, and the current EV time-of-use rates were not available to them.
For questions about charging or your usage, call your charging stations vendor. For questions about your bill call SDG&E.
ChargePoint videos and instructions
Testimonials
The ability to charge an electric car for free for four hours was very enticing, so my wife looked at the amount of miles we were driving due to the kids and how much money we were spending that it made sense to purchase an electric car. I like it so much I’m looking to buy a used electric vehicle in the near future.
The installation of the EV chargers at my workplace – Sumitomo Electric Interconnect Products, Inc. – located in San Marcos, had a lot to do with my decision to purchase my second electric vehicle – a Tesla Model 3. I live in Mission Valley and commute to San Marcos every day. I am able to use the HOV lane as a single occupant with a decal or with FasTrak. All of my charging is done at work which is easy and convenient. With my Tesla, I only have to charge 5 times a week. The cost to charge my car is equivalent to less than $1.60/gallon of gas, so it’s a no-brainer to continue driving electric.