NY Times charging station article

[Richard230]

In today's newspaper there was a long article by the New York Times, written by Lawrence Ulrich, titled: "Charger desert in big cities keeps electric cars from the mainstream".  Sub-titled: " Apartment and townhouse dwellers bemoan the lack of places to juice up their vehicles."  That should give you some idea of the subject matter.

One condo resident was quoted as saying that his residents had lobbied building management and the condo board to install chargers in the below-ground and outdoor lots, which offer more than 1,300 parking spaces. But discussions get hung up over where to install chargers, how to pay for electricity, or which residents will benefit.

This paragraph caught my eye: "Obstacles abound. According to a Rocky Mountain Institute study, station installers face daunting 'soft costs', including permitting delays, balkanized regulations and outdated utility models. The fastest DC-charging hardware costs a sobering $100,000 to  $150,000, but that station can cost $1 million after siting, permits and construction. An aging electric grid faces bottlenecks and reengineering for an onslaught of car owners."

At the end of the article it states that in the case of Porsche's 350 kWh chargers, quick charging, because of the heat it generates can degrade battery life. One reason DC units automatically slow as batteries cross the 80% threshold. "For time-pressed Americans, even that 20-minute stop would require more patience than a three-minute squirt of gasoline."

[siai47]

Even with quick charging there are still complainers out there.  First the time it takes to charge.  That isn't a problem if you live in a real house and can plug in.  A full "tank" every morning.  If you are a condo or apartment dweller, I'll bet you there isn't a gasoline pump at your parking spot or anywhere in the complex.  So, you have to go somewhere to fuel.  And that 3 minute stop takes longer than that most of the time.  In large cities (like NY) there aren't a lot of gas stations downtown---somewhat of a "charging" desert.  A million dollars for a DC charging station?  I wonder how much a regular gasoline station costs these days---a million dollars isn't going to buy you much more than a standard station which is going to run into permitting and regulatory problems (including waste, spillage and emissions) that don't exist in a charging station.

If you buy into this stuff, than an BEV isn't for you.  After all if you don't go to a "gas" station where do you go to buy all the crap you need for life like beer, cigarettes and lotto tickets?  A smart "gas" station would install charging stations.  Many already do.  You have a captured clientele for twenty minutes that is going to wander into your store to buy stuff to pass the time.  The last time I went to a gas station it was a Wawa that had a Tesla supercharger next to the building that is two miles from my house.  I went there just to try out the 250 KW superchargers that were installed there.  No, I didn't need to use it, just something to do.

PS.  I did buy some snacks and by the time I walked out to the car, the charging was almost done.   

[Richard230]

I think the big issue with installing an EV charging station at existing gas station facilities is that most of them (at least in the U.S.) are franchises owned by a local business person who maybe owns five or ten stations. (Probably someone who grew up playing Monopoly.    ) Most of those guys run a low-budget operation and don't have the financial resources needed to install a charging station or two at their facility, like a name-brand oil company might.  Plus, they tend to be older and very conservative and likely see electric vehicles as being a threat to their business.  They probably would like to see EVs just go away.

About six years ago I was riding my 2014 Zero S back home on a ride that would see me running out of power a few hundred yards from home after 140 miles on a single charge.  About 45 miles from home, while traveling on a 55 mph highway, I started to get a little worried that I wasn't going to make it back without a little more juice when I noticed my SOC gauge reading 30%.  So I stopped at the only gas station for 30 miles in every direction and asked the fellow running the station and the convenience store if I could plug into one of their 120V electrical outlets lining the outside of the building for less than an hour while I got something to eat at the adjacent restaurant.  At first he told me that the owner would not allow electric vehicles to use their facilities. But he relented when I offered him $5 cash to let me plug in. Those 45 minutes at about 10 amps got me home.

Another time along the same highway, I stopped at a Chevron station and asked if I could plug in for an hour and offered to pay for the privilege.  I was told that the owner didn't like EVs and to get lost.  So I recharged a bit at a nearby rustic Mexican restaurant, who were happy to have my business and let me plug into one of their exterior outlets while I at lunch.

While this is a very limited example of what some gas station owners seem to think about providing services to electric vehicles, I bet it is not too uncommon.  While more enlightened countries might be installing charging stations at existing and new gas stations, I don't think it is happening in the U.S., which is unfortunate as at some point things will change and it will be hard for Big Oil and their franchises to catch up.   

[HadesOmega]

If you think about it having charging stations at gas station is a good thing for the station.  Gas stations don't really make money from the gasoline they sell, they make it when people go into the store and buy stuff.  So having an EV charger would get those customers into the store and they have to wait longer so they might hang out longer. 

I have seen chargers at a gas station before also, I guess it's not unheard of.