One of the largest supermarket operators in the United States partnered with EVgo to open at least 150 stalls per year.
The two companies said that the first new charging site is already operational in Salt Lake City, Utah, and that the next locations on the list are slated to go live soon in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Washington. Kroger stores in other states are also bound to get brand-new EV chargers that can top up a car’s battery in as little as 15 minutes.
EVgo currently operates roughly 4,800 DC fast charging stalls in the United States, according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center, but the company is planning a massive expansion. By the end of 2029–that’s just three years from now–EVgo expects to have over 15,000 stalls up and running stateside.
Great. So now I have to interrupt my shopping to go back out to the car so I don’t get idling charges. (And from my limited experience, EVgo has among the highest recharge rates around, probably higher if they have to give Kroger a split.)
I’ve seen some YouTube videos of EV owners taking long distance trips which have 1) eased my previous idea on how difficult long travel charging currently is. And is continuing easing as more charging stations are being added. 2)The videos I’ve seen have explained, in their experiences, the charging costs were equal or higher than operating an ICE vehicle. That the real benefit of an EV was charging at home realizing hundreds of dollars of reduced operating cost.
Does the above mean you do not have a 240 volt charging station at home that is utilized overnight?
I assume Kroger & EVgo are hoping to snag those Live Above Their Means EV owners [I have a friend that loves to slurp up Starbucks coffee-Me I found the 57 cent McDonald’s senior coffee is preferable-YMMV] or those who forgot to hook up overnight at home.
As I have mentioned here before, over a year ago I took a trip from TN to KY to VA to WVa to PA to NY to CT to MA and back again by a different route. I had (minor) trouble only once, going east in the middle of Kentucky where there was a long stretch without a public charger.
Going to see a former co-worker in Kentucky on my first trip there was one place to charge. Then there were two. Now there are three, not counting the hotel where I stay which has free (level 2) chargers. (He is seriously medically disabled, so I go about 4 times a year.) A Buc-ees opened along the way with about a zillion chargers, all Tesla on one side, all “other” on the other. So it’s clear that except for a few out-of-the way drives (North Dakota?) the problem is mostly chimera. PS: On the entire drive I encountered one out-of-service “pump” at a station with 6 stations, so even that wasn’t really a big deal. Did not have to wait in line once.
My Hyundai came with a year of free charging (only at certain vendors, tho). And the first time I paid it was still 1/3 the price of filling with gas. That said, more recently, on the few times I’ve paid to charge, the price was roughly comparable to gasoline.
In my garage it’s a quite different story. Yes, I have a 240v charger, and I also have a 110v charger which I run from batteries/solar panels. When I have to charge I use the batteries, which takes longer (obviously) but is “free.” When I have to use grid power it costs about 1/3 of what gasoline does.
In two years I have zero maintenance costs. I have had 2 recalls, which took about 20 minutes in the shop. And I have about 17,000 miles, which means I’m getting closer to “new tires”, which is the only expense I can think of which will be more than an ICE car.
This is good to see. The Whole Foods near me has both EVgo fast chargers and Shell slow L2’s. Both get used. You are right, however, that if you are shopping for longer than your car will take to charge that is inconvenient. Makes me wonder if more L2’s would be better. But not the puny 3.3 kWh ChargePoint. More like 12 kWh units. Put the DC Fast Chargers at travel centers. Buc-ees, Flying J, Pilot, etc.
Charging on-the-go is much more expensive than at home in my Texas experience. I pay a touch over $0.10 / kWh at home, or about $0.033 per mile. On the road things get much more expensive. Frequently I see prices of $0.59 / kWh. If we consider a 25mpg highway vehicle (like an Acura MDX) and $2.50 gasoline that is ten cents per mile. My ZDX gets about 2.7 mi/kWh on the highway, and at 59 cents makes it about $0.22 per mile - twice the price of gas.
Worst I’ve paid for charging at any speed was $0.69 / kWh.
We continue to hear of places where charging an EV can be difficult. Charging hookup not allowed in apt garage due to fire risk. Parking on the street, etc.
Kroger charging stations looks like a good deal. Brings people to Kroger for a charge while they shop. Kroger probably easy to find when you travel. EV charging at Kroger likely to be well maintained.
Hope it works out for everyone. At least gives EV owners more choices.
Yep. Level 3, or DCFC, chargers make little sense at shopping venues. Almost all shopping trips take longer than the 10-18 minutes of a typical DC charging session. What makes a lot more sense is good quality level 2 AC chargers (9.6kW would be sufficient, 11kW would be nicer) at shopping locations - supermarkets, malls, movie theaters, etc.
They’re also reportedly quite unreliable, maybe improved recently, but I wouldn’t know, because despite owning 3 EVs, we’ve never ever charged at EVGo. Their prices are simply insanely high, they have a 50kW DCFC charger and they charge 0.53/kWh RIGHT NEXT TO a 250kW supercharger that is $0.31-0.38/kWh. They also have a level 2 AC charger that they charge $0.035/minute, that’s $2.10/hr for a net (assuming it all works properly without cutoffs and slowdowns) of roughly 6.4kWh, or $0.33/kWh, that is an absolutely ridiculous price for level 2 charging.
The right way to approach determining the cost of fueling or cost of charging a vehicle is to look across the entire year, not just the week or two that the typical person takes a road trip. The same approach should be taken for annual coffee costs - 50-51 weeks a year, I have coffee at home (35-40 cents a cup max), or coffee at the office (zero cents a cup), or once a month or so starbucks for $5 or so, and one or two weeks a year, it’s $5 every day or three if the hotel has coffee, or $5 a day if the hotel does not have coffee.