I was surprised to see how many public EV charging stations there are. Currently, the U.S. has about 140,000 public EV chargers distributed across almost 53,000 charging stations, which are still outnumbered by the 145,000 gas fueling stations in the country.
Of course, it only takes 5 minutes to gas up a car so the gas fueling stations can service a lot more cars.
More than 86% of charging stations in the country have level 2 chargers available ( level 2 charging (4-10 hours from empty to full charge). Direct current fast chargers can charge an electric vehicle from empty to 80% in 20-60 minutes but are only available at 12% of America’s EV charging stations today.
What if someone else with an EV is charging when you need to charge? Could be quite a wait.
Clearly, the odds are better if you charge in your own garage and stay close to home. Or drive in CA in upscale neighborhoods.
IMHO trying to place around EV chargers as if they are gas stations is a mistake. EV chargers need to be on highway routes, which people use to go long distances in a single day. EV chargers need to be at destinations, like shopping malls, grocery stores, office buildings and the like, so people charge while doing something.
Refueling with gas is always something you do EN ROUTE to somewhere else. It is a diversion. EV charging should be done at home, at work, and at destinations. It is a change in behavior, in thought, but it is the right one to make.
There are any number of apps that can tell you where open chargers are located. If all the chargers are occupied at a given location you simply don’t go to that location.
I’ve mentioned before that EVs are really only practical if you can charge where you normally park. But challenges of charging otherwise are way over blown. For one, charging stations are typically placed where you’d want to park anyway, like at grocery stores and malls.
One interesting thing about that map is it allows you to check only free stations. Turns out, about 20% of all stations nationally are free to use. We’ve talked about this before as well. Businesses are increasingly using charging stations as a loss leader to get people to park in front of their store. I don’t see any reason why that trend won’t continue.
Charging times last I read were to come down to 5 to 10 minutes. I think the approach was in how to charge smaller battery packs in the entire battery assembly.
I agree. They have different use patterns than a gasoline station.
One place they need to be is a work locations. For people who can’t charge at home, the next best place to charge is at work. They are there for multiple hours on a regular basis. Perfect place to charge.
Another is any place people go and spend a bit of time. Movie theaters. Gym. Sports stadiums. Restaurants. Once again, people who can’t charge where they live need to charge at places they visit regularly and for longer periods of time.
And - as you mention - along highways where people are traveling longer distances. These would probably need to be high speed chargers. Roadside stops could combine fast charging with a few restaurants and tourist shops to entertain folks while their car is charging. Maybe even a gas/diesel station for the old fuddy duddies who still burn fossils. Like a truck stop, but nicer.
My wife is able to charge at work for free. It is a pretty great amenity. Not long ago I was talking with the property manager for a tech company satellite campus (rhymes with “Etta.”) They had about 20 charging stations and she said they were planning for 30 more.
That sorta depends on where you live. According to the map on the OP’s link, there is exactly 1 charging location (with 4 level 2 chargers) within 5 miles of where I live (in Brooklyn, which would be the 4th most populous city in the US if it was not part of NYC). Most of the area is peppered with rental apartment building which, either don’t have garages at all (relegating their tenants who own cars to the hell of “alternate side” street parking) or having rental parking spaces in a garage. Unless there is some sort of incentive or regulation, it is highly unlikely that landlords would spend the money to put in charging stations in these garages.
Within this massive section of the city, there are exactly three locations which would be recognizable to others as shopping malls and most commercial streets are crowded with cars fighting to find metered parking places.
Sure, a small handful commute out of the city on parkways and some take “road trips” for vacations, but the vast majority of driving is of trips of less than ten miles staying within the City limits. Considering new “congestion taxes”, etc., I suspect that most people will find they do less driving, but finding chargers around here will be an insurmountable challenge without government stepping in.
The increasing cost of electricity might play into this.
How many stores offered to put quarters in the parking meter so you could shop there? Not many. One of the reactions was to create shopping malls with lots of (free) parking so you didn’t have to fight the meters in a downtown shopping area. Imagine fighting over a scant few EV charging spaces.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure some will do it - and a few already are. Around here? Almost none. I can find one and that’s it. Of course I expect more, eventually, but I don’t think this is going to be as big a thing as you expect, except in a few “trendy” geographies.
Understood that is where things are today. But do you think this isn’t going to change? Or cannot change?
People who are against EV’s for some reason seem to think that if not everything is ready TODAY then there is a problem with EV adoption. Just as everything won’t be in place today or even the next year, EV’s will not be the majority source of transportation in the next year either. That’s simply not possible.
Just for kicks looked up my old hometown, has only 2 chargers, both located at a Nissan dealership, neither is convenient if someone is traveling. Thinking it is more of a “display piece” than anything else. Supposedly free.
Looked up my current hometown, has plenty scattered all over but mostly associated with either parking garages or hotels. Prices vary from “free” at the parking garage (but you are already paying to park) to $6/hr.
I’ll stick with my ICE truck/SUV until they make an EV that acts like a real truck. But that is my lifestyle and maybe not yours.
I looked up chargers in my area. We have a small handful listed online.
But I know we have minimally twice as many not listed. The Whole Foods has 8 units for the public. The local town hall has 6 units for charging out front. Just no one has bothered to put them in a more generic search online.
Live in a smaller area, but a popular tourist destination.
There are even 4 free chargers in the parking lot of the main branch of the local library. I go there once a week or so, most cars I’ve seen plugged in is 2.
I am interested in EV’s, still don’t think the battery-range-degradation in cold temps has improved enough for me to be a buyer. I could definitely charge in my garage, but I do quite a bit of out of town driving in the winter, and not seeing many other public charging stations. But if I lived in the SW or South, I would likely own an EV.
