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Looking at just gas stations, they could spin it into a benefit since the customer will be required to stay at the station for a significant amount of time (~30

Looking at just gas stations, they could spin it into a benefit since the customer will be required to stay at the station for a significant amount of time (~30 mins?) to charge instead of a few minutes. You lure them in with the electricity then push all your high-margin crap on them like drinks and snacks. It would massively increase foot traffic to quick-service restaurants, cafes and other activities on or near the premises as well. People will go to stations less, but they will spend more time there. Current EV utilization of paid, away-from-home chargers shouldn't be expected in future when EV owners can't just rent a ICE vehicle for any trip greater than ~400km roundtrip.

11thEarlOfMar 6y ago
It's definitely a business model to look into. And on primary highway routes, there would be some success. The suburb I live in has about 50 gas stations for 200,000 people. I charge my BEV overnight at home and have spent at most $100 charging at paid stations in 3 years. (Charging at home is about 1/2 the cost of a charge station for me.)There is a major freeway through town, but the vast majority of traffic is commuters, who will likely also charge at home. Some stations will successfully transition, and for sure, there will be solutions I can't imagine at this point. It will be interesting to see how it actually plays out.
fyfy18 6y ago
In my country this is how the petrol stations stay relevant. Prices for fuel are pretty consistent between them (unlike say Italy, where there can be a 20c/litre difference if you drive 100m to the next station) so they've had to branch out to provide additional services. All petrol stations that have a store have a selection of hot drinks and food, and various other things you would expect form a corner shop. The prices are lower than coffee shops, and in some cases better quality too (especially for food). I saw one brand recently started selling their food on delivery services as less people were travelling during quarantine. Most of the automated stations (i.e. you can only pay at a machine, not they fill up the car for you :D) share the premises with a fast-food restaurant. Most EV chargers price their electricity at quite a bit higher than you would pay at home, so in the short term I guess they can jump on this bandwagon. But as range increases and cities start installing more on-street chargers that model will fail too.

11thEarlOfMar 6y ago

It's definitely a business model to look into. And on primary highway routes, there would be some success. The suburb I live in has about 50 gas stations for 200,000 people. I charge my BEV overnight at home and have spent at most $100 charging at paid stations in 3 years. (Charging at home is about 1/2 the cost of a charge station for me.)There is a major freeway through town, but the vast majority of traffic is commuters, who will likely also charge at home. Some stations will successfully transition, and for sure, there will be solutions I can't imagine at this point. It will be interesting to see how it actually plays out.

fyfy18 6y ago

In my country this is how the petrol stations stay relevant. Prices for fuel are pretty consistent between them (unlike say Italy, where there can be a 20c/litre difference if you drive 100m to the next station) so they've had to branch out to provide additional services. All petrol stations that have a store have a selection of hot drinks and food, and various other things you would expect form a corner shop. The prices are lower than coffee shops, and in some cases better quality too (especially for food). I saw one brand recently started selling their food on delivery services as less people were travelling during quarantine. Most of the automated stations (i.e. you can only pay at a machine, not they fill up the car for you :D) share the premises with a fast-food restaurant. Most EV chargers price their electricity at quite a bit higher than you would pay at home, so in the short term I guess they can jump on this bandwagon. But as range increases and cities start installing more on-street chargers that model will fail too.