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The Wegmans nearest my house has free charging for EVs, but only two spots. Your use case is the ideal, I think, but we're a long way from being able to support

The Wegmans nearest my house has free charging for EVs, but only two spots. Your use case is the ideal, I think, but we're a long way from being able to support it. Rough guess, I'd say there are often more than a hundred cars in that parking lot. This is a solvable problem, but it does need to be solved, and I don't think anyone really knows what the optimal solution looks like. Does Krogers start a side business selling electricity to its customers? Does a charging network lease space in their parking lot? What self-driving is actually a thing, do we just have our cars go charge themselves while we shop? Electrification is a necessary change, but it's also a huge change, with a lot of ramifications and ripple effects we're still thinking through.

theshrike79 5y ago
Here in Finland the three big grocery chains are all competing for charging use. One has been doing it for a few years now and has multiple 22kW and 1-4 50kW chargers at most larger stores. One has installed at least one 50kW on most stores, with the goal of having one at every store by 2024 And the last one is doing a huge push with 150kW superchargers and multiple 22kW ones to all stores. They previously had a 3rd party doing the chargers, but it was a complete shitshow of broken chargers and backordered spare parts. Only one of those is giving away electricity for free, the rest require an RFID tag or app - with discounts if you've got the store membership card. I do see that in the future all malls and larger stores will have a charging grid in the parking lot. Either for free (just to get people in the store) or at a competitive price. It really doesn't require that much more electricity than the parking lot lights do - the total power usage of a Type 2 charging grid is less than most big stores spend on air conditioning :)
- durnygbur 5y ago
  > Only one of those is giving away electricity for free, the rest require an RFID tag or app - with discounts if you've got the store membership card. There will be an increadible itch to fully control and trace the charging patterns and behaviours of both cars and individuals. I can refuel ICE car with petrol within 3 minutes paying cash and no loyalty card.
  - theshrike79 5y ago
    Car makers either owning their own charging infrastructure (Tesla) or making deals with existing ones (VW Group) is the way forward. "Buy a car and get free charging for a year!" or credit for a specific network of chargers offers already exist in Europe. It's a win-win situation, the charging network gets ingrained in the users minds as "the place to go" and the car manufacturers get an extra sales boost for minimal cost.

theshrike79 5y ago

Here in Finland the three big grocery chains are all competing for charging use. One has been doing it for a few years now and has multiple 22kW and 1-4 50kW chargers at most larger stores. One has installed at least one 50kW on most stores, with the goal of having one at every store by 2024 And the last one is doing a huge push with 150kW superchargers and multiple 22kW ones to all stores. They previously had a 3rd party doing the chargers, but it was a complete shitshow of broken chargers and backordered spare parts. Only one of those is giving away electricity for free, the rest require an RFID tag or app - with discounts if you've got the store membership card. I do see that in the future all malls and larger stores will have a charging grid in the parking lot. Either for free (just to get people in the store) or at a competitive price. It really doesn't require that much more electricity than the parking lot lights do - the total power usage of a Type 2 charging grid is less than most big stores spend on air conditioning :)

durnygbur 5y ago
> Only one of those is giving away electricity for free, the rest require an RFID tag or app - with discounts if you've got the store membership card. There will be an increadible itch to fully control and trace the charging patterns and behaviours of both cars and individuals. I can refuel ICE car with petrol within 3 minutes paying cash and no loyalty card.
- theshrike79 5y ago
  Car makers either owning their own charging infrastructure (Tesla) or making deals with existing ones (VW Group) is the way forward. "Buy a car and get free charging for a year!" or credit for a specific network of chargers offers already exist in Europe. It's a win-win situation, the charging network gets ingrained in the users minds as "the place to go" and the car manufacturers get an extra sales boost for minimal cost.