Just yesterday I recorded an incredible conversation with the archivist from Ford, formerly of Coca-Cola, about the history of fueling infrastructure in this country and let me just say... when you listen to that conversation, you'll understand why we haven't cracked the code on EV charging yet.
The short version is: if you're building fueling stations in order to be in the actual fueling business, you're not gonna make it. Until we see more EV chargers subsidized by other, more profitable businesses, the economics are unlikely to justify the kind of investment in build-out we need to see.
Until we abandon the ideas that EV “fueling” is remotely analog to gasoline there won’t be good solutions.
Fact is EV charging needs to solve these two challenges - everything else is marginal:
1. Long haul recharging
2. Overnight charging for users not living in single family homes.
As somebody who uses EA regularly, they're marginally okay
It's actually extremely impressive how rapidly the network was built out, but there's a LOT of teething issues
That said, I've never *failed outright* to get a charge at EA, and their newest generation of gear seems a lot more reliable 🤞
I’d figure in a world with lots of EVs, we might see charging infrastructure built just to get customers for o5er things—while the car is charging you’ve got people who’re interested in shopping, dining, etc.
But with EVs relatively rare, there isn’t enough demand to build those charging malls.
The problem is that a full charge at a fast station takes about 20-30 minutes.
That's pretty good for what your getting! But that's not "scratch off and funyuns" territory.
Publicly-owned/funded/whatever charging stations make sense but this is America so f**k public goods.
I guess this is why that fraudster’s company could support so many charging stations initially: no automotive competitors meant they were an implicit subsidy for their car buyers?
I found a lot of Electrify America chargers in the back lot of outlet malls or adjacent to shopping in some other way, and that's why I always choose them over EVGo, who places their chargers in literal dark back alleys sometimes
That's right. Here's a preview: the fact that the interview subject was the archivist at Coca-Cola for like 20 years informed his perspective as much or more than his time as archivist at Ford, because the company that had the bigger impact on fueling probably isn't the one you'd guess.
The cost of the electricity - the thing consumers fixate on since the know it well - may well be a marginal thing compared to the immense CAPEX and additional OPEX of a fast charger. Outside of travel corridors, grocery stores and other destination shopping might work them into loyalty programs.
I'd ask what are you fighting with? Climate change? Or old, establish business beaucracy?
We don't have time to change our behaivor. We just need to adopt new carbon neutral fuel so that all existing ICE cars on road start reducing CO2 emission right away.
I mean, we could just subsidize conversion of gas stations, but the underlying experience is different. Charging will not be a stop and go any time soon. Tesla even tried with battery exchange. Ultimately we should be changing the way people drive, if we want EV to be effective.
