Technology Connections recently opined about the design of charging stations, noting that they were isolated, deserted, unstaffed, frequently broken in interesting ways, and really unpleasant, especially for your single woman passing through at night, etc.
He said that ideally, you'd have charging stations accompanied by a café, a gift shop or something, restrooms, and a squeegee to clean your damn windows! You know, basically a gas station but with electricity. It doesn't seem so difficult to figure this out, especially when charging will almost always take you more time than filling a tank.
> a café, a gift shop or something, restrooms, and a squeegee to clean your damn windows!
I don't own an electric and never gone on a road trip with anyone who owned one. Are the charging points usually nothing more than a place to park and plug in? As a frequent road-tripper, I typically look for gas stations like you describe, and often opt for truck stops because they have all kinds of supplies services and tend to be staffed 24/7.
Given that charging takes more time than filling a gas tank, it seems like a real wasted opportunity to not have some kind of services associated.
It greatly depends. That said, I would say a large amount of the high power DC charging points (i.e., the ones you need to use when road tripping, and have to stop at for ~20-30 mins at a time) tend to be placed in inconvenient places. For example, at the VERY back of a parking lot, 200+ ft away from the nearest storefront.
Generally, it seems that they pick the furthest away locations because they aren't desirable spots, EV chargers usually need some large infrastructure that takes up additional space, and EV owners don't really have a choice...
Additionally, depending on where you have to stop, you may have a charger located in some mall or group of stores that closes at a relatively early hour (~9PM). Usually these are far enough from a convenience store (you know, the ones attached to a gas station) that it makes more sense to just wait at the charger then make a separate stop at a gas station if you need snacks/bathroom/etc.
Some stores do a good job of integrating the chargers nearby to their business, but your mileage may vary wildly. There's a bakery that has a supercharger I stop at frequently on a road trip that I take; when the bakery is open, it's fantastic little stop with food, snacks, restroom, etc. When it's closed... tough luck.
Without strict parking enforcement, placing the EV chargers in prime parking positions just leads to them being used as general car park spots instead.
A sticking point, I feel, for EV adoption is this: landlords of high-density housing have never needed to host their own gas stations, since they would be positioned just down the road and very generously in high-population areas. However, EVs need to park at home and sit on a charger overnight if the driver is to have a usable car the next morning. That means that every landlord will need to start installing commensurate charging stations for the car-owning families in their communities.
This is where it's going to hurt the poor and low-income communities. The well-to-do places with gates and security will have no problem setting them up, maintaining them, and keeping them free of vandalism. In affordable housing, you'll see a lot more reluctance. We don't even have bicycle racks here!
Worse, higher-income residents will be more likely to have charging at work while they're working, if anyone works in an office anymore, whilst low-income folks are more likely to work jobs that don't/can't offer charging to all their employees. Ouch.
Even for SFHs, there are wrinkles. For those who can easily install a charger in their garage, great. But how many homeowners don't have/use a garage and park on the street? How far do you want to snake a cable from your breaker box at home?
You really don't have to have a charging station where you live unless you have a tiny range: I have been driving a Tesla Model 3 (Long Range) for a year now, and I just "go fill up" at a super-charger like I used to with a gas car.
BTW: this might even be better for the battery than slower home charging, despite a lot of assumptions people make about how there has to be a trade-off for "super" charging; and like, even if it's bad, it isn't that bad.
Charging stations placed near the door end up occupied by ICE vehicles whose owners don't care that they're blocking EVs from charging. They just see a convenient parking space so EV charging ends up out of the way to prevent this.
He said that ideally, you'd have charging stations accompanied by a café, a gift shop or something, restrooms, and a squeegee to clean your damn windows! You know, basically a gas station but with electricity. It doesn't seem so difficult to figure this out, especially when charging will almost always take you more time than filling a tank.