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by Kirby64 1036 days ago
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.

1 comments

Without strict parking enforcement, placing the EV chargers in prime parking positions just leads to them being used as general car park spots instead.