[theshrike79]

It's the exact same as with EVs.

We COULD have an EV with a 200kWh battery that can go 1000km++ on a charge in -30C weather. But nobody really needs that beyond a few outliers.

What we NEED is ubiquitous and easy charging.

Going for a burger, it'll take 20 minutes for you to order, eat and walk out. On a 300kW charger in the parking lot you can in theory get up to 100kWh charged. Or less with a slower one. Even plugging in to a 50kW charger for 20 minutes is enough.

Same with shopping etc, giving "everyone" a 2kW charger in a parking lot is table stakes in 2026.

And with phones: just have the possilibity of charging everywhere. I have 13€ Ikea Qi2 ("Magsafe") compatible chargers[0] everywhere in the house. Anyone can just slap their phone on one and it'll charge a bit.

There's no reason why we can't have more of those in public - we did try when wireless charging first appeared, but it was a whole chicken and egg thing. Nobody had phones that supported it and finding the exact 1x1cm spot where the phone charges was a pain. Qi2 with the alignment magnets takes that problem away completely.

[0] https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/vaestmaerke-wireless-charging-s...

[cogman10]

Yeah, ubiquitous slow charging stations more than anything else is really what's needed to make EVs practical for everyone.

They can be ubiquitous for anyone that owns a home which takes a large load off the need for public infrastructure. Adding more L2 chargers and even L1 chargers could easily cover anyone in apartments. And even if there's not quite enough, L3 chargers can quickly cover any gaps if you start running low and couldn't get a spot with a charger.

I think there is a too much focus on L3 chargers in general. For the cost of a single L3 charging station you can put in multiples of L1 and L2 chargers.

[brianwawok]

But why put charges at burger shacks? For most people most of the time charge while you sleep. On trips charge along the highway. Every single store doesn’t need chargers, it’s a waste.

[throw0101d]

> For most people most of the time charge while you sleep.

Unless you're a 'garage orphan': no garage, driveway or parking pad, and have to park on the street.

* https://electricautonomy.ca/news/2019-06-24/solving-the-elec...

* https://www.theenergymix.com/garage-orphans-scramble-for-cha...

Apartments (either rental, or condo ownership) may have underground parking with a few slots for charging.

[Kirby64]

Apartments are rather ideal for charging, if the infrastructure could be planned for. Parking spaces with restricted access... basically ideal for having every space with a charger.

That basically leaves street parking as the last problem child, and that could be solved with lamp chargers like they do in the UK. It's all possible, it's just a matter of will in my view.

[throw0101d]

> Parking spaces with restricted access... basically ideal for having every space with a charger.

Assuming that the landlord (or condo corp/HOA) is willing to pay for the infrastructure upgrades. Also assuming there is electrical capacity.

* https://www.metroev.ca/blog/ev-charger-load-management

[theshrike79]

Load shedding and load management are 100% solved problems. You can even do it with pretty much purely electromechanical components with zero AI, Cloud, NFTs or blockchains =)

It can be a bit better if each charger can, for example, be adjusted independently based on their total load. Even better if the cars can report their charge level to the system, it can optimise by giving more charge to the ones with the emptiest batteries first.

[Kirby64]

> Assuming that the landlord (or condo corp/HOA) is willing to pay for the infrastructure upgrades. Also assuming there is electrical capacity.

Like I said, these are problems of will, not real problems. If you mandated that all newly built apartments have a L2 charger in every parking spot, it could be done. Retrofitting is much more expensive, but even that is not insurmountable.

[numpad0]

There are reasons for burger shacks to NOT have chargers, for EVs and phones alike: restaurants make money by maximizing customer throughput. Excuses for customers to extend stays is damaging to them.

There are other types of businesses, such as high end restaurants and furniture stores, that benefit from customers extending times in the store. Burger shops aren't one of those.

[theshrike79]

You don't own an EV do you?

I've literally driven past restaurants on road trips because there was nowhere to charge close by.

It's not whether I stay for a long time or not, it's whether I come in AT ALL. The map on my car shows be both restaurants and chargers, as do many EV-specific charging map apps. I just filter by "food+charging" and the rest might as well not exist for me.

Similarly I have family and friends with serious food allergies: If the restaurant isn't disclosing allergens in their menu up front and says "ask the staff", we go somewhere else instead of playing 20 questions with the waiter after parking and getting seated - and then discovering they have no idea what "actually gluten free" means.

And you don't charge an EV to 100% every time you stop, it's basic chemistry and physics. The last 20% takes as long to charge as the first 80%. A 20 minute stop at a burger shack's 300kW charger will easily give a modern EV tens of percent of extra charge (100km+) while people eat.

[LordDragonfang]

"Most people" with EVs charge while they sleep, because right now it doesn't make as much sense to buy an EV if you're in the actual majority that does not have access to a garage you can install a charger in. That fact is one of the major things slowing EV adoption.

[sehansen]

Those of us who live in apartments and charge our BEVs with public chargers also mostly charge while we sleep. If your battery is large enough for a week or two of normal use, leaving the car in a public AC charger overnight when you get down to 10% charge left is by far the easiest. And AC chargers are generally also cheaper than DC chargers.

[theshrike79]

I charge at the school across the street, it's a 3 minute walk from there to my house.

Granted, it's a tiny bit of a hassle compared to before when I had a charger at my parking spot - but not a massive issue. Mostly the problems come from people parking their ICE cars in front of the chargers because they're too lazy to find a parking spot.

[theshrike79]

You do know that people travel? I don’t need to charge when I’m in my home town, I can do that at home.

But when I’m travelling I’d rather charge a bit every time I stop rather than have one loong stop just to charge.

And I’m not talking about Joe’s Shack that has like 1.8 parking spots. More like McD or BK.