From Gas Station To Charging Station

Very interesting project....

 

I'm not sure if I would trust them. They say they could handle 15 cars at once. Yet the picture clearly shows 24 spaces!

But getting serious. I doubt something like this will work well at all. Like it or not, for at least the next decade or so, charging cars is going to take, relatively, a long time compared to getting gas. This means you will want to charge mainly at home or at work. I can see only two or three real reasons for charging at other locations.

1. You are at your destination. This means you are going shopping, to a restaurant or other destination. Your destination is NOT a charging station. So it matters what else is at the destination, such as a mall, etc.

2. You are making a (relatively) long trip with your EV and you need to stop along the way and get a charge. The charging station needs to be at an already established convenient place with something to do for an hour or so.

3. You are very low on battery level and you must charge. Any place will do. You weren't paying attention to the charge level or had some emergency to attend to. This will mostly be rare...like running out of gas or getting a flat tire, etc. It will happen, but it isn't a good plan to build a business around it (AAA tow trucks will probably be able to handle this)

This charging station does not seem to apply to any of the above, so I predict it won't get built or will fail if it does.

Mike

 

Even a thirty minute charging time is laughably long unless in an entertainment area with restaurants and shops.

We need homes, hotels, and work places to provide the initial charge zones in an area. This will allow use of electric vehicles for the residents in the area as well as rentals for visitors. Long distance travel in EVs will remain an oddity until either their charge range is increased dramatically or charge times are dramatically reduced, dedicated charging stations like this simply don't make sense with our current technology.

The next best place for charging stations by my estimate would be parking lots or parking garages. Start with a handfull of charging stations in each lot and expand as demand rises slowly. Having the ability to charge where you want to be is a lot better than going to the mega charging station because that's your only choice. Even in a low EV area like mine I know of some private parking garages that provide charging stations to encourage their employees to drive EVs to work...most notably the electric company of course.

Electricity doesn't require the same starter space and safety equipment as gasoline does. Why make a mega charging station when what's required to expand our EV base is a charging station that is about the same size as and isn't much more complicated than a pay phone or parking meter, money goes in and it provides x amount of power.