First US gas station to ditch oil for 100% EV charging opens in Maryland

[Daox]

An interesting article about the first gas station to stop selling gas and go entirely to EV charging. Not sure what the business model is there, but I hope it works for them. It does say there are more than 20,700 EVs registered in Maryland.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/firs...-now-open.html

[oil pan 4]

Hopefully it works out I know where I am there is 0 public charging.

[redpoint5]

I've commented on this extensively at the Bolt forum.

Here's some of my comments:

Pricing is for their one L2 charging spot at $1.25/session + $0.08/min, which is steep. I don't see pricing info for the DCFC options.

Did anyone read the article? The guy got a nearly $800,000 grant to install 4 DCFC spots. If he'd have paid out of pocket for that, how much charging would need to occur to recoup the $200k per charger?

The whole thing is a gimmick catered to a select "elite" group of people...

I'm sure the motivation by some ws to provide a service to the public. That isn't the problem. Good intentions can still be stupid and corrupt. In fact, most bad outcomes started from good intentions.

The entities that covered the grant were not using money that was donated to them, but money extracted unwillingly from the public. And it went to a private business, an individual. I wouldn't care if the 4 chargers cost a billion dollars from someone that voluntarily donated the money. Instead the public overpaid for something that cannot exist on its own economically to cater to a very small percentage of relatively wealthy people who happen to own EVs.

The taxis wouldn't be "hogging" the charging spots if the price were set appropriately. Then we'd say they were paying for a service. As I understand, at least one of the existing spots is free, which just invites moochers.

Perhaps the area needed more chargers, and I'm happy to see charging infrastructure expand, but not at the public expense, not at the benefit of 1 private business, and not to cater to a very small/specific demographic that tends to be more well off than others. That fits the description of anti-progressive...

[oil pan 4]

Yeah free charging does invite moochers.

I didn't know the charge stations cost $200,000, that's ridiculous. The article I read didn't say anything about there only being 4 charge stations.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I have only seen EV chargers placed in "convenient" places such as mall parking lots, and some gas stations having at least one charger but none entirely replacing the fuel dispensers.

[oil pan 4]

I just don't want to pay shipping from or drive all the way to MD to buy a going out of business chademo for dirt cheap.

[nemo]

This is no big deal! He probably wasn't making much off the gas. Inside sale and repair was always were the money was at. Don't see it as a good model for future charge locations. Better is parking garages and shopping or dinning locations were the person will be doing some thing other than just waiting. Could be incorporate with a valet business so the car could be moved as soon as it is charged opening the charger for the next vehicle.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by nemo

Don't see it as a good model for future charge locations. Better is parking garages and shopping or dinning locations were the person will be doing some thing other than just waiting.

Even though some of the charge locations I see are at a gas station, they're usually right in front of the AMPM, so the driver may spend some time getting some munchies or a coffee

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

There is a an article about a private petrol station owner whose business was failing because he wasn't making money at his location selling petrol. He took his 17 year old daughter's suggestion to apply for VW money to retrofit the station to DCFC. At a cost of $800,000 all donated funds, the petrol infrastructure was removed and 4 charging stalls built. Utilization is 4-5 cars per day at an average revenue of $5 per charge... so using $800k of someone else's money has allowed them to generate $25 of gross income per day. That doesn't even cover the monthly demand charge for supplying 250 kW capability.

Privately owned charging infrastructure has several huge obstacles to overcome, most notably that they are huge money losers. Fortunately we won't need so many chargers since most people will charge from home most of the time, but there will be a problem with inadequate infrastructure during high travel times. Hopefully smart apps that take into account real time utilization will ease the problem of long charging queues.

Seems like the appropriate place.

[redpoint5]

Here's the follow up to that story:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/maryland-...170300709.html

I get the feeling these articles are written as if what is going on is a good thing, when the facts disclosed suggest otherwise.

Here's my comments from another forum where somehow, some people reading the same article with the same facts as I, came to the conclusion that this is a big win for EV adoption:

...I'm critical of how this was accomplished because I want to see EV charging grow in a way that makes economic (lasting) sense. It sounds like the only smart business decision this guy (or was it his economic genius 17 year old daughter) has made was to accept a continuation of loosing money on his business, but this time on someone else's tab.

Instead of VW punitive money being wasted on private owner charging stations, which will do zero to accelerate the EV transition, they could have done anything else with it. I like the idea of transitioning school buses to EV since those are the perfect use case. These buses travel relatively little distance and have ample opportunity to charge when not in use. They have huge maintenance costs which could be reduced by the less complex and higher reliability of electric systems. They burn diesel and pollute around children. I'd rather see VW money spent on a project like that, then converting a petrol station that was going under anyhow, into a soon-to-fail EV charging point. Once the charging station goes under, it will be exhibit C for the anti-EV crowd to point to as evidence that EVs suck. It will be a net setback to the cause of EVs as a result.