03-15-2023, 09:57 AM
(03-15-2023, 09:25 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:(03-15-2023, 09:08 AM)SF22 Wrote: Right? I'm waiting for the first day that we see something like a 'charging station' - a place where you can park your electric car for 30m, plug into a charger, and then have a seat at the attached restaurant/cafe while you wait. Sort of like a truck stop, but for SUVs. I honestly believe we'll start seeing a new industry like that pop up (eventually) to replace gas stations that can no longer stay profitable.
Besides the addition of charging infrastructure, how does this differ from existing rest stops?
I think gas stations on the highway will actually survive pretty well with EVs, because they are exactly the places where people will need to charge, and they are a captive location where people who are stuck there for 20-30 minutes can go spend on some food.
Where as in city stations will almost certainly be mostly gone in 15-20 years. Even if people needed to charge in town (which should rarely be the case, they'll charge at home or maybe their destination) they can plug in at a charger, but then are not captive...they're not forced to stay at the gas station and eat gas station food...they can go anywhere in the city.
A destination charger might be only a level 2, whereas a gas/charging station might offer something like 500 kW rapid charging, so there is a case for that. And not everyone will have charging capability at home. Not all multi-residential buildings will have it, and even in single-residential, you may not have enough charging for all your vehicles.
Building a new station on Victoria St can still make sense because it'll take decades for ICE vehicles to disappear (EV market share is still less than 10% and cars last much longer than 10 years), especially if it's designed to be able to transition to fast charging in the future (maybe even with an option to do it now).