Comment by hangonhn
3 months ago
I wonder if that wouldn't allow gas stations to add EV charging stations. The square surface of a gas station is rather limited, which is not an issue when you can fill up in a minute or so. But if it takes you 30 minutes to recharge, the gas station can't serve enough customers to sustain their business. However, if you can get to a full charge in 10 minutes or 80% in 5 (I'm guess the last 20% is slower, etc.), then EV charging can become a viable business for gas stations.
I Supercharge at the grocery store, Target, etc vs a gas station. Certainly, gas stations are options when there is no other business around, like Buc-ee's, but I'd prefer to dwell somewhere decent vs your typical minimum viable gas station. Tesla colocates Supercharger stations at Meijer grocery stores in the Midwest for example, although they also have one at the Chattanooga airport in TN (was hard to find a better location early days there).
If you put fast chargers at places people already go today, you don't need gas stations outside of travel routes.
It also makes me wonder how different the packing efficiency would be- gas station fuel dispensers have short hoses and lots of safety features related to avoiding a spill, and it all takes up space. A fast EV charging station might still look more like a parking lot.
There already exists quite a bit today. I've seen multiple locations where there's 4-8 dispenser heads (chargers) located in the corner of an already normal highway-sized (i.e., ~8 pump) gas station with a medium sized convenience store. Takes up very little space compared ot the gas station pumps.
For places like Bucees (which is basically a small grocery store in size), 20 minute charges are pretty reasonable. By the time you walk to the store, use the bathroom, browse the goods, and stand in line for checkout, you're easily near 20 minutes. If anything, it seems beneficial for a place like Bucees since you're incentivized to spend a bit more time browsing and buying stuff.
Gas stations can't and won't be blanket converted to charging stations. The use models are just not compatible.
EV chargers belong in gigantic parking lots. So shopping centers and office complexes. The great thing about putting chargers in these locations is that they are both often close to highways, are places that people regularly visit, and they have complimentary usage hours (offices are empty when shopping centers are full, and vice versa).
Along you're lines chargers are commercial parking lots needs to be prioritized.
At least in California there is now often a glut of solar power during the day when presumably a lot of cars are parked at peoples workplaces.
That means 400+ kilowatts- doable, but pretty disruptive for grid operators. Typically that will mean expensive (>.5 MWh) onsite batteries. Gas stations are inherently capital-intensive but making a $200k+ bet may still be a struggle.
I wonder how the economics of onsite battery banks is vs petrol storage tanks, especially with the long term clean-up and mitigation expenses.