FatherTo1

This is an interesting, and frankly, odd story. The owner received $786,000 in grant money for the project, but I still don't understand how it is a viable business model when he makes maybe $10/hour per charging station. The article reports that only 4-5 EV drivers stop by per day. There are a total of four charging stations and an "automated convenience store with complementary coffee, water, and restrooms".

My Dad looked into purchasing a gas station once and learned they only make a dime, or less, on the sale of a gallon of gas. Most of the revenue is from snacks and drinks, so maybe that is how this EV charging station is still profitable.

https://www.businessinsider.com/gas-...ost-reported-5

grabber2

My only question is...does the EV driver have to pay for each charge? Paying $10 to charge for one hour is quite expensive compares to charge at home.

FatherTo1

Yes, more expensive to charge than home, but much quicker than home charging. It would take me 9-10 hours charging at home to equal what a Supercharger can do in an hour. I still prefer to charge at home, despite free Supercharging.

Apparently, it costs ~$5 to charge to 80% in 20-30 minutes. Let's say that's 50 kW to charge from 10% to 80% (assuming 72 kW battery), then that's only 10 cents per kW, which is cheaper than the 26 cents Tesla charges at Superchargers. Even if it is a ridiculously small battery of 25 kW, we're talking about 30 cents per kW. At a local EVgo station in California, I saw rates advertised at 60 cents per kW!

It costs roughly 10 cents per mile to drive a gas car getting 30 MPG; EVs will travel 3-4 miles per kW.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Not surprising at all. While I don't expect every gas station to convert, I'm sure there will be some stations also offering EV charging in the future. win win

SW17LS

So first of all, that gas station is in Takoma Park. As soon as I saw the title I knew exactly where you were talking about lol. Takoma Park is about the most liberal, progressive, green earth minded place you will find in the mid-atlantic region. They devoted their city tax dollars (they charge a city property tax above and beyond the county tax that is almost as much as the county tax) to becoming a "nuclear free zone", to impeaching George W Bush, not a political statement thats simply a fact. They have a statue of a chicken in their town square.

Its basically the granola progressive wonderland of the DC metro area lol. So, this makes perfect sense as a business in that location. People there will pay to charge their cars there vs charging them at home just to support this business, and they received and continue to receive a ton of money from the city to subsidize their operations. Just because this can flourish there doesnt mean its ready to flourish anywhere else lol

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

20-30 min to charge 80%? clearly they dont value their free time. I got better things to do than sit around waiting for my car to charge. How can they even make money at 10c kWh, the average US cost of electricity is 12c. I bet its even more expensive at that location than the average.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

yeah, massively subsidized giant fail of a business because it 'feels good'.

money 'from the city' just means OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY because the city doesn't create any money.

reminds me of solyndra and other vast wastes of money.

patgilm

I just don’t see how this business can survive on its own. The volume just isn’t there and I am not sure the convenience store sales can keep it afloat.

LexBob2

.
I agree. Without any subsidies or other financial help I don't see how it can succeed. Maybe some of the grant money can be used.

SW17LS

They don’t make money lol.

Totally crazy, and people in Takoma Park pay about $5-8k more a year in taxes than those outside the city for the privilege of crap like this.

Takoma Park would make you totally crazy LOL We call it “the people’s republic of Takoma Park”

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

that's just it, it can't without truckloads of taxpayer money. but hey, it's green right?

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

sums up the entire renewable industry, only renewed with forced taxpayer funding and would die otherwise

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

not sure i agree with that... i guess private industry sometimes has the "i'm not going first" problem, so govt steps in to take the initial risk / investment to 'prime the pump' with the hope as volume grows, unit costs decrease.

this may have worked with wind power for example.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

if it was good on its own merits, it wouldn't need subsidies. This assumes govt knows best where to send money, which they are horrible at

mmarshall

There are a number of places in this region that could take that award, such as Arlington, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Silver Spring, and others, but your point is well-taken about Takoma Park......it is certainly a contender.

As to the conversion of the station itself, I'm all for it, at least if the auto industry is going to force BEVs and extended-range hybrids down our throats whether we want them or not. Like it or not, we're going to need places to recharge these vehicles for a reasonable sum.