Is running EV charging stations a legitimate business?

Most of these charging locations lose money. The main reason is demand charge that the utility companies charge. To over come the demand charge, the location has to have very, very high usage 24/7. Battery storage is helpful, but probably pretty expensive.

Now add vandalism, broken screens, payment issues, two to four chargers at each location, different charger manufactures, and design issues by different car manufactures, old 50 KW chargers, and you can see why there are so many broken or partly working locations.

Tesla overcomes some of those issues by installing 12 or more chargers per location, not have screens, short cables, payment is by a Tesla account, selling a bunch of Teslas, charge pricing by time-of-day, and only allowing Teslas to use the locations.

EVgo has said they plan on replacing the old 50 KW chargers where the usage and infrastructure is there.

Having your state charge an annual maintenance charge for those locations paid with tax money would help.

 

Charging stations aren't really for making money. It's for economies of scale because the supercharging stations are using multiple Tesla onboard chargers, which in turn provide a cost advantage for Tesla EVs. If there is NEVI funding available for Superchargers, then it indirectly subsidizes Tesla's EVs and other divisions (i.e. megapacks, powerwall 3, etc.) via shared components.

 

Think of chargiing statiosn likie Gas stations.. very little prfit at the retail level for gasoline, all the profits are inside the sore. The coffes, pop, snacks etc.. thats where stations make thier money and is why EV Chargers need to be located at gas stations or create their own convenince stores with chargers. Circle K does it right , here in Minnesota they are installing at Holiday Station Stores/Circle K stores

 

EVgo corporate enters into franchisee lease agreements with site hosts and takes a cut of the charging revenue. Unlike the publicly traded EVgo, EA is a private subsidiary for VW (and Siemens) where the losses are used to offset tax revenues in California and USA (aka slap on the wrist).

As for diselgate, the mandated 2 quarter cycle spending settlement will be over around Q2 2026 (via Electrify America). The only true winner is Tesla because NEVI funding effectively indirectly subsidizes shared EV components. Parts like magic docks and J3400 adapters are essentially paid by the US taxpayers through economies of scale & extreme bulk manufacturing.

 

Here in Washington state, at least five stations where paid for with taxpayer money. An additional 5 stations paid for by the Washington state taxpayers are now Shell Recharge locations.

Nissan also helped pay for a few EVgo stations in Seattle.

Financially, they are barely holding on. https://www.google.com/finance/quote/EVGO:NASDAQ

As far as EA, Washington state teamed up with GM to help pay for a couple of locations.

Also here in Washington state, we pay 75 dollars a year until July of 2025 to supply grant money for charging locations. After July 2025, the 75 bucks goes into general transportation money pile.

 

The video totally misses the demand charge that the utilities charge, and that's a huge problem.

https://electricautonomy.ca/2022/03/23/chargepoint-about-demand-charges-part-2/

https://docs.bcuc.com/Documents/Proceedings/2021/DOC_63453_C4-3-1-ChargePoint-submitting-Revised-Intervener-Evidence.pdf

 

Our rest stops are owned and run by the state of Washington. Only two out of 48 rest stops have L2 charging. None have DC charging.

I think there are a few issues with placing a charging station at public rest stops. One, vandalism, two, the cost doesn't pencil out, and three, the state is getting into the private business territory.

 

Maybe, but in my part of the country there are basically just rest stops near the state borders (owned by the states), and generally none intrastate. Kansas has regular stops on their turnpike, so maybe that kind of arrangement would be good.

 

If you make money selling EV cars and trucks, it does. For example, Nissan's Leaf and CHAdeMO chargers that initially were found at Nissan dealers.

Bob Wilson

 

I thought EA was created from a court settlement for diesel cheating:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-04/documents/nationalzevinvestmentplan.pdf

My reading suggests a 10 year time limit on $1.6 billion from April 2017. That gives EA until April 2027 before VW can 'pull the plug.'

BTW, I've charged at two supercharger sites with the "magic dock" at the charging lanes. Both were 250 kW stations and one, Vicksburg MS, was retro-fitted.

Bob Wilson

 

I should clarify that it is four 30-month cycles between California Air Resources Board ($200M per cycle) and four 30-month cycles for EPA ($300M per cycle). Cycle 4 is from Q3 2024 to Q4 2026, but the money just has to be spent in the cycle window.

The forced spending is for both advertisement/awareness campaigns and charging infrastructure.

 

Which is why I think GM,Ford, stellantis etc..need to get togther and buy out EA. They can then set up plug and play across all of thier EV brands, discount charging if you buy THEIR vehicles etc... (no more free charging though.)

They all contribute to the cost ...spreading that costs across 3-8 other EV manufactures and keeps Tesla in check ..stopping a potential monopoly on charging infrastructer.