My wife and I own a small ice cream shop that has outdoor parking for eight vehicles. We'd like to offer EV charging at one of those parking lots. We would appreciate any advice or views on what kind of station to charge. One issue apart from the cost of installation, is compatibility, and time to charge. Our customers generally stay a half an hour max, but most are about 15 mins. Is it even worth it to offer charging in such a short time environment? Any thoughts on which charger to install?
That’s cool of you to do! Even if you find your customers don't use it every time they come, many like myself will choose your shop simply for offering it. I shop at Walgreens specifically because they have the majority of EVgo DCFC chargers in my area. I only use these chargers a few times a year, but I still shop there every week because I appreciate knowing those chargers are there when I do need them. If you see an EV driver pull up, ask them what they think about you installing a free charger vs a paid one. A free charger will get you more customers than a Chargepoint charger would. And a customer might stay in your shop longer and order more food. A paid charger would help with your electric costs. But I imagine that a customer ordering a single food item will offset the electricity used in 30 minutes or less. I would suggest installing at least a 7.2 kW charger. In 30 minutes or so it would be possible for a Bolt or Clarity or i3 to get about ~12-15 miles. An hour of charging should get them 20-30 miles. That would charge 50% or more of a lot of PHEVs. I would look into Tesla's destination charging partnership program. Tesla will provide you with two proprietary chargers and if you request it, a standard J1772 charger that will work with Tesla Roadsters and any other EV on the market like the Bolt. https://www.tesla.com/charging-partners Also check for state and city incentives. For instance many cities and electric companies here in Texas offer property tax breaks or rebates for installing charging infrastructure. You may be able to offset a significant portion of your installation costs. If you want more info about EVSE charging stations just let me know!
Some ChargePoint chargers are free to use, like at my local library. I would contact ChargePoint to see what they have to offer. ChargePoint is one of the big players in EV charging. https://www.chargepoint.com/ As to whether it's worth doing, depends on the cost, your parking situation, the number of apartments close to you, how much you are planning to charge and your location. If you are located in highly populated area with a lot of EV's, apartments or a destination location, then contact EVgo to see if they are interested in installing a paid high voltage charger now that they have a new pricing structure. The advice about contacting your local utility and state agency is good advice.
Much as I like your enthusiasm, be careful. You only have 8 parking spots, and my question is will those spots be taken up by people shopping or living nearby to charge their EV and not be giving you business. If you are confident that these chargers will only be used by your customers, then go a head.
