DaveinOlyWA said:
ya ok, lets take a current business model providing the same type of "here and now, on the spot" convenience and that would be food/beverage vending machines.
Not quite apples-to-apples as those require periodic restocking by a delivery driver. Or were you suggesting comparing the price of a soda bottle in-store vs. a soda bottle in a vending machine as a comparison of something with high overhead (gas) vs something with low overhead (evse)? In that case, yeah, I see your point. The vending machines usually are cheaper than the store, but not by a huge margin. Using some very broad numbers and SWAGs, let's say that the "vending machine" is 75% the cost of the store, that the LEAF has the equivalent of a 3 gallon gas tank and that gas costs $4/gallon. That works out to $4.00 * 3 * 0.75 = $9, which is consistent with the $10 others have proposed.
But that still doesn't seem right because a gallon of gas and 4kWh of electricity don't have the same wholesale cost. From a 2006 California Energy report, I culled these numbers:
Code:
Crude Oil Cost - $1.25
Refinery Cost and Profits - $0.51
Distribution Costs, Marketing Costs and Profits - $0.16
State Underground Storage Tank Fee - $0.01
State and Local Sales Tax - $0.18
State Excise Tax - $0.18
Federal Excise Tax - $0.18
The crude oil cost and refinery cost have gone up in recent years, but the taxes, marketing and profits probably haven't changed much. Let's replace the oil and refinery costs with the electricity and utility costs, and let's be generous and round up the taxes, fees and profits a bit:
Code:
Electricity Cost and Utility Profits - $0.60 (4kWh @ $0.15)
Distribution Costs, Marketing Costs and Profits - $0.20
State EVSE Fee (?) - $0.05
State and Local Sales Tax - $0.20
State Excise Tax - $0.20
Federal Excise Tax - $0.20
That works out to a charge equivalent to $1.45 per "gallon" of electrical "gas". Given the earlier assumption of the LEAF's equivalent to a 3 gallon tank, that works out to $4.35 for a full charge. Round it up even further and call it an even $5. Now, granted, a gas station has a quicker turnaround time than a QC station would, but I think you can offset that since you can pack more cars into "parking spots" than the space typically allocated for gas pumps.
Now swap out the convenience store for some sort of restaurant. The extra cost of running a restaurant vs. a convenience store is offset by the fact that even a standalone restaurant is self sufficient. The same restaurant staff could cover the minimal help needed with the EVSEs. So, all in all, you've got the same profit margins as BOTH a restaurant AND a gas station, MINUS the expense of the convenience store and clerk.
That should be a very profitable business - all for $5 to fully charge a LEAF. Hell, I'm half tempted to turn this into a business plan and have a go at it myself...
EDIT: You may run into some issues with the fact that your average EV customer would be consuming a smaller quantity of energy that your average ICE customer would, though. But I still think if you factor in the restaurant and/or other entertainment you'd come out ahead. Better than either business by themselves, that's for sure.