Luft said:
...Do you feel that a $2.50 per charge fee would be a bad thing? I must not be understanding what you are saying.
Sorry if I was unclear. And sorry, in advance, for the long comment that follows.
I don’t think $2.50 is a bad thing, and in fact, may be too low to support the infrastructure costs, even for only 10 kWh of charge, and even when the system will be in constant demand, in the future.
The problem, IMO, is the flat fee structure, as well as the cumbersome prepayment method, not the $2.50.
There are many way to pay for a charge, and I’ll just list a few of the features I’d suggest are desirable.
Pay by any convenient method, which for unattended vending machines, like QCs, would probably limit payments to any debtor or credit card.
Membership fees, prepayments, tokens, fobs, and all other barriers to a fast, simple, and efficient transaction, serve no useful purpose, only delaying and adding costs, to the transaction.
The fee itself, should be determined by the volume of the fuel purchased. In the case of electricity, the number of kWh, metered at the QC, multiplied by the cost per kWh.
Again, this would encourage BEV drivers to purchase only the amount they need, to reach their cheaper, off-peak charge source, or their next “fastest-rate-of-charge“ QC en route, rather than slowly topping-off, and hoarding the “free kWh”, in excess of their needs, as a flat fee encourages.
Pay-per-kWh, would encourage BEV drivers to get the hell out of the way, after getting their required charge, and not continue hanging around, collecting a slow freebie, and delaying the next BEV driver, in the process.
Not surprisingly, this is pretty much the same model we use for gasoline sales.
A 2.50 flat fee for a charge, is not a good idea, for much the same reasons, a $50 flat fee for a tank of gas isn’t.
There is one significant factor, that is different for electricity vs. liquid fuel sales, and that is time required to fuel.
You need an effective queuing system for BEVs. Look at it this way. Even with only ten BEVs on the 250 miles of I-5, with ten chargers available, there is a fair chance of two BEVs desired charge time and locations coinciding. And the last thing you want, is to have BEV drivers stop each 25 miles to charge, just in case, their optimal range QC location turns out to have too a long line. Most gas stations have at least a half-dozen pumps nowadays, to avoid this problem. If the wires aren’t there to supply more than one QC at a time, there should at least, be multiple charge cables (yes, I know they cost a fortune) so that as one BEV charge is completed, or the charge rate tapers, as it nears full charge, the next BEV in the queue could begin to charge.
Even this, of course, does not fix the 85 kWh BEV (Tesla) problem, for the BEV driver who gets stuck behind him.
So, while you should never, never, put a L2 right next to a QC, which a DC incapable BEV/PHEV might use, by parking in the QC charge space (the QC charge space is NOT to be confused with a parking space, where you also charge, like for an L2) there should be a few L2s nearby, with lower charge fees per kWh, encouraging any J1772 car, even a QC BEV, to use them preferentially when convenient, so as to not unnecessarily fill the QC charge space, and to also offer minimal relief, if the QC has a long line, or is out of order.
