Just wondering what the usage has been so far with your chargers? How often do you get Tesla's utilizing them? Are they only for customers or are they open to everyone? If open to everyone, how often do people plug in to charge but not utilize the restaurant?
How much did Tesla kick down for the installation? Did they cover everything? Obviously you cover the power, how much has that been so far?
Wow this thread blew up a little lol! So I hope I did not mislead anyone in this thread. We have yet to install our three chargers for two reasons. A) Wall chargers where on back order for a while but should be shipping to us in the next few weeks. B) We are in a tourist town. Surprisingly all of our business comes in the summer time, not winter (what small colorado mountain town doesn't have a ski resort??
). So if for any reason we had to close down for the installation we could potentially lose a lot of revenue.
As of now I cannot comment on our electric costs or how many people have used them, but ill keep you updated as the process continues! Here is how the cost breaks down. Telsa said they will send the wall chargers as a donation. No cost to us, as wells as no contract about the usage. However they ask that the chargers be available as much as possible and not to limit the usage for our customers only. But so far we have yet to sign anything, so from a legal stand point we could do what ever we want? (not sure if this is exactly true, but nothing to the contrary yet) Not that we would deny people the ability to charge or anything like that. It seems to be more of a "good faith" kind of thing at this point.
Tesla has told us they will cover $1500/charger of installation. so for 3 chargers they will cover $4500. We contacted a Tesla recommended electrician and they came out to give us a quote. We do not have the best layout to place the charges in a convenient place, so the quote ended up a little on the higher side. To top of that we are springing a little extra money to backfill some of our parking lot out to put in concrete barriers to protect the charging pedestals. All said and done installation was quoted at $5958. Even with Tesla's help, we will still be paying $1500 out of pocket.
Ok Opinion time
Right now at this point in time, will having destination chargers make your business money? No, I don't think so. The Model S community is just too small to see any real return. Sure you will get a lot of free publicity via being on the Tesla website, but I don't think rural towns have enough Tesla traffic to really benefit. While plenty of Tesla owners will use you to plan their trips and daily activities, I don't think there are enough of them to bring in much revenue. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I don't want to offer charging for them, I just don't expect my business to make any additional money.
That said, will having destination chargers benefit you in the long run? Absolutely! I think that the destination chargers are in the long game. Any smart business owner could see the potential of having a destination charger available to their customers. Once the M3 starts hitting the streets we will see a lot more around towns. But what makes it truly worth the time and investment is the ability to align yourself with the Tesla brand. You have an opportunity (until the destination charger program ends) to get FREE Telsa brand chargers. Not generic, not off shoot, but Tesla... and in my opinion they are the ONLY manufacture worth investing your time into. Where is GM's network of chargers? how about BMW? No one else seems to be taking the EV game seriously. To me, being able to represent Tesla at this early stage in the game is huge.
Please remember that this paragraph is pure opinion!
If he doesn't think paying a few dollars/day for electricity is worth the marketing benefit of having the destination charging, what Tesla covers of the installation cost is really irrelevant. For a gym that likely just attracts members who live within a few miles of it, I probably would agree with him.
I think the marketing benefit is definitely there now, but I don't think many businesses will see the financial benefits until the M3 rolls out and we see more cars on the road. A gym is an interesting place to have a charger. I agree that it probably only attracts people who live near by, so it might not make the most sense.
Is this the town that has a couple of charging stations adjacent to the library? When we were there in May it was the only option besides an RV park. I emailed the city manager letting him know that we spent 2 nights in town since we were able to charge in the municipal parking lot.
I believe that is the correct town!
I don't want to disclose our business name or location until we are actually in the process on installing the chargers. But I hope your stay was nice!