I think Plugshare check-ins are most important to establish a pattern of availability/reliability. So I guess that would apply more to single stall sites, or sites in remote locations, which applies to many NRMA chargers. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nullarbor three phase sockets, for example, have every single use recorded as a check-in. I can't see suburban Melbourne/Sydney sites, or any superchargers, getting a lot of check-in action, for example, relative to their usage.
People often say you should check in every time you charge, so that if someone else needs to charge urgently they can contact you. But that's a bit of an "early adaptor" thought process - as EVs grow, and >10% of the population are driving them it's not going to scale.
Chatting with Electric Highway Tasmania, they've cross checked and approx 30% of usage is reflected on Plugshare. May of course vary in different areas.
To continue with the EHT comparison, they have a spare Tritium unit in the state, and an agreement with a local company to be able to take it and swap out a faulty unit within 24 hours if necessary. This is what you get when paying their high rates (25c/kWh + 25c/minute), vs the free/subsidised costs of NRMA/QESH/etc (often weeks between failure/replacement).
It's good to see NRMA is going dual stall on a lot of their newer, more remote sites (Wilcannia, Coonamble, Brewarrina, Bourke) and also Wollongong.
