When will all the US freeway gas station / truck stop / convenience stores deploy EV chargers?

[mrc3]

I think most of us consider it a safe bet that significantly higher percentage of vehicles on the roads will be EV every year moving forward. The current travel stations stores sell gas for almost the same profit as they score off of the bathrooms. But it brings people into the store. EV charging currently requires a longer stop than gas station fill... so it seems like some of those truck stops with restaurants and convenience stores will put in a stall or two of EV charging simply to keep their business model working. But I have not seen this yet... Why?

MIke

 

[pb2000]

Simple answer: money.
Running some guesstimate numbers, a busy gas station could make >$1000/hr gross profit selling fuel. A similarly sized charging station connected to a 1MVA transformer selling power at a $0.20/kWh mark up could make at most $200/hr gross profit.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

PetroCan and Shell are adding stations to their gas stations in Canada. Actually PetroCan beat Tesla with their cross Canada charging network (by about a week). Usually two CCS and Two Chademo.

Its a start.

 

[DanCar]

When people are willing to pay 50 cents a kilowatt hour, which means not soon. Would be more expensive than gas.

 

[Zythryn]

Simple answer: money.
Running some guesstimate numbers, a busy gas station could make >$1000/hr gross profit selling fuel. A similarly sized charging station connect to a 1MVA transformer selling power at a $0.20/kWh mark up could make at most $200/hr gross profit.

Fuel is a lousy way to make money. The Net profits (I know, you said gross profits) are about $0.03/gallon.
The Average Annual Income of a Gas Station

The money maker for gas stations are other things. This is why so many gas stations are combined with convenience stores.
I don’t expect too many to install EV charging. Some have, and will continue to do so. What I think we will see more of is restaurants combined with EV charging stations. Most likely coffee shops or other fast food of decent quality.

 

[Snow Drift]

Thanks to VW dieselgate, New York State has begun installing DC fast chargers. CCS and CHAdeMO (with Tesla adapter) is available.

 

[pb2000]

Fuel is a lousy way to make money. The Net profits (I know, you said gross profits) are about $0.03/gallon.
The Average Annual Income of a Gas Station

The money maker for gas stations are other things. This is why so many gas stations are combined with convenience stores.
I don’t expect too many to install EV charging. Some have, and will continue to do so. What I think we will see more of is restaurants combined with EV charging stations. Most likely coffee shops or other fast food of decent quality.

$0.03/gal net profit doesn't sound like much, but even a modest gas station should move 2 million gallons in a year. I wouldn't be surprised if my local Costco sells >15 million gallons/year, although their 'convenience store' is most certainly where they make the real money.

 

[GOLDXP]

$0.03/gal net profit doesn't sound like much, but even a modest gas station should move 2 million gallons in a year. I wouldn't be surprised if my local Costco sells >15 million gallons/year, although their 'convenience store' is most certainly where they make the real money.

Yes! I don't understand if they make so much money off their convenience, carwash, service station, etc...why they can't add a charging station. Some local businesses add a station here and there but nothing substantial yet.

 

[SSedan]

Most EV charging is done at home. Not much ICE fueling is done at home.

I go to the gas station to buy small equipment fuel more often than I go to a supercharger.

Imagine the frequency difference ICE vs. EV to fuel up retail?

Hotels are where I want to see expansion.

 

[mrc3]

And it circles back around to the point... even at 2 million gallons a year, that works out to 0.03 $60,000 a YEAR... Not nearly enough to support a brick and mortar location. Your Cosco example... $450,000 year, As I said originally, Selling gasoline is along the lines of having bathrooms... Something to put people in front of the items that actually have a good profit. If I owned a freeway exit property that already served food, sold goods, sold gasoline. I would be looking into investing into EV charging solutions in order to keep or even increase the percentage of freeway drive by's that stop at my business. EV charging is even better than the gas pump, because people stay longer, browse longer because charging takes longer.

However, if I had a non-freeway co-located service station, the ROI is probably not there, as others have said, most charge at home for in city usage. When I started this thread, I was thinking of the service stations and truck stops serving travelers.

Mike

 

[StanT]

Personally I'm thinking instead of adding charging to gas stations, the future charging infrastructures should be run by churches/buildings with big parking lots that are in walking distance or towns that operate parking lots for downtown. Churches and towns could get a little cash, and then we could use these chargers to revitalize downtowns of small towns. Like said above- charging takes longer than filling up with gas. Since sitting in a "gas up" stall takes away new revenue- a parked charging car won't make enough money for gas stations... they need a quick flip. So IMO this is a great opportunity for small town stores and restaurants.

 

[pb2000]

And it circles back around to the point... even at 2 million gallons a year, that works out to 0.03 $60,000 a YEAR... Not nearly enough to support a brick and mortar location. Your Cosco example... $450,000 year{...}

Mike

$60,000/year is net profit left in the business, so not much for a corporate store, but for a mom and pop joint, that's pretty substantial, considering they would also be paying themselves a wage. In any event, my point is that the profit margin for EV charging is far lower and with half an hour to kill, your customer is far more likely to walk down the block to a fast food joint instead of suffering gas station food.

 

[Zythryn]

$60,000/year is net profit left in the business, so not much for a corporate store, but for a mom and pop joint, that's pretty substantial, considering they would also be paying themselves a wage. In any event, my point is that the profit margin for EV charging is far lower and with half an hour to kill, your customer is far more likely to walk down the block to a fast food joint instead of suffering gas station food.

How about if that mom and pop gas station sells 100 gallons a day, or 36,000 gallons per year?
Then it kind of sucks, doesn't it.
Gas stations are a lousy place for car chargers.
Restaurants are much better. If someone wants to charge their car, giving them something to do for 20-40 minutes will work much better than giving them a snicker's bar.

 

[house9]

Most EV charging is done at home.

Surely this will change as EV adoption ramps up, not everyone has a garage many people live in apartments or condos with no access to charging.

 

[SSedan]

Surely this will change as EV adoption ramps up, not everyone has a garage many people live in apartments or condos with no access to charging.

First figure I found was 77% of people live in houses........ let's pretend a third of them won't charge at home, that leaves 50% needing a public charging option some of which will be at workplaces............and of course there is the existing options to compete against.

If you think this is a big market invest. A rational look though the model is going to shift, malls, theatres, restaurants, downtown business districts, places where you want to spend 30+ minutes.
Never found myself wanting to spend 30minutes at Kwik Trip.

 

[house9]

First figure I found was 77% of people live in houses

That must be a USA / North American stat?

 

[DaveG_NJ]

If someone wants to charge their car, giving them something to do for 20-40 minutes will work much better than giving them a snicker's bar.

But we have Polytopia and some Cat Game now! Why would we ever leave our cars?!

 

[Zythryn]

That must be a USA / North American stat?

That is higher than I recall, but it also depends upon how “House” is defined.
A duplex or townhome with its own garage is often categorized as a multi-unit dwelling.

In any event, the exact numbers of people in each type of dwelling doesn’t matter as much as the number of car owners in each type of dwelling.
I suspect single family homes have a much higher percentage of car owners than multi-unit housing.

 

[Hydrocarbon302]

Chargers can go wherever there’s electricity, it all depends on the size and speed of the charger desired and that can be determined by the businesses or municipality that’s installing said chargers.

Condos, apartments complex’s, airports. L1 and L2 only:
Charger installed in parking lot for tenant use. These chargers are relatively inexpensive to install especially if it’s during new construction. Hopefully soon chargers will be as common as parking lot lights.

Sit down Restaurants, malls, hotels, and shopping centers. Mostly L2, and some 25kw L3:
What better way to attract people and get them to spend money at your business then to bring them in with free L2 charging and keep them there for a couple hours?


Travel centers, interstate and hwy fuel stations, rest areas: L3 & L4
These are places that have a quick customer turn over, get you in and out with your snickers bar ASAP. With the advancements in charging speed and battery tech in the next few years, a bathroom break and a candy bar is all you’ll have time for.

 

[SSedan]

That must be a USA / North American stat?

USA stat.