My friend in the blog below from the Bank of America garage in LA says that his charging stations are in us 90% of the time. One wag queried “does 90% utilization mean 10% driving time.” I have a different take on his comment.
If the charging stations are in use 90% of the time, and he has four stations and only 7 EV’s in the garage, does this mean that if he gets even one more EV, he will have to add another charging station, and then another, and then another.
There are two types of commercial chargers, one that will fully charge an EV in 4-5 hours and one (DC) that will give an 80% charge in sort of half an hour. If B of A’s machines are the 4-5 hour type (assuming that 90% usage by 7 vehicles) each vehicle is hooked up 5 hours — 35 hours charging total per day. Each charger is in use about 90% of the time.
If EV’s “take off,” and become 10% of the driving public. B of A’s 1000 car garage will need charging for 100 cars, or about 15 stations, and someone to jockey the cars around when the 4 hours is up.
So this ‘free’ service to EV owners suddenly is costing, what $50,000 per year to the garage owner for the ‘e-valet’ plus increased costs in Insurance and the like.
Do I see that famous “law of unintended consequences” kicking in in a few years?
JVH
One Response
Just wait until the ADA parking requirements are ammended. It’s only a matter of time before a % of all EV stations are mandated to be designed as accessible spaces. What does an ADA EV charger even look like? How will the cord management system function so that it can work for someone who is physically impaired?