We’re Not Cattle!
EV drivers (people) don’t like being herded like cattle to hubs (stations) of chargers to get their EVs charged. Regardless of the battery range of your EV, I don’t think you’re going to drive it down to “empty” (usually the 20% mark) or even below half-charge before you go get it recharged to “full” (usually 80%). You always want to have ample charge. That’s peace-of-mind behavior which underlies the insurance industry.
Your EV’s battery is used to power everything in your car, and there’s no way of accurately predicting how you operate your EV on any given day. Like, when you turn on the heater or AC depending on the weather. What about that occasional or frequent gridlock that you encounter going home? Normal daily driving realities will cause EV drivers to want to be always charged, and not drive their EVs down to empty before heading back to the ranch to recharge. If that be the case, the projections for the required number of charging stations and chargers are way understated because it does not take into consideration the human factor. Drivers also don’t want to be herded to “out-of-the-way” chargers but prefer to charge everywhere they go where they park. Most of all they hate finding chargers that are not available when they go to use them, so the ability to find available chargers and reserve them in advance is highly desirable.
Many EV charging stations are sporadically deployed and locations are not obvious like with a gas station. In this regard, EV charging companies are investing in directories such as EVgo’s acquisition of Recargo for their PlugShare directory. I think Power Hero’s Cameo will be the next evolution in this strategy because a directory alone is far inferior to a connected network that shows station availability and allows reservations. Power Hero’s “plug-n-play” Cameo adapter easily converts a standalone charger into a networked one which you can reserve. This will provide incredible value to EV drivers, drive up market value of companies who make these network enhancements and leverage the capital already invested in the more than 20,000 existing public Level 2 chargers!
Anyway, thanks to all that have read my posts and/or shared it. I have a lot more to say later but for now I wish all of you a safe and blessed Christmas. May you cherish the people you spend the holidays with and if you happen to spend it alone, remember that Christmas is when Jesus Christ was born so that we would not be alone!