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Electric car charging stations head to Love's Travel Stops across the US:
[Electrify America] announced Tuesday a new collaborative effort with Love's to install charging stations at its stops across the US. Five locations are already open as of today in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah and Florida. Crucially, the stops now open helped complete a nationwide charging route from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.
The new stations will charge at rates up to 350 kilowatts and can add up to 20 miles of range per minute. Ultimately, Electrify America's goal is to continue chipping away at America's range anxiety about electric cars. With more places to charge, it will be mighty difficult to run out of juice. Of course, the company's also bound to invest the cash as part of a Volkswagen dieselgate settlement here in the US...
Will such partnerships vanquish range anxiety for electric vehicles (EVs)?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2020, @11:19PM (2 children)
No, there aren't as many Love's as other rest stops. But it is a lot better than nothing. Hopefully it will encourage the others to follow suit. Travel stops should "love" this because they make more money from their convenience stores than from their fuel, at least when it comes to gasoline. (They get their share from truckers, though - diesel at truck stops is much more expensive than diesel at small gas stations).
20 miles of range per minute isn't quite as fast as refueling with gas, but if you can get 300 miles of range in 15 minutes, most people will be happy to go inside, pee, and buy a bottled beverage. It is a lot better than having to plug in overnight, which makes long distance road trips impractical.
It's not clear how much access to the charging stations will cost. I'm sure they'll charge something for it, but it needs to be at minimum competitive with gasoline.
Manufacturers need to make sure their charging is 100% compatible. Tesla Superchargers are better than no charging stations at all, but need to die out quickly. What if Toyota owners could only buy Toyota-branded gasoline?
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday August 20 2020, @02:12AM (1 child)
In parts of Australia the main highway locations are more expensive [fuelcheck.com.au], but the truck pumps charge the same as the car pumps
I have owned a few diesels, and preferred the high flow truck pumps - just because they were faster - these days you see "high flow" buttons on normal car diesel pumps, but they are still only a little faster than standard pump rates.
Also note, Australia's fuel quality isn't very good [caradvice.com.au]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @02:23AM
I think it is true around the world that on-highway filling stations are more expensive. There's convenience, drivers don't have to leave the highway and hunt for a station. There's the concession fee, franchisees pay to get a spot at the service plaza, because there are many customers passing by.