True but in my experience supermarkets just put 7kw chargers in and call it done. I'm never in there long enough for it to be worth it. Should be at least 100kw at supermarkets.
There's a place for 100kW at supermarkets -- for people using it as a service station. Say, you're driving from the East Midlands to a holiday cottage in West Wales; stop in Leominster Morrisons on 20% charge, charge it up to 80% while you use the loo and quickly buy some groceries for the holiday. If you have a meal in the cafe too, a 50kW charger would do.
But most supermarket users are local, and have driven 10 miles or less. Probably 5 miles or less. If your charge exceeds what it takes to drive there and back, you're up overall - and even half an hour on 7kW will achieve that. For many people, if they could just charge little-and-often like this, they'd never run out of charge. I really think
ubiquitous 7kW charging at destinations like supermarkets, really any destination with parking, is the long-term solution for people who can't charge at home.
(Yeah, sometimes you do a shorter shop - but generally the further you've driven, the more likely it is that it'll be a "big shop" that takes longer)
Key to this, is that we'll need some confidence that a charger will be available. And we should feel no pressure to rush back and vacate a 7kW bay. So there need to be lots and lots of them. I would rather there were lots of them and they charge more slowly when there's contention, than that I can't leave my car plugged in.
More unlikely, but still on my wishlist,
- plug-and-charge on these 7kW chargers -- plug in and walk away; the system can identify the car and know what account to debit.
- smart selection of charging rate and pricing -- let me (or an algorithm I control) tell the charging system how badly I want charge - ranging from "gimme as much as you can, I'll pay", to "I'll take what's available if it's cheap". The system would then apportion the available supply between the cars plugged in at that site, according to what they've requested and how much they're willing to pay.
You need a loan for Instavolt - they're a total rip off. My car never charges fast enough at their chargers for it to be worth it either.
I have been in a classic "opportunistic charge" situation, and chosen not to, because Instavolt cost so much. Halfway through a 150 mile journey, knew there would be no charger at the destination, so I'd need to charge for the return journey. Stopped at a diner, there was an Instavolt rapid in the car park. Looked at the price, decided against.
But since then, I've changed my approach -- I now say, my day-to-day charging is so cheap, I rapid-charge so seldom, I might as well pay whatever silly price for the sake of convenience.
But, surely in the next couple of years, chargers will become dense enough that competitive pressure will push prices down?
I have been in a classic "opportunistic charge" situation, and chosen not to, because Instavolt cost so much. Halfway through a 150 mile journey, knew there would be no charger at the destination, so I'd need to charge for the return journey. Stopped at a diner, there was an Instavolt rapid in the car park. Looked at the price, decided against.
To add, this was a pretty unsatisfactory decision-making process. Arrived at car park, noticed the charger, parked in the bay. No prices displayed that I could see. Thought "I'll just check the price on ZapMap". Decided to move to a different parking space.
You ought to be able to see the basic price (before membership discounts etc.) without resorting to a device, without leaving the car, before you choose where to park.
