At least in the Pacific Northwest most Electrify America installations are in Walmart parking lots. These have caused me to spend more time at Walmart the past two years, honestly its a pretty good experience - aside from EA reliability issues, which seem to have improved but still far short of Tesla.
Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
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Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
#22> and offer access through its own Walmart app. 8-( I've _never_ been required to "join the club", or "run the app" to purchase gasoline. Why does charging an EV require use of an app? This is an accessibility issue and as such should be illegal...
> Why does charging an EV require use of an app? It doesn't. Almost all DC fast charging I've done has been plug and charge or with a normal credit card terminal. Meanwhile when I buy gas at QT or Sam's Club I pay through an app.
I've driven EVs since 2013 across several states and I've never once encountered a functioning public charging station in the US that has a credit card reader and does not require payment and/or access via an app. I'm all in favor of it, and I understand they technically exist, but perhaps your specific locality requires that? It's in no way my experience.
Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
#23Makes a lot of sense from my amateur perspective. It takes a bit of time to charge a car, and you might as well use it to buy your groceries. Plus I'm sure WM can get a sensible bulk discount on electricity. Add to that, you can make people use your app and show them targeted adverts. You can get them to buy any bulk goods for pickup when they are charging the car.
Only trouble is, the cars charge too fast now days! An 800V vehicle like the Ioniq 5 can often be topped up in under 15 minutes, barely enough time to buy a coffee and use the restroom, let alone do any grocery shopping!
And some charging networks apply idle fees if you don’t move your car quickly when charging completes.
Of course, a car can only charge as fast as the charger, so maybe it makes sense (and certainly saves money) to install slightly slower ones at locations where customers are likely to want to spend longer times.
Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
#24Chaotic good, I could imagine Walmart deciding to sell a miniature EV for around $12,000. Imagine something like a two-seater City car, while I'm dreaming I imagine this type of vehicle completely taking over for most City commuting. Since these would be smaller and slower than normal cars, they would be phenomenally safer.
A 2 seater is never going to work in America. But electric trucks and vehicles definitely can if charging stations are ubiquitous and there is no range anxiety.
Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
#25Chaotic good, I could imagine Walmart deciding to sell a miniature EV for around $12,000. Imagine something like a two-seater City car, while I'm dreaming I imagine this type of vehicle completely taking over for most City commuting. Since these would be smaller and slower than normal cars, they would be phenomenally safer.
Very few people have purchased the gasoline-engine equivalent of such cars, so not sure why an EV version would fare a lot better.
Especially when they are at Walmart to purchase it with a grocery cart full of groceries that you’d be hard pressed to fit in the E-Smart Car equivalent.
Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
#26> and offer access through its own Walmart app. 8-( I've _never_ been required to "join the club", or "run the app" to purchase gasoline. Why does charging an EV require use of an app? This is an accessibility issue and as such should be illegal...
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Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
#27Chaotic good, I could imagine Walmart deciding to sell a miniature EV for around $12,000. Imagine something like a two-seater City car, while I'm dreaming I imagine this type of vehicle completely taking over for most City commuting. Since these would be smaller and slower than normal cars, they would be phenomenally safer.
Very few people have purchased the gasoline-engine equivalent of such cars, so not sure why an EV version would fare a lot better.
… in the USA. European cities are full of small city cars. Driving (and parking) anything much larger can be impractical on many streets in Europe.
Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
#28Chaotic good, I could imagine Walmart deciding to sell a miniature EV for around $12,000. Imagine something like a two-seater City car, while I'm dreaming I imagine this type of vehicle completely taking over for most City commuting. Since these would be smaller and slower than normal cars, they would be phenomenally safer.
>Chaotic good, I could imagine Walmart deciding to sell a miniature EV for around $12,000.
There have been many, many car projects like that from large and small companies. All of them failed to get any kind of mainstream audience.
People want general purpose cars and they will not buy anything else.
>Since these would be smaller and slower than normal cars, they would be phenomenally safer.
City driving at 50kmh is already dangerous in regular cars. Either you limit traffic to something like 25 kmh or you have to accept that crashes are now more dangerous.
Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
First 2 steps on Walmart's instruction page: * Donwload the Walmart app * Scan the QR code
So Walmart's chargers require it. But EVs can charge at places other than Walmart. So a valid response to "Why does charging an EV require use of an app" is, it doesn't, other places don't require it.
The article is about Walmart chargers 8-/
Even aside from that, many charging networks _do_ require "membership", "running the app", and often even require a pre-established balance on the account for the most convenient charging process.
It seems Walmart is also planning to follow this strategy, which is the point of the original objection.
Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years
#30Germany already has a pretty good charging network, yet EV adoption is very slow.
This will not change much. Charging infrastructure is only a small part of making EVs appealing, although it is obviously a necessary prerequisite.