10-15 minutes on even a 150kw charger would boost me by about 50-70% SoC.
800v architecture is where it's at
Should auto parts stores have EV chargers
- Thread starter dogememe
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800v architecture is where it's at
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
No they can go to Sheetz if they need a charge lol. The problem in my opinion is not enough staff to watch over that. Usually only 1-2 employees working in the store at a time so the line is already backed up then you don’t want someone burning the place down because they hooked up the charger wrong or they will need help every 5 seconds. It’s liability and just too time consuming for employees. Like I said just my opinion. I don’t think they would fit in my area as that describes every parts store in my area two employees and long lines.
My question is who goes to an auto parts store for detail stuff? Is that actually a big seller? I couldn’t imagine paying 10x more for something I can get at Walmart way cheaper. I can’t say I’ve ever been in a parts store and someone was actually looking or at or buying the detail and wax products. Last time I glanced they all had dust growing on them lol. Maybe it varies by area. I go to parts stores for tools and parts. Any oil or detail products are Walmart or work as I get a discount.
My question is who goes to an auto parts store for detail stuff? Is that actually a big seller? I couldn’t imagine paying 10x more for something I can get at Walmart way cheaper. I can’t say I’ve ever been in a parts store and someone was actually looking or at or buying the detail and wax products. Last time I glanced they all had dust growing on them lol. Maybe it varies by area. I go to parts stores for tools and parts. Any oil or detail products are Walmart or work as I get a discount.
Yes, but those are like $150K to install. So selling charge 15 minutes at a time would be unlikely to ever pay for itself.
The store employees would have little to nothing to do with the customers charging. That's why I specifically mentioned using a third-party company like ChargePoint who handles the support for drivers trying to charge etc.
Even if the charging was not free for anyone (well, obviously store delivery vehicles/drivers would have RFID/NFC things to charge for "free") so employees and customers alike had to pay, it would still be nice to have.
As for the wash & wax products, they sell. A lot. Even the expensive stuff. And again, at least for now, EV owners tend to have money and are willing to purchase premium products. We started selling Chemical guys products a few years back. You'd be amazed how many people come in and spend $100+ on just wash & wax. The $40 CG wax sells more than it gets stolen. Based on what my employee price is, it's a decent margin product.
Edit: Let's make up an average sale for someone who needs to wash their car. We're assuming they already have buckets and wash sponges and stuff.
-Little Trees air freshener 6-pack $7.49
-Decent quality microfiber towels 3-pack $8.49
-Sprayway glass cleaner $6.49
-Griot's Garage tire and trim shine $14.99
-Chemical Guys interior cleaner and protectant $11.99.
-Meguiar's hybrid ceramic sprayw wax $19.99
Total of $82.43 before tax. And I'm NOT picking particularly expensive product. And I can tell you right now most of that stuff has a NICE profit margin.
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I don't expect to see chargers at OReillys or NAPA anytime soon. Now Kaiser hospitals, schools, restaurants, motels, etc, that's another story. I have mentioned before that condos and apartments are starting to respond to demand. They're everywhere around here. There are a couple of free ones at the Los Gatos library. There's about 40 in a downtown shopping center / parking lot.
There are very large tax rebates in California for businesses to install these chargers - where they can offset up to 80% of the cost with tax credits. The only places we see them around here are at the college, Target has a couple, some of the upscale hotels have a couple.
I haven't even touched on this, but yes there are plenty of incentives for these chargers right now.
As for the people mentioning it's dumb until we have a fleet of EVs. Well, you can't have a fleet of EVs until you can charge them. So the infrastructure has to come first!
I don’t think most would be there long enough to warrant a charge unless they’re getting a battery or wipers.
I think it’d be nice - a lot easier to put in than a gas pump but probably would be best for keeping a delivery/runabout topped up.
But if it were me as supreme dictator I think the most good would be by improving reliability of the existing chargers and standardizing/changing up networks so you don’t have to putz around with a phone, app or account and can just pay at the station.
I think it’d be nice - a lot easier to put in than a gas pump but probably would be best for keeping a delivery/runabout topped up.
But if it were me as supreme dictator I think the most good would be by improving reliability of the existing chargers and standardizing/changing up networks so you don’t have to putz around with a phone, app or account and can just pay at the station.
Remember stores want EV owners to shop at their stores and to shop longer. Teslas in the parking lot is a good thing.
The gal across the street never charges at home. Only at places. She uses their Bolt only as an around town run around.
Yup. Sometimes people order food at the place next door and come in to kill a few minutes. And I'd say at leat 75% go from "no thanks, I don't need any help, I'm just waiting for my food next door" to a paying customer, even if it's just a jug of washer fluid which is like $5 now or a $20 iPhone cable...
Sure they do, but how many extra burritos or t-shirts do you need to sell to pay for a $40K level 2 charger. Much easier to justify when you get a $32K tax incentive to do it.
Cheaper to sell milk cheap - and put it all the way in the back of the store (in case anyone here didn't know why they do that)
Shel_B
Site Donor 2023
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In addition to free car washes and air ...I'm with Passport1: they should have both charging stations and gas pumps available for customers to use at no cost.
I'm all for EVs and expanding the availability of charging stations. In my local area there are many stations, some free, others available at some cost, that have been installed by local businesses. Time at the station is usually limited to 30 minutes or an hour. Our town's City Hall has one for the public, several local markets have one station each, Whole Foods has several, the local shopping center has about a dozen Superchargers, etc. I've even heard that a local gas station has just received a permit to install one or two chargers.
I don't know how much sense it would make for an auto parts store to have one primarily for the reasons noted in some previous posts. That said, if a store wants to install one, I'm in favor of it. The more there are the better it is for local EV users.
I know right? It's like they never did any of that stuff for petrol...
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9% of Tesla model 3 fail their very first technical inspection in germany, and BMW Ix3 isn't doing great either. In fact it's been noted pretty much across the board that EV wear out suspension and brakes (due to lack of use possibly) faster than ICE cars.
Other parts will be needed, but maybe not less.
I hardly ever go into an auto parts store and won't be there for long if I do. AC charging for public or customer use makes no sense for short visits, especially with longer range EVs now the norm. For employees as a benefit that's different.
For work vehicles you could install a 25kW DC charger assuming the range calculation requires charging during the day.
For work vehicles you could install a 25kW DC charger assuming the range calculation requires charging during the day.
Good point - but given that many O’Reillys are next to an hardware store(not Home Depot or Lowe’s but an Ace/True Value), a chain/fast food restaurant like an Applebee’s or McDonald’s, generally at a strip mall, I’d take advantage of it to keep the battery “topped off” if need to stop by. And in some cases, it can come in handy to for a little more range if I’m in dire straits with a BEV.
Tesla only wants to put their superchargers by high-end retail(a mall with a Nordstrom, Sephora, lululemon, Apple and Tesla Store counts), or off a major freeway next to a decent fast food chain like an In-n-Out/Starbucks or something like Denny’s nearby from what I’ve seen. There is one at an Asian mall here.
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EVs are heavy and the suspension/tires have not kept up. LRR tires were meant for CAFE. Sumitomo(Dunlop Japan) and Bridgestone only created the Enasave/SP FE series and Ecopia family on the urging of Toyota for the Prius and Honda for the Civic Hybrid/Insight for EPA/CARB validation.
Not sure that an EV eats brakes - I know on the Prius I drive, the OE Toyota brake pads had well over 180K and were approaching 3-4mm thickness. I replaced them out of PM, Toyota calls for a different part number on the Prius despite sharing calipers with the Corolla/Scion tC- rust jacking was a concern. The aftermarket sells the same pad across the Prius/Corolla/Scion family.
Oakland has been skimping on EV charging. There’s only 4-5 chargers at Lake Merritt not counting Whole Foods/ALCO(Alameda County has their main courthouse, social services and sheriff’s headquarters nearby). I’ve seen people plug in at the Berkeley libraries.
They don't "eat" brakes, but uneven brake force due to not using them is a fail