I suspect whoever is doing this has large government grants or is otherwise somehow receiving so much funding for this venture from other means that it is basically being paid for.buckguy wrote: ↑February 23rd, 2023, 6:34 pm
I've mentioned before, there's been an increasing proliferaation of charging stations in all kinds of places--grocery store parking lots, hotels, parking garages and many of them are retrofits rather than new construction.
Subway is working with a charging company which I assume has access to data on traffic counts, vehicle ownership types, etc. They probably also have a good idea how far people travel without stops---my own observations are that most vehicles lack the lumbar support for comfort for more than a couple hours (if that) and if you've traveled with children you know that small humans have small bladders (ditto a lot of adults, esp. as they age) which probably make 100-120 miles a resonable interval and they probably know the average time people spend on a comfort stop, which always seems longer than people expect and probably long enough for a 15 minute charge. The same company is working with a large Taco Bell franchise and probably others. Only about 15% of the population lives in rural areas and there are popular corridors here people routinely take a stop even though the distances are not vast (e.g., DC to Rehoboth or Ocean City; 120 miles, 2 1/2 hours if the traffic moves which it often doe not). Not every place that adopts the charging tech will make money on it, but the infrastructure already allows people to charge in places that aren't exactly hotbeds of Tesla owners or densely populated: https://chargehub.com/en/charging-stations-map.html
I don't think anyone has all of this data you are talking about. They will get as many charging points as possible installed and it doesn't matter if it is a profitable venture or one that people will use or not. Many Subways are in strip malls and do not control their parking areas so I am not sure how this is even going to work.
I am not sure about your 15% of people live in rural areas, but let's just go with it.
The charge doesn't take 15 minutes, it takes 17 minutes. And that assumes there is even a station available when you get there...
Go spend 20-30 minutes at a Pilot, TA, Loves, Flying J, or something and observe the "car" traffic and see how long they stick around. You will see even the ones with families are usually gone within 5-10 minutes. You will also observe behaviors of many customers who are clearly in a big hurry and rushing along anyone who lingers.