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Boston is going is going big on installing curbside EV chargers (electrek.co)

submitted 1 year ago by cosmic_slate@dmv.social to c/evs@lemmy.world

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[–] pageflight@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I hear a lot about EV adoption suffering among renters, so from that perspective this is nice.

But:

Itselectric installs Level 2 charger posts that get their power from nearby private buildings who make passive income from partnering with Itselectric. When EV drivers sign up with Itselectric, they’re sent a portable EV charger that’s registered to the driver’s account. They can then plug and charge at any Itselectric charger in Boston and beyond.

Requiring an account and special equipment? I really want to see pervasive simple cc payment for charging.

[–] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago

I'm not thrilled about it, but I do see some benefits of this design.

As you mentioned, this appears to be designed as home charging for people that can't charge at home. More specifically, it's for people who park on the street. This has been a chicken-and-egg problem for a while.

Full charging stations are expensive to install, and probably wouldn't get much usage in a residential area. Then there's the maintenance- one of the biggest complaints about EVs is how frequently charging stations are broken. The more pieces there are, the more expensive it is to install, and the more frequently something breaks.

These posts look dead simple. That makes them easy to manufacture and have minimal maintenance. It also reduces vandalism/theft concerns. Most notably, you carry the cord with you. If it breaks, you handle the replacement. It also means there are no concerns about compatibility or adapters- you have the right cord for your car, whether it's J1772, NACS, or even CHAdeMO.

Finally, these aren't random charging stations that you might only visit a few times per year. They are for your residence, which means your needs/usage probably won't change much until you move. An app for billing makes sense in this case, and makes it similar to home charging that just gets included in your electric bill.

(FWIW, I despise the random public chargers that expect you to install their app, in a parking garage with no signal, just to charge one time. I make an effort to avoid those on principle, opting for ones with a CC reader)