@mw - ok, I take your point. I was thinking of it this way: how much value does a small business place on a single customer? How much would the average customer spend in the business? And therefore how much average profit is realized off each customer? A 100A Sun Country EVSE, delivering 80A continuous, would use 19kW in an hour, if I understand that correctly, for a Model S. That would price out to somewhere around $2-3 per hour at $.11-.15 per kWh. If the normal profit off the business' normal transactions is anything more than that, they're still ahead without having to ask the customer "Oh by the way, $2.43 extra for the charging". It becomes a goodwill gesture.
In terms of nuisance, if the business charged $2 as a flat rate for a charge, I'd be happy to pay that -- the nuisance comes in with the measuring of electricity to the minute, calculating what the customer owes and having to find forty-three cents. If you know what I mean - it puts the charging in a whole different light, i.e. just a business transaction, no goodwill extended.
Now, add to that, Leaf/Volt/Miev etc can't charge at the same rate as a Model S, so the electricity costs even less for them over the same time period, but the drivers would generally spend as much or more time (and therefore money, so the inference goes) in the business. And, add to that just the simple DRAW of customers -- those who would not normally stop at a business, are now drawn in. There's even a free map to the business, courtesy of Plugshare.
Anyway, that was my thinking. But I've never run a small business, so I don't know the figures from that side of things.
