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Public charging stations

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Don't really know where else to put this topic, but here goes.

I'm curious on what the thoughts of the members here are on the presence of free public charging stations that many are expecting to pop up in the next few years. Seems to me a lot of people are taking the viewpoint that these are, or should be, provided for free recharges. As more and more electric vehicles hit the roads, and there is more and more demand for recharge points, what are the chances that people are still going to provide them for free? The chargers cost money, electricity costs money, at some point people are going to expect to get paid for providing this service. I can see a point when they are credit-card based pay stations. Certainly if I were a fuel station I would consider installing rapid charge stations, particuarly if it were located along an interstate.

I don't know, law of supply and demand, at some point public charging won't be free anymore, and it might be naive to expect it to remain so. Opinions?
 
I believe three scenarios will simultaneously occur as public charging stations are deployed. The public chargers installed with government grants and installed on public space will be free for a time period to more rapidly gain adoption of the EV by the public. Privately installed chargers (restaurants, malls, banks, etc.) if paid by a grant (government or private), the majority will be free at first as a means of providing a service to their customers. The majority of chargers completely funded by private capital will be fee based. As EV's gain acceptance by the public there will be a gradual shift to a pay based system for the majority of chargers.

So to summarize, in the beginning most public charging will be free, in the end though most public charging will be fee based. Time frame for this to occur.....I don't have a clue.
 
Right now there is not a lot of government help for providing charging stations. 30% federal tax credit is offered for 2011 only. It was 50% in 2010. Utilities do not provide any help, as well as my local municipality. I am looking at putting in a charging station at my place of business, but decided to wait until some company can offer a point of sale machine, with a charge rate better then 30 amps.