Most electric vehicle owners expect free public charging opportunities. Still, plenty of charging providers aim to sell such services and have built business plans around this.
Even as a pay-for-play network of charging stations emerges, we do expect many businesses to offer free charging as a way to attract environmentally-inclined customers. As all this unfolds, there’s substantial partnering going on as electric vehicle makers try to send the right message that charging stations are coming in greater numbers and many of them will indeed offer charging for free.
Case in point: Electric vehicle owners will now have access to free charging at an additional 15 charging stations in California because of an arrangement between Nissan North America and Adopt a Charger, a nonprofit group that works with companies and organizations to fund fee-free electric vehicle chargers in public places. Nissan is paying for three 220 volt Level 2 chargers at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and four Level 2 chargers at the Music Concourse Garage in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. An additional eight 120 volt Level 1 outlets are also being sponsored at the Music Concourse.
These charging locations should get maximum visibility and use since both are at highly-visited family attractions with large concentrations of electric vehicle owners in the regions. This 'best-bang-for-the-buck' approach is sure to influence both free and pay-for-play charging locations in the future.