Restrooms @ charging stations

[zefram47]

This is why I prioritize charging stations that are close to a gas station or built in a travel center / truck stop...even if the per kWh rate is relatively high. If you have to make another stop to fulfill needs like using a restroom or getting food then it costs time on the road where the act of charging already takes longer than filling with gas.

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[Placer Paul]

How does the industry not realize that any charge station without basic services like a restroom will do anything other than deter families from doing road trips in fully electric vehicles?

You appear to be speaking in the general, suggesting no Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) has services. If that has been your experience then I'll trust your word.

However, we live in Northern California and travel to Las Vegas to visit family. We leave home on full SC and use four RAN stations en route. Each has food service and public restrooms immediately proximate to the charging towers. I suppose if we stopped at one of these at Zero Dark Thirty those food and restrooms might not be available. But traveling during more normal hours we have found using RAN stations to be a delight.

 

[Michaewh]

You appear to be speaking in the general, suggesting no Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) has services. If that has been your experience then I'll trust your word.

However, we live in Northern California and travel to Las Vegas to visit family. We leave home on full SC and use four RAN stations en route. Each has food service and public restrooms immediately proximate to the charging towers. I suppose if we stopped at one of these at Zero Dark Thirty those food and restrooms might not be available. But traveling during more normal hours we have found using RAN stations to be a delight.

I’m speaking in general terms about barriers to widespread EV adoption. I’m in favor of it and I hate to see reasons to be dismissive from a consumer standpoint. In my case, I started at a RAN network at 9am at a Spokane, WA mall that didn’t open until 11am. I was traveling home, so had no access to overnight charging. My next stop was an EA station in a rural town. We had to poach the bathroom at a nearby gas station. The next stop, Tesla, was also rural with no services nearby, but an outhouse that was waaaaaaay past due on a service, but still better than nothing.

 

[NY_Rob]

You're incurring a tremendous cost increase to add facilities (and monthly $$ to maintain them) to a simple charging site. At this point in EV adoption, we consider ourselves lucky to just have charging sites. Nicer sites with amenities will eventually materialize, but right now we're still in the wild-west stage of EV charging infrastructure buildout.

 

[mkg3]

Not so rare. There are a lot of stations with stores/restaurants that aren't open 24/7 or on major holidays.

For example, I used to stop at the supercharger at Patrick Henry mall early on Christmas Eve on the way to see family. This was around 7am on Dec 24th, so the mall was closed. There is a Comfort Inn about a 1/4 mile up the road where I could walk in and use the restroom, but it's not ideal. I was glad to have charging available, however, as my P85D wouldn't have made the full trip in the cold, and I would have had to otherwise go out of my way to charge near Richmond.

The RAN in Waynesboro has a grocery store and a Buffalo Wild Wings nearby, but both are likely to be closed on Thanksgiving morning when I make another annual pilgrimage (no pun intended). There are no other options for even a restroom nearby.

In contrast, superchargers at Sheetz on I-81 are open 24x7 and have both food and restrooms available. They're great places to stop. This is where I used to stop on Thanksgiving morning, but these superchargers are V2 and are not open to non-Tesla vehicles.

Sorry for generalizing. I should know better. Someone always has an exception case.

You can always come up with a case that fits the exceptions. Since these holidays are only handful out the year, while very important and valid, is not the everyday scenario. Also, the middle of the night cases. They occur much more frequent than holidays, if your are an EV owner, one should know the infrastructure limitations today. Hope improves in coming years.

There was a time when gas stations closed at nigh and on holidays, especially in a rural areas. Today, I highly doubt any gas station closing.

So there is a need to address the outlier case, where fraction of the EV owners experience. I agree.

Alternative is to shut down the charger; hence, no problem that the stores and restaurants nearby is closed and no access to restrooms, because no one would be stopping there to charge...

 

[vandy1981]

How does the industry not realize that any charge station without basic services like a restroom will do anything other than deter families from doing road trips in fully electric vehicles?

To be fair, the hole in V2 and V3 Tesla chargers doubles as a urinal.

 

[frogblast]

That's why I usually navigate to a charging station (usually EA) attached to a 24hr Walmart or Target. Bathrooms are always available, clean, and the store is big enough to slip in and out without a purchase.

 

[beatle]

Sorry for generalizing. I should know better. Someone always has an exception case.

You can always come up with a case that fits the exceptions. Since these holidays are only handful out the year, while very important and valid, is not the everyday scenario. Also, the middle of the night cases. They occur much more frequent than holidays, if your are an EV owner, one should know the infrastructure limitations today. Hope improves in coming years.

There was a time when gas stations closed at nigh and on holidays, especially in a rural areas. Today, I highly doubt any gas station closing.

So there is a need to address the outlier case, where fraction of the EV owners experience. I agree.

Alternative is to shut down the charger; hence, no problem that the stores and restaurants nearby is closed and no access to restrooms, because no one would be stopping there to charge...

I don't think anyone is advocating for shutting down stations. More charging stations is more better, of course. What is not clear, however, is the decision process for selecting the sites, and if the decision makers are just not prioritizing locations with 24x7 food/restroom amenities, or if they just aren't available. Maybe we're still mostly beggars so we really can't be choosers, but it's obviously not a transparent process on site selection.

It is great to see the premium filling stations (Sheetz, Wawa, Buc-ees) are getting into the charging game. They probably realize they have a captive audience that often buys food and they're capitalizing on it. Most gas stations don't make much money from gas sales, and they rely on people patronizing their convenience stores to turn a profit. Hopefully more of them see the benefit of putting in EV chargers. Having 24x7 amenities isn't just for holiday/overnight travel. I always prefer to stop at these places when I can, and I almost always buy something.

That said, I'm a little discouraged that there are still some new supercharger stations on the highway that opened as recently as this year that aren't all that great. The new Raphine, VA supercharger, for example, is at another hotel, about 1/4 mile from a large Pilot truck stop which would have been a much nicer place to stop. My only hope is it was another Comfort Inn or nothing at all.

 

[Killer95Stang]

you're welcome

I think that option is best without Ocean Coast interior.

 

[JerseyGreens]

It takes maybe 5-10 more minutes of work planning out a trip around charging stations where bathrooms will be located. Convenient, not quite. An earth shattering amount of time added to the planning phase? Absolutely not ...

 

[EdwardM2005]

As it happens, I am 20,000 miles in 9 months with mostly highway driving from north of Boston to Grand Junction, Colorado. Immediately after my first week of ownership, I noted I had become a Second Class Citizen when it comes to Fueling my BEV vs. ICE ride.

For the record 98% of my charging is at ChargePoint or Electrify America DC Chargers because my condo association will not allow Level 2 chargers. Once in Boston, charged for 4 hours at a level 2, twice I used the portable at a friend's house, then tried a few that were near a trail heads for a bike ride. Overall, not worth the hassles and poor rate of charge. I use Public DC Fast Chargers exclusively.

This Public Charging solution is most commonly located in the back of a Mall, behind the dumpsters or at the far end of parking lots with no amenities. The only place I was treated like a Gas vehicle owner was at Sheetz where the chargers are less then 50 steps from the gas pumps. Sheetz had a decent 'gas station' convenience store, a separate eatery with a large menu for scratch made lunches and the star attraction my wife most appreciated ----> Clean bathrooms. Anywhere else, NO Facilites. Most charging locations are at places that you would normally not leave your wife, son or daughter alone for 5 minutes let alone your $100,000 vehicle for a 45-minute charging session. Even in Chicago, New York and Denver, chargers are not located with common facilities we might use - a Food Market, restaurant or other shopping that you might take advantage of while dropping plus $0.46 per kWh or higher rate. Aspen is plus $0.56 per kWh which is the nearest Public Fast Charger at 20 miles away in one direction.

When you are able to work with business owners, Property managers, power companies and convince them that there is an advantage to install a Charger near the front doors of the King Sooper, Safeway, Jewel's or other convivence/shopping center with restaurants, cleaners, hardware, banks and other shopping --- Then we will be on even ground with Gas/Diesel fuel stations and treated accordingly.

Today, we are a minority and seriously treated like the bastard stepchildren of medieval days. Recently or about 4 weeks ago, 4 of the 5 chargers in Aspen had the cables cut off. WHY?!?!? Because they were located in unmonitored, dark areas, distant from any watchful eye (surveillance cameras - never in a million years) and where nobody travels and thieves had easy pickings. Today, there is no repair date scheduled. Does this happen to Gas stations?

Google reports there we over 13 million ICE vehicle built last year, and 600 thousand Electric Vehicles sold last year or a total of only 3.3 million Electric Vehicles on the roads in America today. There are over 234 million licensed drivers who own at least one vehicle in the USA. If we ever mange to become 10% of the registered car owners, Maybe and that is a wishful MAYBE, will we, as EV owners who use Public Charging Stations, will we possibly be treated with respect.

Apologies - Soapbox rising.

 

[HighVoltOverland]

I made a "joke" earlier but I actually agree with the main point of OP.

Rivian agrees too, as you can see in the launch of their newer spot in Yellowstone.

The spot specifically includes access to private bathrooms 24/7 via the app.

Tesla also realized the need for people to use the commode at random hours and has places like the Kettleman location that include indoor amenities with access available through the app.

There are several companies that are trying the "revolutionary concept" of pull through chargers, with an overhang, a small store for items like snacks, and yes, even bathrooms.

aka

Every God Damn gas station.

Telling people to just plan better or to make multiple separate stops to compensate for poor infrastructure is pretty unhelpful.

Everyone here seems to love annecdotes, here's one:

SoCal traffic means that depending on when I leave for a road trip it can take an extra 3-6 hours depending on when I leave.

if I want to go to visit my sibling in SLC I can either leave in the morning and be on the road all day 10-16 hours of travel OR I can leave my house at 9PM and get there in about 9 hours.

This means that when I stop in Barstow around 1130-midnight, to ensure I have enough to get into LV, the only option I have for a bathroom is the In-n-Out across the parking lot.
If there is traffic in Victorville and it is after 1AM In-n-Out will be closed.

When I hit LV around 1 AM the mall is completely closed and there is no option for a bathroom other than stopping specifically at an all night convenience store at a gas station. Also, in places like LV the RAN can be $0.20-$0.40 cheaper a Kw than the other local chargers, people should not have to be ready to pay an extra $20-$30 a stop just to have a pot to piss in.

By the time I get to St. George it is around 330-4 and the Walmart is not open (St. Geoege/Washington Walmart is not 24 hour, it is 0600-2300. There is no other DC fast charging in St George, meaning I stop in Mesquite to try and get access to a toilet.
But wait, the Walmart in Mesquite is also a non 24/7 location, meaning that when I arrive there I again have no bathrooms to use.

So in order to ensure that I have a toilet I need to leave my home before 4am, otherwise I need to plan on several hours of extra travel time due to traffic.

OR

We can recognize the issue and advocate for a real infrastructure

 

[Dave Cundiff]

When you are able to work with business owners, Property managers, power companies and convince them that there is an advantage to install a Charger near the front doors of the King Sooper, Safeway, Jewel's or other convivence/shopping center with restaurants, cleaners, hardware, banks and other shopping --- Then we will be on even ground with Gas/Diesel fuel stations and treated accordingly.

When chargers are in prime parking spots, they tend to get ICE'd. I'd rather walk farther to avoid that problem. Best wishes!

 

[RivianRunner]

If I can't charge in the rain without getting wet, buy an espresso and a pastry, and use the nice clean restroom, then it's not a proper charging location.

You know you don't have to stand there and hold the handle, like you do with a gas nozzle? It only takes 5 seconds to plug in, you're not going to get wet. If it's raining, open your charge port door from the center screen so all you have to do is plug in.

 

[mkg3]

....What is not clear, however, is the decision process for selecting the sites,... it's obviously not a transparent process on site selection.

It always amazes me when people feel they have the right to know and that the transparency is required for decisions made by a third party.

As a 6+ yrs user of Supercharger and 14 months user of RAN/EA/EVgo/ChargePoint, I have never wondered what the business decision processes are for site selection. Further, I have no need or desire to have transparency of their decisions.

All I know and care is that Tesla Supercharges are great compared to everyone else, regardless of the location, and all EV DCFC charging companies suck mostly due to lack of charging terminal in quantity and in working conditions. Rivian's RAN is in between closer to Tesla than others.

People get worked up about the fact that the infrastructure is very poor compared to all the truck and highway stops ICE vehicles enjoy but keep in mind that ICE vehicles been the ONLY power plant for auto for the past 100 yrs for all practical purposes.

The fact that we have a robust network of Superchargers in 10 years. or so by a single company is amazing and in another 5 years, it will be significantly greater with everyone else working to address the infrastructure issue.

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