Electric-vehicle drivers experienced longer-than-normal wait times at EV charging stations recently due to extreme cold weather conditions. The prolonged wait times were a result of slower charging capabilities in the cold and more trips to the charger due to EVs burning through energy faster in the cold.
“These extremely cold temperatures mean that the average visit is going to be longer because some people aren't going to be preheating their batteries,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, Dallas. “Normally, when you plug in and your batteries are ice cold, the electricity is not going to charge your batteries. It's going to start warming them up.”
After the sub-zero days in Chicago last week, CSP spoke to retailers and EV experts about the issues and what convenience stores with EV chargers can do in these situations to protect their brand and keep customers happy.
Ride-share drivers were the most affected by the cold temperatures, Katie Wallace, director of communications at electric-vehicle infrastructure company EVgo, Los Angeles, pointed out, and that’s a significant detail because it’s not necessarily the average driver having issues.
“They're putting hundreds of miles on their car a day versus the average American who drives less than 40 miles. [The average person] was probably not who was getting stuck or having issues in terms of queuing for hours.”
While long lines point to a more aggressive timeline of installing new EV chargers as the obvious answer, the lack of maintenance on existing chargers “exacerbates these outages,” De Haan said. Why not rehabilitate chargers that are out of order first?
“There's been a lot of money thrown at new chargers, but there hasn't been a whole lot of interest necessarily in maintaining existing chargers,” he said. “After installation, there's as much as 20% of the nation's EV chargers that are out of service.”
C-Stores’ Approach
Convenience stores and travel stops are at risk of diluting their brand if their chargers aren’t functioning, said De Haan.
“People will avoid that station if they have a history of not being able to charge correctly,” he said. “This is really important for the businesses that are installing EVs. They need not only an installation plan, but also a maintenance plan to make sure that their EV chargers are available to use when the weather gets cold.”
C-store employees can prevent problems from arising, too.
Global Partners LP, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, has four sites with active EV charging stations. The company's Alltown Fresh chain owns them outright but works with a third-party maintenance company. There’s “not enough daily care being taken at the stations to keep them functioning,” said James Cater, electric innovation strategist at the chain. That’s why employees are responsible for looking after chargers.
“Having your own employees checking on the daily health of a charging station is critical to keeping the up time of that station going so that you don't have a bigger maintenance issue,” he said. “For example, keep the charging plug cables out of the way when they're not being used, keep the plugs plugged into the dispenser when not use, check for debris around the area and clear snow out just like you would with the regular gas pump. That daily maintenance is critical to preventing bigger issues.”
Because cars charge faster with the heat turned off, c-stores are great businesses for charging stations, EVgo's Wallace said. They also already offer fuel and are conveniently located.
“A c-store provides warmth on a winter day,” said Cater. “If you’re going to sit in your car, you have the power off, and you get the full charge, or you’ve got the power [and the heater] on, so you’re not getting the full charge. A c-store offers you a place to warm up, get a hot drink and wait for your charge. I think our customers appreciate that.”
Help From the Government
On Thursday, the Biden Administration granted nearly $150 million to 24 recipients in 20 states to make existing EV charging infrastructure more reliable. The grants will be used to repair or replace nearly 4,500 existing EV charging ports, and in some cases, bring them up to code, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
“The Biden administration spending money on EV charging certainly could be a solution to get more of the existing chargers back in service,” De Haan said. Wallace added, “I do think the NEVI [National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure]program and other public funding sources are going to further accelerate the build out of public charging infrastructure.”
But the federal approach to EV expansion could change.
“At present, and with it being an election year, energy policy and EV can shift dramatically and with it the economics of how best to proceed,” said Lonnie McQuirter, director of operations at 36 Lyn Refuel Station, Minneapolis. “For existing owners, the incentives are different and for some new entrants. It’s a weird and interesting time to be in the space.”
As far as consumers’ EV interest, Wallace said that the negative headlines aren’t really showing the truth of what’s going on in the EV industry.
“Adoption of EVS is still trending upward. I think the difference in what's happening versus what people had hope would happen is that certain manufacturers are maybe not hitting sales targets, but because that's not necessarily because of a lack of interest but because there are so many more models to choose from.”
An Evolving Technology
As with any young model, the technology of both EVs and EV chargers will continue to advance. That’s something retailers have to consider, said De Haan. There could be a lot of capital expenses associated with updates. EV adoption is young, and growing pains are inevitable.
“From my standpoint, I try to be open to any technology,” he said. “I'm a petroleum analyst, but that doesn't mean I'm going to have an opinion that's negative towards EVs. Given the headlines that I've been seeing, I wouldn't be accelerating my investment to EVs seeing that the market is still sorting out a lot of these deficiencies. I would play it very slow. I would let data dictate the future. If your station has one EV charger, is it being utilized over 60 or 70% of the time? And if it's not, is it because of maintenance? Does it need to be attended to? Are stations watching their EV chargers as closely as they are their pumps?”
Battery technology is the elephant in the room, said McQuirter.
“The last substantial change, in my opinion, happened almost 40 years ago in batteries,” he said. “If there should be a major breakthrough there, I’d bet we’d see much fast adoption and less folks driving with range anxiety.”
Battery tech is developing, though, according to Wallace, with manufacturers looking at how cars can be less impacted by external factors, like temperature.
“The charger itself is not a point of failure most times,” she said. “It's going to be an interoperability thing or it's a battery issue with the car itself.”
The charging equipment is rated to perform and operate in extreme weather temperatures, she said. Some of the newest equipment that EVgo deploys is rated to work in temperatures as low as negative 22 degrees Fahrenheit. But that's only if the chargers are up and running.
What Can Retailers Recommend to Customers?
There are also steps that consumers can take, c-store retailers and charger makers recommend.
EV drivers might have to give up what McQuirter calls the “modern comfort and necessities for ICE [internal combustion engine] vehicles,” during these extreme temperatures.
Scheduling a departure time warms the cabin and melts snow, ice and frost on the windshield, windows and mirrors. It also warms the high-voltage battery. Preconditioning works even better while plugged into an at-home charger.
“The steering wheel heater and the seat heaters take a nominal amount of energy versus the cabin heat,” added Wallace. “Those are great ways to maximize your range, so utilize that over the cabin heating and fans.”
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