Americans are accustomed to refueling vehicles at any of the 128,000 convenience store gas stations around the country. A pit stop may include a bathroom break, snack, and in pre-GPS days, an employee who could offer directions.
But charging an electric vehicle (EV) is a completely different experience. Charging stations are often unmanned and found in parking lots, far from snacks and bathrooms.
Convenience stores are the perfect place for EV chargers, Trevor Walter, vice president of petroleum supply management for Sheetz Inc., told the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture last year during a hearing titled “The Implications of Electric Vehicle Investments for Agriculture and Rural America.”
“Our industry’s locations are purposely visible. People already have established patterns using [gas stations] and we typically show the prices of fuels we offer on large signs that motorists can see as they are driving,” Walter said, speaking on behalf of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). “When drivers are able to readily see that they can get electricity the same way, and in the same place as they refuel now, range anxiety will no longer be an impediment to the purchase of the vehicle.”
Yet convenience stores are not fully charged about adding EV infrastructure because government regulations guiding the sale of power allows for scant profits. Walter listed three specifics.
Some states prohibit businesses from selling electricity to vehicle drivers. In those states, only electric utilities are allowed to do that. In these states, businesses rent EV chargers and consumers pay for time on the charger instead of paying directly for electricity.
Many utilities have had rates adjusted upwards, charging customers more, and using the funds to build utility-owned EV chargers. This creates an uneven playing field that can prevent a competitive market from emerging, Walter testified.
Other businesses building EV chargers must recover construction and operating costs from vehicle drivers directly. And utilities charge commercial electricity users, including gas stations, such as convenience and fuel retailers with “demand charges.” The higher the demand, the higher the fee.
“Given the large electricity demands associated with fast chargers, these demand charges overwhelm the cost of electricity and make it impossible for retailers to sell electricity and make a profit,” Walter said.
The sale of electricity must be changed for the retail market can get in the game, he indicated.
No Need to ‘Reinvent the Wheel’
If there is a will to reduce barriers to businesses entering the EV charging market, it will happen at the state level, Ryan McKinnon of Charge Ahead Partnership (CAP) told The Epoch Times. CAP is a coalition of businesses, associations, and individuals who aim to develop a nationwide EV charging network.“Under current policies, these locations at gas stations and convenience stores can’t get into the market,” McKinnon said. “No rational business owner would get into the EV charging market if they know they’re going to have to compete against a government-sanctioned monopoly.”
In Minnesota, Xcel Energy asked the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) for permission to raise $197 million through rate increases to its customers and use the funds to build 700 high speed EV charging stations around the state. At the same time, proposed legislation in the Minnesota Legislature, HF413, would allow electric companies to use rate increases to cover charging stations in the future, eliminating the MPUC’s ability to curb the increases to consumers in the future.
Xcel has eyes on similar projects in other states including Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin according to its website.
“It makes no sense to reinvent the wheel and create all these new locations, and leave the retailers that want to get into the game, that want to invest their own money, that are willing to take the risk—to leave them on the side, and instead saddle just your average ratepayer with higher electric bills so the power company can build entirely new networks of recharging stations from scratch,” McKinnon said. “Rather than utilizing all these plots of land and pieces of real estate that have already been fully equipped to serve travelers, with snacks, amenities, restrooms, lighting and signs.”
Various State Approaches to EV Policy
States are taking different approaches. California’s Public Utilities Commission announced last month it will limit power companies from owning EV chargers.In January, Oklahoma state Sen. Chuck Hall, a Republican, introduced legislation intended to encourage private investment in the EV charging market.
The bill would prohibit public utilities from using ratepayer funds to subsidize their own EV charging stations; direct utilities to establish a standard rate for electricity used in EV charging instead of a high demand model; and ensure businesses selling electricity for EV charging would not be treated as utilities by the state.
“The most logical place for EV drivers to charge up while on a long road trip is at the existing retailers and commercial locations that already dot the interstate,” Hall said in a statement. “This bill would make that possible and establish Oklahoma as a leader in developing common-sense and forward-thinking EV charging policy.”
