Sami Grover on Treehugger.com relays his discussion with the owner of the Mayton Inn, a provider of electric charging stations, concerning her experiences:
Unlike some locations, which restrict access to hotel or restaurant guests, The Mayton has made their charging stations available free to use by any member of the public. I ask Deanna about this and she’s very frank with her answer:
“Why would I restrict it? The cost is next to nothing. Nobody would pay attention if I did try to police it. And folks are likely to come in and have a drink as a goodwill gesture anyway.”
I can confirm that I validated Deanna’s point, staying for an extra hour over a pint of delicious ESB in order to charge our plug-in hybrid for the journey home. …
Overall, this is just one more example among many that the scare stories about a lack of charging infrastructure are overblown, at best, and complete nonsense at worst. The infrastructure is there. You see the results of it every time you flip a light switch. It’s simply a question of providing access. As more businesses install Level 2 charging as a perk for customers, employees and guests, I suspect range anxiety will rapidly become a thing of the past.
Of course, we’ll still need truly fast, scalable charging infrastructure for the occasional road trip—and there’s work to be done there. But pressure on those stations will be greatly reduced by the fact that most of us will be setting off with a “full tank”, even if we’re on the road and have stayed overnight at a place like The Mayton.
The less anxiety, the more quickly the technology will be accepted.
