in this early adoption phase what we are really seeing is businesses balking at the high cost of an L3. the unit maybe provided free due to the rapidly expiring EV Highway Project which never really got more than token funding to begin with (never should have spent a dime on home charging options but that is another topic) but that $10,000 "gift" comes with some pretty hefty strings.
problems we are seeing is that many sites require tens of thousands in prep costs to host an L3. this is where most of the funding for the EV Highway project should have gone. have them installed on a federal program with businesses in the area paying a small part of the electricity used in exchange for the business generated.
now, i am not really privy to the actual deals being proffered but its obvious that its not all that good.
now, for all you that got free this and thats, i am sure this post will not be popular, but i stand on conviction by saying the EV Highway Project was a bit "off" from the get go. i needed no encouragement to buy a Leaf. (did nt qualify for program anyway since i am not a home owner but that fact does not change my opinion) so giving me a free QC did not play at all into my buying decision.
so, now our "electrified" highway has been delayed and considering the amount of unemployed construction workers we have sitting around waiting to do something, the delay is obviously money, mismanagement or a bit of both. but we have the money at least on one end, so its now the business we are looking at.
so, ya it easy to see why L2's are springing up all over the place (there has been over 100 added in my local area in the past 10 or so months to go along with the 3-4 J1772's we already had) its because the generate a HUGE amount of goodwill but really dont cost a whole lot to put in. a few thousand is absorbable by many companies. costs approaching $50,000 plus are not.
now, i do see a few places probably spent some money. Sears in Lacey has their sitting out in the middle of the parking lot at least 150 feet from the building. now there are lights out there but had to cost a pretty penny to put in 3 of them, but they also probably did it without significant upgrades to the electrical feed. they only had to run new lines out there from their existing power feed (this used to be a full fledged Mall with dozens of stores that is now only has 6 large vendors there)
i do know an electrical contractor who was part of both the original build of the mall and the retrofit (they took out all the small shop area and put in Target) and he stated that the configuration barely used half the power wired into the location. he was nt part of the the new L2 install so dont know how much that costs but he thinks they probably did the site work for significantly less than $10,000 since there was no asphalt work done so the lines were probably pulled from somewhere.
but i guess what i am trying to say is ... how many "highways" do you know of that run thru your living room?