pkulak said:
The CHAdeMO stations around here are pretty crowded lately. I have to wait behind someone every third charge or so, and apparently up in Washington it's getting really "bad". Lots of queueing. If one charger is just at 50% capacity from 8am until 10pm, and charging sessions are 20 minutes on average, that's 24 charging sessions a day. Aerovironment charges $7.50 for a charge unless you have a $20/month subscription, so lets just assume that it works out to about $5 a charge for them (I probably use it about 4 times a month on average): that's $120 a day. Subtract 10 kWhs per charge and that's about $100 profit per day.
So, install a $50,000 charger and then pull in $3,000 a month? That math works out. It really works out! I own a house worth $150,000, that needs way more upkeep than a quick charger, and rent is $900. As more and more people start driving electric cars, the chargers will be built.
Looks like there are hefty subsidies for installing CHAdeMO chargers, which brings the cost down significantly:
Via its EV Advantage program, Nissan is offering commercial organizations (businesses and corporations) up to $15,000 towards the purchase of a CHAdeMO DC quick charger.
Nissan’s program has several stipulation, but the basic idea is to make it easier on the pocketbook for the commercial install of CHAdeMO units.
This program is exclusive to the US and, when combined with the federal government’s $12,000 infrastructure tax credit, can cut approximately 68% of the purchase and install cost of a CHAdeMO charger.
According to Nissan, the average purchase/install/permitting/etc. price for a CHAdeMO unit is the US is $40,000. Nissan’s $15,000 incentive, combined with the federal’s government $12,000 credit, bring the net cost to site host down to $13,000.
At that price, one would think CHAdeMO units will soon be popping up everywhere, but Nissan limits the incentive to only in areas it deems worthy for installs. Think high Nissan LEAF market share cities and you’ll be on the right track.
We’re certain that Nissan would make some exceptions to this, but the majority of the $15,000 incentives will be given out to highly populated West Coast cities.
Isn’t it always the case that the left coasters get the charger while the rest of the nation not-so patiently waits?
For more on Nissan’s EV Advantage program, check out this PDF.