What do they want to know?

[GetOffYourGas]

All very true, DNA. I still have this nagging question in the back of my mind - will all of these DCFCs fall into disrepair when the grant money dries up? Will EVs simply disappear as a fad that couldn't get off the ground? I really hope not, but I don't think a pure EV future is a sure thing. I just don't see a way to actually make money yet on the DCFC infrastructure. In a way, ChargePoint only makes money because the host is willing to lose money, or through grants (like LEED buildings). The drivers certainly aren't paying enough. And yet, like you said, we balk at prices that approach (or exceed) the price of gas.

It's a much easier sell for L2 infrastructure, but that isn't going to be enough to convince the mainstream to buy EVs. No one, save the most hardcore enthusiast, is going to be willing to sit at a charger for hours on end in the middle of a trip. So L2 only supports EVs as regional cars.

Again, ChargePoint basically makes money on the back of the host. Their fees are exorbitant and in some cases predatory. My company had put in chargers from GE, but when ChargePoint bought them out, it cost us thousands of dollars to fight with them just to keep them operational. In the end, the company almost took them all out because ChargePoint was so unreasonable.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

My company got a free ChargePoint L2 using a DOE grant, and the deal was, they paid for install and any repairs (none so far, L2 is more reliable than QC), but also had to agree to a one year contract with ChargePoint at $300/month for monitoring, fee collection and remittances, and data reporting to the DOE.

They got a Ford C-Max for a security car, and the only other regular user is me. There’s over 1000 cars in our lot every day. At first, they charged me $0.40/hour while charging. Still cheaper than my utility.

After a year, they couldn’t justify ChargePoints’ fee, so contract terminated and station “decommissioned”, so no longer listed on ChargePoint app, but still works, and now it’s free.

It’s 5 years old now, still just me and the C-Max. At first, with the Leafs, I’d charge up like 3 times a week, maybe 5 hours each tops. Never have to move it. With the Bolt, if it’s low enough, it can charge 9 hours and still not be full, but at most I’ll charge twice a week.

 

[ChargePoint]

Yes, I can agree with everything you said. My post was meant for ChargePoint because I want them to get the feeling of what is faced and why us EV owners feel the urgency to have many more fast/quick chargers. While they have posted that their regional manager has a Tesla, I would bet that the rest of their employees mostly do not have even the most basic EV. To (really) connect with us they must first care about and understand the experience of currently living with an EV. Tesla's growing lead in charging infrastructure is not comparable to what the rest of EV's have to endure at this point. I want them to understand... And I want them to install DCFC...

Thanks for the feedback! Many of the ChargePointers (what we call our team members) were already EV enthusiasts when they joined the company and others transition to an EV soon after joining the team. ChargePoint also makes it easy to charge at the office to encourage that transition, and we bring EV test drives to the office so people can try driving EVs. Being part of the EV community ourselves helps us to understand needs, though it's no substitute for asking questions from drivers like yourself as driver experiences can vary so drastically by use, location, etc. Plus, curiosity fuels innovation.

Except they only install when they have a host. They’ll broker the equipment, but they don’t want to own any. They just want their exorbitant fees. So that leaves us EVgo mostly and a few Greenlots around here, maybe Blink in the West? It’s disappointing because ChargePoint has developed some good high powered modular QCs, but hosts aren’t exactly lining up to install them.

I agree! And that is where their salesmanship should come in and ChargePoint needs to start selling owners what we really need along with investing in infrastructure themselves. That is why I am saying that Chargepoint basically doesn't "get it". They can't sell what they do not understand.

Yes, there is a need for level 2 at apartment complexes and workplaces and that is understood because cars can set for many hours on end to get a charge. However, for EV's to proliferate, it would take a ton of charge cords at each of those locations at L2 but less with DCFC. With larger battery cars now upon us, we need more DCFC. ChargePoint, get your salesman to work!

I'd love to hear more! Can you please send me a private message, so that we might keep this thread on the original topic. Send your suggestions my way via message and I'm always happy to pass your feedback to our team or share any news/updates we might have depending on your Q's!

Apologies for all the links below, but I thought it might also be helpful to provide these so that you can give our site a deeper look to see what we do currently offer (prior to providing that feedback) just in case some features already exist.

• ChargePoint Home (home charging solution): https://www.chargepoint.com/drivers/home/resource/
  Apartment & Condo charging solutions: https://www.chargepoint.com/drivers/apartments-and-condos/
  Express charging: https://www.chargepoint.com/drivers/express/
  Commercial charging solutions: https://www.chargepoint.com/products/commercial/
  Our solutions for government, cities & towns: https://www.chargepoint.com/files/solutionbriefs/sb-cities.pdf
  and other industries, too: https://www.chargepoint.com/businesses/industries/