05-03-2025, 02:12 PM
As an EV owner for almost 5 years, I have some real answers rather than baseless guesses:
1) If you are a potential EV owner, one of the first rules is that any mall is generally not the place you want to charge. It's where you will see the worst of EV charging behaviors: people just leaving their car on the charger while they shop in the mall, costs be damned as they have money. It's also the most likely place where someone might park their ICE car in a charger space because they can't find another close in spot. Also malls are crowded, generally attracting far more visitors than the EV infrastructure can handle.
2) Second to malls, EV chargers at Target and Walmart get similarly abused.
3) Usually the best EV chargers are in grocery store parking lots, the back of a gas station, banks or a purpose built place akin to an EV gas station. The time people spend in those places is usually based on their estimated charging time.
4) Home is the best place to charge you EV.
5) There are a half dozen apps out there that let you know ahead of time what to expect as far as availability. It's even built into the software of the Ioniq 5. If I navigate to a charger, the screen will show me how many chargers are currently available. It's easy to select an alternative if things look busy.
Buy the EV. Your planet will thank you.
1) If you are a potential EV owner, one of the first rules is that any mall is generally not the place you want to charge. It's where you will see the worst of EV charging behaviors: people just leaving their car on the charger while they shop in the mall, costs be damned as they have money. It's also the most likely place where someone might park their ICE car in a charger space because they can't find another close in spot. Also malls are crowded, generally attracting far more visitors than the EV infrastructure can handle.
2) Second to malls, EV chargers at Target and Walmart get similarly abused.
3) Usually the best EV chargers are in grocery store parking lots, the back of a gas station, banks or a purpose built place akin to an EV gas station. The time people spend in those places is usually based on their estimated charging time.
4) Home is the best place to charge you EV.
5) There are a half dozen apps out there that let you know ahead of time what to expect as far as availability. It's even built into the software of the Ioniq 5. If I navigate to a charger, the screen will show me how many chargers are currently available. It's easy to select an alternative if things look busy.
Buy the EV. Your planet will thank you.