Activist Investor Pressure on Oil Majors

Supermarkets seem the logical choice. I’d say malls but do people even go to those anymore?

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efficiency is only a priced based issue.
Its all about pollution today more specifically Co2 is trending as the most popular enemy.
Ships and trains shift the most weight per unit pollution.
Cars make the least pollution per unit of fuel especially on LPG ( F1 race car engines are close to 50% efficient like a ship and HFO fuelled power station)
Power stations are allover the place with pollution and even then a Gas fired one but has skipped the co2 issue in making that gas.
EV’s are 20-30%more Co2 intensive to build

There is no reason to charge in the middle of the day - period. 90% of the time you are charging at home and have the range to do daily activities. But, if you are road tripping on the weekend for instance, when you charge, you charge to near full. Thats been the habit anyway. You will probably be staying at a hotel or with a relative, and why make 2 x 20 minute stops when you can make one stop, charge to full, and have a meal. The computer does gives you a charging strategy from your loaded route plan, but it’s not 100% accurate. It’s close, but not perfect. Your phone tells you when the charging is done. I’ve only road tripped once, but we ate lunch while charging. More locations will give you more options, but I don’t see convenience stores being a sustainable business model. The word convenience by definition is not having a strategy or plan at all - at least for this purpose. Most people gas up close to the house at one of these stores, not so with EV. Or, just pick one after the gas light comes on, not so with EV (you already had a plan before taking your route and diplayed by the computer). I do see some of the higher brand stores getting charging stations as a stepping stone, but if there is no restaurant or anything like that within a few feet, I don’t see much traffic at that location to be honest. I could be wrong, but so were Blockbuster’s investors.
The wife did come up with a good point. She asked why we had to plug in to charge the car while laying the phone on the center console to charge wirelessly. Technology will change quick with EVs. Even Tesla recommended leasing…after learning a battery replacement is north of $20,000 if out of warranty.

Its a valid observation, the tech just isn’t there yet. But the research is definitely ongoing with various car companies (BMW and others) and universities. A couple of the key challenges are coil alignment (as you might notice if you have an iPhone with MagSafe), and overcoming the air gap between the the coils (the car battery and the “console”). The other fun one is the risk of magnetic field attracting and heating debris in that gap. But once the engineers figure out the technology and then the economics it would certainly be convienient to just park in spot (at said store/restaurant/hotel/etc) and be charging.

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Wireless charging using induction is less efficient and slower than using cables. Awesome for convenience but otherwise inferior.

I’d think that pushing enough current to fast charge an EV would create inconvenient magnetic fields that could disrupt nearby objects. For example, people with pacemakers should avoid strong magnetic fields.

Most convenient place to charge is where drivers leave their cars parked for a while. Currently 80% of EV owners charge their cars at home. Some will charge at work, at parking garages or the like, maybe airports or malls

Only 1% of car trips are over 70 miles.

Don’t think many people will want to charge at the Quickie Mart.

No, they are too crowded.

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As of 2020, electric cars made up less than 1% of vehicles on US roads. EV sales make up about 3% of sales. If the EV market saturation goes up to 6%, 12% or higher, then the existing chargers which seem frivolous at this point will become critical. Home charging is something homes are yet to be designed with or retrofitted with in most cases. Home charging may add an enormous load on the grid that is too much for the legacy grid or becomes inefficient as it reaches the majority of homes. Many EV owners may skip home charging to take advantage of advancing charging and battery technology. As new technology makes charging faster or better for your battery health, a 5 minute charge to 100% at a gas station may persuade consumers to skip home chargers or keep them from upgrading their own chargers.

Do you think charging habits people have with their phone will carry over to EVs?

One advantage gas stations have that most homes don’t are commercial electrical connections. Stations are also much closer to central infrastructure as well; if the grid is upgraded to support more EV charging, they will likely be the first to get more power.

The last argument for gas stations with chargers is that consumers are discretionary and random, meaning most consumers want to make a stop and buy something every morning. Any given person could go to Costco and buy a case of monster, beef jerky, or microwave breakfast sandwiches at the most affordable bulk prices. The majority don’t or they want someone else to have a cold drink or hot breakfast ready for them.

Legacy automakers and charger manufacturers may not see home charging as the most profitable model. This could price most EV owners out of the future home chargers. EVERYTHING today is a subscription, and charging infrastructure could go that way. Given that Tesla has been excluded from EV photo ops (Tesla is interested in selling a fully integrated power solutions from solar to charger to car), I would suspect that EV network build outs go to pro union states and companies. GM is already charging monthly for their Supercruise function, and Ford is charging for their app Fordpass. Just like Volkswagen started Electrify America, the legacy automakers could take a stake in charging networks as well.

I considered buying a EV. At the time my longest trip was to an airport 45 miles away, Knowing batteries discharge over time it did not seem prudent considering airport parking had no recharge facilities. While I like the performance of EVs I do not see EVs gaining much traction until they have enough charging stations.Even Henry Ford figured out that if there was no fuel available no one would buy his cars.

I would agree if you’re talking about Class 3 chargers. I don’t know how many gas stations have the power requirements to support Class 3 Charging. On the other hand, Class 2 chargers can use the same plug as one’s electric range or dryer. Those circuits and receptacles are very prevalent. My laundry space is right off the garage. If I had an electric car, I would simply unplug the dryer and plug in the EV charger cable. No expensive retrofitting required. I was just looking at a Class 2 EV Charging Station on Amazon that would work using this arrangement for $200.

I’m probably well set up for an EV with an 11kVA supply to the transformer on the property and Three phase 440 volt to the shed but I would prefer a plug in hybrid pickup. It is relatively simple to install a 3.5 kVA charger in the garage and most of my day to day running would be pure electric even with the modest range offered. Taking our trailer off to remote areas would be a whole new deal given the ability to supply power from the pickup.
Supermarkets pretty well all have EV chargers here. 85% of our power is renewable mostly from hydro but we do have one 1000 megawatt power station supplying our largest city that the greens would like to close.

We been driving a EV for about 5 years now. Had a level 2 charger (220 volts 32 amps) installed in the garage, just ran it off the breaker box. Charging the car is about twice the load of a home electric water heater. Takes about 4 hours to charge up.

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You are keeping CMP ( and Ibedrola or whatever foreign investor owns them these days) smiling all the way to the bank.

Electricity used driving is about 1/2 the cost of gasoline, maintenance cost of an EV is about 1/2 a ICE car. ICE drivetrain has about 2000 moving parts, an EV about 20.

Solar panels provide about 90% of our power, excess is sold to CMP.

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Most people commenting seem to have their own home in mind, but this market will look so different when applied to the entire population. In big cities, like Dallas, they cant build rental apartments fast enough. Obviously, they will install chargers to attract tenants at some point.

Sounds like a great set up!

I don’t know why a lot more people don’t have solar panels. The payback on them is fairly short.

The opportunity cost of investing the money needed for a good home solar system has to be factored into the equation. It makes less sense then.

I have mine because I like efficiency, not because it actually made financial sense.

I don’t know what states still have subsidy rebates, but for a while in MA the opportunity cost was zero… companies would come install the array on your roof for free. They made their money by collecting the rebate from the state. Your cost was nothing.

I’d buy an EV or plug-in hybrid but the complex where I live won’t install chargers. (I haven’t replaced my eight year old truck for that reason.) When a convenient network of charging stations exists I’ll sell my truck for a plug-in. A minority of Americans live in condos or apartments yet I imagine there are millions of people in my situation. This is a chicken and egg issue.

A wawa near me that is set up to get traffic from I 95 has several Tesla charging stations.
Many of these companies are keen on getting EV chargers. However their parking lots are already crowded and lots small.