Is the demand there? Affluent customers probably have chargers at home, so unless it's a 200+ mile round trip to visit the business, probably don't have much need to charge.
Relevant article from today referencing a recent MIT study.
As someone who owns multiple EVs, it's about the fact that you are much more likely to go to a business within probably 1000ft of the charger. The chargers are also frequently very busy. I 100% go to a ton a businesses that I wouldn't otherwise simply because they are located near the charger. Convenience is king
Those tourism promoting visitor centers would also be great candidates. We spent 30 minutes learning about some random region of Georgia because they put chargers outside.
I’d never stopped in one of those places in my life.
Even just for travelers though. If you’re within 30 minutes of a highway exit and there area isn’t well covered by other chargers it seems like it would be a good investment.
If it were me I’d even try to sell them washer fluid and other road supplies.
I think being able to charge at home is almost a requirement but definitely not necessary in some places. I charge at home maybe twice a month, and there are dozens of chargers within a few minute walk of where I live. Many retail areas have chargers too, so its easy to get a few kwh of charge on a short trip to get groceries or something.
I think there are also a significant number of EV owners who almost exclusively use public DC fast charging. If there are enough fast chargers around, you can treat an EV similarly to an ICE car - drive it til its mostly empty then fill it up.
