Quote:
Originally Posted by justjim
Actually often wondered why there wasn’t a place to charge my first cart (electric cart) - then switched to gas and the story ends.
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My guess: Available space, cost of infrastructure, metering and return on investment, and lack of interest.
Available space - Imagine the problems if even five spaces at each square were reserved for electric carts. Imagine the further problems if someone parks there at 2PM and leaves the cart there for the next seven hours while they have dinner and listen to the band.
Cost of infrastructure - Someone has to pay for the wiring, the outlets, the repair of the outlets, and the electricity
Metering and return on investments - Unless this is paid for through our amenity fees (and what an argument that would cause) then some form of metering would need to be put in place so that users can pay for the benefit and the electricity. Will the metering accept cash? Will it accept cards? Who will pay to collect the cash and maintain the equipment. How much will need to be charged to pay for both the initial equipment, the electricity, the maintenance, and the unproductive time when a charged cart is just taking up space?
Lack of interest - It won't take long for users to realize that it costs twice as much to pay for electricity at the newly installed charging stations than it does to charge at home. Users aren't going to want to pay for all that so most of the chargers will sit idle.
Installing chargers on highways so drivers can continue their road trip makes sense. It doesn't make as much sense to install chargers in a community that can easily wait until they return home.