There are growing pains, though, and the answer to growth in the industry isn’t necessarily new chargers or new EVs on the market, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, Boston. “There’s been a lot of money thrown at new chargers, but there hasn’t been a whole lot of interest necessarily in maintaining existing chargers,” he said. “After installation, there’s as much as 20% of the nation’s EV chargers that are out of service.”
In addition to having a third-party maintenance agreement, Global Partners also monitors its stations closely. Employees checking on the daily health of a charging station is critical to keeping the up time of that station going and preventing bigger maintenance issues, said Cater. For example, employees ensure plugs are secured in the dispenser when not in use, check for debris or clearing snow in the area and make sure screens are active.
“The difference between a remote DC fast station and a manned DC fast site is like night and day,” Cater said.
C-stores risk diluting their own brand if they don’t maintain their chargers, said De Haan. People will avoid a station if it has a bad history of operation.
“[Businesses] have to have not only an installation plan, but a maintenance plan as well,” he said.
The Biden Administration granted nearly $150 million to 24 recipients in 20 states to make existing EV charging infrastructure more reliable. The grants will be used to repair or replace nearly 4,500 existing EV charging ports, and in some cases, bring them up to code, according to the Federal Highway Administration. READ MORE
Source: cspdailynews.com