I have yet to see an EV charger at a fast food restaurant in Texas. It’s stupid that roadside restaurants on the interstate don’t have them. Starbucks, McDonalds, and Sonic are perfect locations.
Instead, you’re forced to stop at a Walmart or a gas station if you’re making a road trip.
I've seen a lot of Sheetz' with EV charging on the East Coast. Decent coffee and Made To Order food. That's worked pretty well.
It will be interesting to see how well it holds up now that I've traded my Tesla in for an Ioniq5. I didn't realize that a lot of Superchargers don't actually support non-Teslas, even with a NACS to CCS1 adapter.
I've been using PlugShare. You can filter out the Tesla chargers that won't charge an Ionic. Three roadtrips with my Ionic6, and its worked really well so far.
I wouldn't say "a lot" but it depends on what you mean. It seems like 80% or so support non Tesla but many of those have the stalls with the short cables. You can always make those work but it sometimes involves blocking two spots (which Tesla officially approves but in practice may be awkward with other users around). The stations that truly don't support non Tesla are super old ones at this point and they're bringing new stations online with cables long enough for everyone.
All that being said, other brands of chargers are popping up everywhere with equal reliability to Tesla so it's pretty much a non-issue at this point.
I think the issue is that I know where all the old Superchargers are around me and just assumed they would work. I bought my Ioniq used and they only gave me 20% when I rolled off the lot, so when the first couple chargers I tried didn't work, I had some range anxiety that I hadn't experienced in a long time after 7 years of EV ownership.
Luckily I found a level 3 CCS1 charger and got enough to get me home. Back to overnight level 2 charging and daily driving is a breeze again.
20% from the lot is insane!
I like the new one along my 5 hour route that is its own thing but surrounded by fast food, Chinese, and then a Walmart across the street.
We recently charged our Ioniq 5 at an ionna station, it was really nice. Indoor lobby area, really clean bathroom, vending machines. Tesla chargers are nice and all but I love that better alternatives are beginning to proliferate.
This makes so much sense. They have you there for 20 minutes, give or take a few, might as well get a sandwich or something. A restaurant like Sonic could do this the best. Pull in, start charging, and then order food all from the same kiosk.
In Victoria (Australia) I often see chargers outside libraries, pubs, cafes, etc.
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