The Business Opportunity of EV “Dwell Time”
By Edward A. Sanchez — Jan. 5, 2024
One of the knocks against current EVs is the time to refuel. What takes sometimes literally less than five minutes in an ICE vehicle can take up to an hour (even on DCFC) in some EVs. Totally fair point. This remains an obstacle to some consumers who will want refueling-time parity with ICE before they’ll buy an EV. But this seeming disadvantage could be a boon to the right business model.
What EV critics and skeptics miss is for those with private, off-street parking and garages, the majority of charging typically takes place at home, with on-the-road fast-charging only a factor during longer road trips. Regardless, when away from home, time-to-fuel is a factor. For those with the right combination of lot size, building configuration, and business model, serving EV customers is a potential gold mine. The key to that gold is dwell time.
Gas stations have a narrow window in which to make a value-added sale of snacks, beverages, and assorted whatnot. Basically, the time it takes for the customer to come in and pay for fuel. The vast majority of stations have a pay-at-the pump option, eliminating the need in most cases to even go to the cashier counter, unless the on-pump payment or receipt-printing mechanism is out of order.
EVs, on the other hand, can stick around for 20 minutes or up to an hour (depending on state of charge, battery size, and charging speed). If your offerings are simply canned and bottled beverages, pre-packaged snacks, and phone charging cables, there’s a good chance customers would rather just sit in their car and, increasingly, watch streaming video or play games.
If you have an inviting café area with made-to-order coffee drinks, hot food, complimentary Wi-Fi, etc., you have a potential revenue opportunity to take advantage of that dwell time. Granted, this takes a larger lot, more employees, and more expense. Whether or not the cost/benefit or ROI makes sense is for people with more expertise than I have in that area. As noted, for those with the perfect Venn diagram of location, lot size, and facility, this could be a prime business opportunity. Tesla has already started construction on a retro-futuristic diner/movie theater in Hollywood that it is positioning as a destination attraction.
Businesses poised to take advantage of this with relatively little marginal additional cost, (and in many cases, already have) are ironically truck stops, such as Flying-J, Pilot, and others, which have large lots and large facilities that include quick-serve and sometimes full table-service restaurants, showers, and markets. Granted, many road-trippers might not usually consider a truck stop for a rest and refuel, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised most of the time I’ve visited them.
As the saying goes, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” While the longer time to refuel is undoubtedly a disadvantage of EVs, it is a business opportunity for others. The question is, who will seize it first?
(Image courtesy Ed Howard @HowardModels)
