Two things come to mind after reading that article (thanks for posting DMV).
1. The nature of the "refueling experience" is going to be a lot different in 20 years. Right now, the gas station is a very transitory place where we might spend a few minutes, reluctantly, mingling with the unwashed masses as we all anxiously wait for the tank to fill so we can get the hell out of there with our lives intact. Occasionally, we might be extra adventurous and actually go inside the store to relive ourselves or peruse the vast selection of preservative filled goodies or mystery meats glistening on stainless steel rollers.
With the extended times for EV charging, though, we will be a captive audience for at least 20-40 minutes. It's possible that the in-car entertainment system may be enough to keep us occupied at first, but I venture to guess that these charging stations are going to become very commercialized and also very "experience oriented." There may be fee-based short-duration entertainment, quality food offerings for an actual sit-down meal, coffee lounges with relaxing places to spend time, etc. Of course, eventually the heyday of the charging "oasis" will pass and we be back to standing near our car while the volts rush in and we clean the center console of old apple cores, dried booger tissues and some unrecognizable wrapper from food we don't recall eating.
2. If there is a tremendous uptick in the infrastructure of EV systems along major travel routes, requiring the use of land for transmission lines, etc., is this the time to really start thinking about fast electric powered inter-city trains? If there were ample, daily-use EV vehicles at each end for kiosk-style renting (like the rental bikes in many cities), I think this would be a much more viable option. Since we are already apparently going to run or enhance high powered lines along major travel routes, this seems like a no-brainer.
Stogie1020 wrote: