Can VW's Electrify America Make EV Charging Stations a 'Customer Oasis'?

Tesla has a vast network of over 30,000 superchargers spread across the globe. But there's also already another network of over 730 D.C. charging stations spread across the U.S. by "Electrify America." Thank Volkswagen, which founded the company as part of a $2 billion agreement to create clean car infrastructure in America after admitting it had cheated on diesel emissions tests, Reuters reported in 2017. But now they're trying to upgrade the vehicle-charging experience into a "customer oasis," reports The Drive:Chargers are typically out in the middle of nowhere with nothing else to do, not very well lit, use hardware that very much feels like it was the first iteration of something, and are often just not very nice places to be. Electrify America, evidently, knows this and is planning to massively improve the electric car charging experience by appearing to model its new flagship charging stations after something we already know and are comfortable with: gas stations. The new locations are said to be designed aesthetically with its surrounding communities in mind and have been described with words like "customer oasis." Housing up to 20 DC fast chargers, the new EA stations will feature solar canopies that do double duty in helping provide electricity for the cars and covering customers from the elements, a lot like how most gas stations have roofs. In addition to being part of these new fancy stations right out of the gate, Electrify America says it's also retrofitting similar awnings to 100 existing stations across the U.S., covering 400-500 individual chargers... Further making these stations a nice place to hang out is the presence of lounges and possibly even EV showcase areas. Ones located at shopping centers may even feature valet charging and curbside delivery services.... As somebody who staunchly believes that the public charging infrastructure is, far and away, the least appealing part of owning a non-Tesla EV, it all looks and sounds very enticing. However, like all big and new things, it'll be coming to the two coastal U.S. regions first. Electrify America's new flagship charging stations will be installed throughout 2022 and 2023 exclusively in California and New York, with the company specifically namechecking Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San Diego, Beverly Hills, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. Existing flagship locations can be found in Baker and Santa Clara, California. Newsweek adds that the company "will also expand the deployment of battery energy storage systems to 150 sites. These systems store energy when electricity costs are low and deploys it to supplement a surge in a station's overall energy demand."

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