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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

How much charge can you get in the time spent at a fast food outlet?

This is the beginning of gas stations and oil companies feeling the fear. This week saw the first US gas station stop selling gasoline and switch to charging only.[1]

Walmart is putting in charging stations. That makes a lot of sense. The amount of time spent at a Walmart is enough for a good charge.[2]

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/first-gas-station-to-ditch-o...

[2] https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2019/06/06/electrify-...

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For 8 months I've been traveling in the US[1] and Europe[2] by bicycle. Most of the time I was camping and McDonalds was the most convenient place to charge my phone. I found that I could easily spend 2 hours per day there without getting bored. I didn't have a stove, so it was my warm meal on most days.

I suspect a lot of underemployed Americans could adopt a similar routine to get their cars charged.

1: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/burgers

2: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/roads2rome

There was an interesting article[1] a while back about the social/community roles that McDonalds plays for a large variety of groups. They are usually pretty good about "loitering" if you (a) buy something and (b) are non-disruptive.

1: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/08/mcdonalds-c...

And you are not sleeping, or appear to be.

In Hong Kong, people sleep at the McDonald's:

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/215836...

Yes, I can confirm that about Hong Kong and I don't condone it. They are not a homeless shelter.

I know they don't like it if people adopt a sleeping posture, e.g. by laying on your arms. I was never so tired that I had to that.

I always ordered something. In fact, sitting there quietly with a tray in front of me is to their advantage: I was well groomed. It reinforces the impression that they are popular.

The car chargers at McDonald's aren't free (unlike phone chargers). If you have a home with an electrical outlet reachable by the car, I would assume that would be cheaper.

I also wonder how the McDonald's electricity price per mile compares to gas price per mile of typical cars.

With the new Tesla fast chargers you can get about 150miles in 10~12min. Which is about the time spent to buy food and leave at a fastfood restaurant.

My 2015 Vw E-up takes about 15 minutes to add 75% state of charge using the mcdonalds charger, so it's actually a bit too fast to eat there. I guess a leaf or e-golf with bigger batteries might do it.

My model x would have to stay there quite a bit longer but it's idiotic to charge a tesla on these 50 kW chargers as the superchargers are much cheaper (if not free) and are usually situated next to better quality food outlets.

I haven't eaten at mcdonalds in 20 year or so anyway, they only serve garbage food, but I've used their chargers for the e-up :)

If Warren Buffett is regular, it can't be all unhealthy.

George Burns smoked a huge cigar every day, and he died a rather old man. By your logic, this proves cigars aren't all unhealthy.

Some people get range anxiety if it's cold out, or they made an abnormal trip, or if traffic will be bad. I have a supercharger visible from my office and anecdotally a lot of people come in for 10-20 mins at a time

Tesla and Wawa (a convenience store) have a partnership to expand superchargers at these locations. Some Wawas that have no gas pumps are only getting Superchargers. Tesla still (in most locations) sites Superchargers near malls, grocery stores, and other locations where you can comfortably dwell for 30-40 minutes.

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-superchargers-to-double-in-w...

You're getting it backwards. They wan't people to come for the chargers, and then happen to buy an expensive soda.

While I'm sure they are making a large profit on sodas, the piece is quite cheap. In the US it's $1 for any size. It's actually the cheapest price I can recall for Coca-Cola products.

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