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Comment by NotYourLawyer | Hacker News Reader

This only works if you’re willing to give people free electricity. And if you’re willing to do that, you might as well make the existing DC fast chargers free too.

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A 10kw level 2 charger costs about $2k to install and uses about $1 an hour of power. A 250kw DC charger costs about $50k-150k to install and uses about $30 an hour of power running full tilt. Way lower upfront capital costs and way lower potential for abuse.

In places where people stay for multiple hours, there's a huge argument to install about 25-50 level 2 chargers and make them a free perk instead of one big fast charger. Less complexity, less potential for being blocked or vandalized, etc.

My landlord recently had the opportunity of paying $1 so that I could avoid paying $2.50. They didn't do that. Never underestimate the willingness of some short-sighted companies to nickel and dime you to death, even for the slimmest margins. A hotel should just add free L2 chargers for their guests, but many will see it as an opportunity to profit rather than a perk of the overall experience.

I wish hotels would provide non-free L2 chargers rather than just one or two free ones that are camped all the time and so I can never use them. The non-free resource you can use is much more useful than the free resources that is unusable.

Should have taken advantage of the arbitrage.

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