Electric-vehicle drivers want powering up to be more like the traditional on-the-road experience of gassing up at a convenience store, according to a recent poll.

North Carolina-based EV charging hardware and software provider Gilbarco Veeder-Root surveyed 1,000 EV owners on what they look for in public charging sites. The results reflected ongoing concerns with spotty infrastructure while also showing EV owners want as much convenience and comfort on the road as drivers of gas-powered cars.

Not only do 32% of poll respondents want conveniently located chargers, but 36% said they skip spots with unreliable chargers, while 29% opt for sites with more than one port.

Twenty-minute detours appear to be most EV drivers’ limit to reach charging sites. Twenty-one percent of respondents said they won’t drive as long as 10 minutes out of their way, while 37% wouldn’t go more than 20 minutes and are willing to pay an average price premium of 63% to avoid doing so.

When they do stop to charge, a sizeable share of EV drivers look for many of the kinds of creature comforts that gas-vehicle drivers do, though they’re still willing to drive only so far out of their way to get them, the survey found. 

More than a third – 36% – ranked free Wi-Fi highest on their charging stop list, followed by clean restrooms at 31%, loyalty benefits at 28% and food and drink sales at 27%. Respondents said they’d drive an average 12 minutes out of their way to get all their desires amenities, but almost none – less than 1% – would detour more than 20 minutes.

“This survey makes one thing clear: people don’t just want fast charging, they want fast access to charging,” said Merrick Glass, managing director of Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s Konect EV charging offering. “It’s not solely about charging speed anymore; it’s about where the chargers are, how easy they are to reach, and what the experience feels like when you get there.”

Konect builds and manages EV chargers for convenience stores, which it says are uniquely positioned to meet EV drivers’ demands with more than 148,000 locations within 10 minutes of 90% of U.S. households, citing NACS data. 

“People are treating EV charging more like stopping at a convenience store and less like filling a tank,” Glass said. “They’re calculating time, comfort, and experience, not just price per kilowatt hour.”

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