A common thing companies seem to be doing with new EVs has been to give free fast charging credits on one network or another along with the purchase of a new vehicle.
Please Scout, don't do this!
As a long time EV driver I have some insight as to why this is a terrible practice that should be stopped. What companies should do instead is give credit towards a home level 2 charger or Scout merch (if someone already has a level 2 charger).
Giving away fast charger credits inevitably leads to a bad EV experience. Firstly, the need for DC fast charging for most EV drivers is pretty rare, usually only a handful of time per year when they go on road trips so giving away fast charge credits isn't super useful to most people. The vast majority of charging is done at home on a level 2 charger and is a far superior experience, especially for new EV owners. They can wake up every day with a "full tank", it usually costs almost nothing in electricity, is super convenient, and overall makes owning an EV generally awesome.
Second, free fast charge credits promotes abuse of fast chargers. There have been many times where I rock up to a fast charger only to find some Porsche or ID4 owner sitting there charging to 100% "because it's free" even though they live locally to the charger. It makes it a bad experience for other EV drivers.
Another issue is that because fast chargers are owned by a third party, the experience can be a crapshoot especially for those new to EVs. Tesla gets away with giving out fast charging credits because it owns the charging network and infrastructure and has made the experience pretty foolproof. But other car makers including Scout must rely on third party public charging companies and most non-Tesla charging companies have a pretty inconsistent experience, espeically if the car company in question partnered with one of the less reliable networks like Electrify America. Having a new EV owner roll up to a local fast charger "because charging will be free" only to find one or more of the few stalls out of service and the others busy with people doing actual long distance trips isn't exactly the best experience for someone new to EVs.
Fast chargers are for long distance travel and it's no secret that charging infrastructure has quite a bit of room for improvement. Promoting abuse of those chargers to new EV owners won't help those owners have a great experience. At best it will be an "okay, cool. That's how fast chargers work."-type experiece. At worst it can have them so frustrated they tell their friends not to buy the product.
A must more productive and useful experience is to help them get a home charger installed. Make it super easy like Ford is currently doing with its charger. And for those who already have an EV charger (like me) maybe offer a similar value gift card for Scout aftermarket equipement or something.
Those are just my thoughts.
Please Scout, don't do this!
As a long time EV driver I have some insight as to why this is a terrible practice that should be stopped. What companies should do instead is give credit towards a home level 2 charger or Scout merch (if someone already has a level 2 charger).
Giving away fast charger credits inevitably leads to a bad EV experience. Firstly, the need for DC fast charging for most EV drivers is pretty rare, usually only a handful of time per year when they go on road trips so giving away fast charge credits isn't super useful to most people. The vast majority of charging is done at home on a level 2 charger and is a far superior experience, especially for new EV owners. They can wake up every day with a "full tank", it usually costs almost nothing in electricity, is super convenient, and overall makes owning an EV generally awesome.
Second, free fast charge credits promotes abuse of fast chargers. There have been many times where I rock up to a fast charger only to find some Porsche or ID4 owner sitting there charging to 100% "because it's free" even though they live locally to the charger. It makes it a bad experience for other EV drivers.
Another issue is that because fast chargers are owned by a third party, the experience can be a crapshoot especially for those new to EVs. Tesla gets away with giving out fast charging credits because it owns the charging network and infrastructure and has made the experience pretty foolproof. But other car makers including Scout must rely on third party public charging companies and most non-Tesla charging companies have a pretty inconsistent experience, espeically if the car company in question partnered with one of the less reliable networks like Electrify America. Having a new EV owner roll up to a local fast charger "because charging will be free" only to find one or more of the few stalls out of service and the others busy with people doing actual long distance trips isn't exactly the best experience for someone new to EVs.
Fast chargers are for long distance travel and it's no secret that charging infrastructure has quite a bit of room for improvement. Promoting abuse of those chargers to new EV owners won't help those owners have a great experience. At best it will be an "okay, cool. That's how fast chargers work."-type experiece. At worst it can have them so frustrated they tell their friends not to buy the product.
A must more productive and useful experience is to help them get a home charger installed. Make it super easy like Ford is currently doing with its charger. And for those who already have an EV charger (like me) maybe offer a similar value gift card for Scout aftermarket equipement or something.
Those are just my thoughts.
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