For most people, the biggest objection to purchasing an all-electric vehicle, those without any gasoline back-up engine, is uncertainty about the availability of recharging stations. Sure you can plug them in at home, but many of these cars have limited ranges and if you're planning to travel more than a couple hundred miles, you're going to need to find a place to plug in.
Ideally, businesses would offer charging stations in their parking lots and I predict that when a certain critical mass of electric vehicles is on the road, this will happen. If you drive to the grocery store or a movie theater, for example, you'll be able to plug in and recharge while you're inside shopping for 45 minutes or watching a 90 minute movie. These charging stations may work a bit like parking meters in that you'll have to cover the cost of the electricity you're using by dropping a few quarters in the slot or swiping your debit card, but you'd be paying for the electricity anyway if you were recharging at home.
In fact, we're seeing the very early stages of this already. The Corvallis Gazette Times reported that two First Alternative Natural Co-op food stores in Corvallis, Oregon, should have electric car charging stations in operation by August 14th. Each store will have two stations available for customers with electric vehicles. A company spokesman said the co-ops will pay less than $2 for each charge and will cover that cost for their customers who sign up for a special key card to activate the charging stations.
While some businesses may decide to provide the service free of charge, we'll more likely see solutions like the one being installed in the Tampa Bay, Florida area this year. The St. Petersburg Times says that 100-200 municipal charging stations are planned for this year. For these stations, however, drivers wishing to completely charge their electric vehicles will pay $5-10 for 3-4 hours of charging time. When you consider the cost of topping off a gas tank, that's not much to ask.
Of course, from a business model perspective, one of the most likely candidates to install reasonably-priced for-profit charging stations is parking garages which might initially have a small section dedicated to electric vehicles which would pay a few dollars more for the convenience of recharging. In order for this to make sense, however, there have to be enough electric vehicles on the road to provide a return for the initial installation costs for these recharging systems which can run more than $15,000 each including installation charges. Some of this cost, however, may be offset by federal government grants and tax credits available, especially for municipalities installing electric vehicle charging stations for public use.