On November 10, 1942, Winston Churchill famously stated: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
I believe this is where we are today with the infamous EV mandate (NEVI).
"Effective immediately, no new obligations may occur under the NEVI Formula Program until the updated final NEVI Formula Program Guidance is issued and new state plans are submitted and approved," stated FHWA in its letter on February 6.
Regardless of how different affected parties feel about this, the agencies that deeply care about the future of c-store and truck stop industry, like NATSO and SIGMA, report that “…NEVI has been implemented poorly, with chargers either still not built or, if they are, they're in places nobody wants to stop.” This is despite billions of dollars spent somewhere with the task of getting EV chargers within easy reach of all American drivers.
While the legal battle is gathering and the final decision on this important matter is still in the future, the word of the wise is: “Investing money makes sense only if you can reliably expect a solid return on your investment”. In other words, you’re better off financially if you trust capitalism rather than the government.
So, what should the industry do about this roller-coaster of politically motivated contradictory decrees? Just like with any other decision about money, we should see what our customers want, and satisfy the real, existing, persisting need.
KYC – Know Your Customer – is an old concept that should never be out of fashion. Yes, it requires a lot of historical traffic data & demographic data collection and analysis, and not every company can afford keeping a bunch of highly paid data analysts on its payroll.
But fortunately, there’s Ticon. And in Ticon, we believe in facts and work with data.
Don’t get this wrong: we are all for progress. But we are also for common sense and for objective understanding of human nature. Thus, we suggest that if you plan on implementing a new technology, or even a new consumer product, in your convenience store or truck stop, we’ll be happy to assist you with thorough demographic analysis and accurate historical traffic data of the extended trade area – which, in our opinion, also applies to choosing optimal locations for EV charging stations business.
You can contact us online at https://csite.ticon.co/ or schedule a conversation with our experts using this Calendly link.
We are open.
