I never used a charging station that cost money, but I believe some may. Our gym has a charging station that was free to use. They had spots dedicated for electric vehicles. I could go to the gym for 2 hours and my car would be fully charged when I came out. Our local Wholefoods had charging stations that were free and easy to use as well. You just park and plug in your vehicle. I never used that station because there were always electric vehicles using the chargers when I went. For the gym, I was able to use the charging station for free. You needed to be a member of Chargepoint to use the station. I downloaded the app on my iPhone 5S and started an account. It was pretty easy. If you don't own a smart phone, no worries... you can sign up online and they send you a little card you can swipe whenever you use a charging machine. It takes a week or two to get the card. You connect your credit card to your account so you can easily pay if you are at a station that charges. The app is convenient because you can search for local charging stations and it will show which are free and which cost money. It will also show if someone is using the spot. When you're inside the store or gym, you can check the app to see if your car has fully charged yet. If you don't have your card, you can click the charge button on the app and it will release the plug for you to charge your car. It's very simple once you know how to use the machine. My major complaint is people parking in those spots who didn't own electric vehicles. This was predominantly an issue in areas where no other parking was available and there wasn't anyone patrolling the parking lot.