I don't understand why its inevitable that big energy will dominate. There's nothing particularly global about our electricity supply that requires it to be as dominated by oligopoly the way that Gasoline and Crude Oil could be.

I do expect that the future looks a lot more like C-Stores with charging stations than some of the current stations though. A lot of new Tesla installs are going in at gas stations, but they are the newer stations (Sheetz, Wawa, Parkers) rather than stations owned directly by oil companies.

I'm not sure what's regressive and inconvenient about a shopping mall. Most have food courts, and tbh, I think the ideal charge stop would be one near a food hall.