6 Steps for Implementing a Successful EV Charging Strategy

Due to an ever-increasing demand for electric vehicles (EV), the business case for installing EV charging equipment has become much more convincing for property owners and developers of all sizes, some of whom may have already invested a significant amount of money into EV chargers. But over the last 10 years, the approach to implementing EV charging infrastructure has evolved considerably.

In the early days, the approach for many owners was simply to install Level 2 charging stations in a handful of their property’s parking spaces. This is what we now refer to as the first phase of deployment. At the time, EV charging rollouts were decentralized and often delegated to individual property managers without any clear strategy. It was not uncommon for property managers to call up their local contractor to pull random electrical feeds from one or multiple existing panels in a scramble to find the required power for new charging stations. But that has left property managers today saddled with the unfortunate task of managing a hodgepodge of different solutions implemented throughout a commercial real estate portfolio.

That’s why it is crucial to adopt a strategic approach across a portfolio of properties and implement a thoughtful EV charging solution for each building to avoid expensive mistakes and future hassles. There is no “one size fits all” solution. With multiple EV charging service providers currently operating and a multitude of new vendors entering the market, choosing the best solution for your portfolio (usually a combination of vendors) can be daunting. Hiring a vendor-agnostic consultant can be helpful.

With the current shift toward a decentralized energy supply-chain for transportation, property owners should understand that their land is the most valuable asset for new retail EV charging service providers. Once a property owner understands this new reality, they can begin the process of ensuring that their EV charging infrastructure is well-planned, well-built and future-proofed for maximum return on investment (ROI).

Following these 6 steps will help ensure the success of your EV charging strategy:

• Research EV adoption in your area.
• Assess whether the project requires Level 2 and/or Level 3 charging stations.
• Evaluate the pros and cons of retaining ownership of your EV charging infrastructure.
• Calculate the benefits of available carbon credit programs.
• Consider available government rebates.
• Future-proof your site by procuring certified Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) charging equipment.

This step of the evaluation process can seem obvious, but it’s often overlooked. EV adoption is clearly increasing in all markets, but at a very different pace from one market to the next. Some markets are more mature than others, meaning a greater EV adoption rate and therefore better ROI. But it also means that competitors may already have an established market presence, so it’s important to consider local EV adoption trends prior to investing in EV charging infrastructure on your property.

If a landlord is looking for a short-term ROI in a low adoption area, waiting a couple of years may be a good idea. However, being the first provider in a particular area, taking advantage of government programs while they’re available and having a longer-term outlook is also worth considering. In any case, no matter what your timeline is, EV charging stations almost always make a great investment that will pay off in the long run.

Determining which type of charging infrastructure is best for each site in a portfolio is essential prior to starting any deployment. Most multifamily and mixed-use properties are better suited to slower, Level 2 chargers that provide a welcome top-up for EV drivers. On the other hand, larger properties located close to major roads, highways and high-density areas are much better locations for Level 3, Direct Current Fast Chargers (DCFC) that fully charge vehicles within 15 to 30 minutes.

There are many business models for providing EV charging services. Many companies will approach landlords with an appealing offer to install charging stations for free in exchange for the right to land access (i.e., parking stalls) for 15 years. Despite the attractiveness of having zero up-front costs, those agreements often come with very stringent clauses that can put restrictions on the property owner, such as preventing them from installing their own charging units in the future. It’s also possible that the charging service provider might max out the available electricity load within a neighbourhood, leaving the property owner with the significant cost of upgrading their on-site electrical infrastructure or worse, the local utility sub-station, which can incur costs in the millions.

And while some of these agreements do include a monthly fee paid to the landlord every month for use of their parking stall, the profit-sharing clause is usually only calculated based on the revenues from the charging stations themselves, not those from carbon credits or government rebates that help pay for the initial deployment of the infrastructure. This can sometimes leave site owners with very little hope of getting a profit-sharing payment at all.

Presently, there is a great business case to be made for all EV charging sites, especially if the property is in a jurisdiction with a carbon credit program (see below). For a property owner that retains ownership of their EV charging infrastructure, it can be possible to generate a two- to three-year ROI in some cases. Owners should understand the clauses of a contract before giving up rights to the property and potentially passing on great revenue-generating potential.

There are multiple carbon credit programs in North America. For example, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is a legislated program voted on by governments in Washington, Oregon and California in the United States and British Columbia in Canada. LCFS programs are all very similar in that the carbon credits generated from EV charging stations can be directly monetized.

Another carbon credit program is the Clean Fuel Standard (CFR), a nationwide regulation managed by the Canadian government. The CFR is the only program in which carbon credits go to the charging network provider and where the proceeds from selling carbon credits must be reinvested into future EV charging projects, making it a boon to the EV charging industry and to the uptake of EVs.

Unfortunately, due to a grey area in the CFR regulation, even if a property owner pays the initial costs to retain ownership of the charging infrastructure, the carbon credits often still go to the network provider that operates the chargers. Companies like LeadingAhead Energy and others are currently fighting to ensure that whoever invests in the charging infrastructure gets the credits, instead of them going to the network provider by default.

There are several different government rebate programs at the federal and provincial/state level, such as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program in the United States and the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP) and Canadian Infrastructure Bank (CIB) in Canada.

These programs offer direct reimbursement of installation costs upon completion of the project, and some of the rebates can be combined for bigger projects. Accessing these programs can have a major impact on the anticipated ROI for your EV charging implementation, so it’s worth taking the time to research and apply to those for which your project is eligible.

There are an array of ways in which property owners can endeavor to future-proof their site, from installing wheelchair-accessible charging stations to promoting cost-saving features such as no-pour bases, extra conduits and supplemental power supply. These save a property owner time and money while also improving efficiency and user experience.

Another way to ensure your site is future-proofed is to install a true Open Charging Point Protocol (OCPP) system. Unlike a proprietary system that locks landlords into using only a given provider’s hardware and software, OCPP allows any network to connect with any charging hardware, thereby allowing the site owner to mix and match different brands of hardware and software. We recommend consulting the Open Charge Alliance web page to ensure a provider is certified in full.