Making Money with EV Charging in Multi-Family Buildings

Building owners and developers facing EV Charger installation requirements now have many options to monetize these units at a higher rate than previously thought. Apartment buildings with the right demographics will have a better likelihood of a robust ROI with a payback between 3 and 8 years. The monthly income from each charger will vary from about $500 to $1500 depending on the level of EV adoption in your building. The return on capital will continue to grow as EV adoption grows.

EV charging management as the solution

The key to returns from charging is to use the appropriate charger in the right location. If a property doesn’t have electric vehicles and your chargers don’t have a point of sale system for billing customers, you will not make money. Where are the places to make money in car charging? What are the systems that can track usage and charge customers?

From the view at 30,000 feet, the best places to make money by providing chargers are in the states with the most electric vehicles. The top 10 rank as follows: California, New York, Washington, Florida, Texas, New jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado, Oregon, and Illinois. Within those states the largest cities will be the ones with the most electric vehicles.

Early adopters mostly reside in dense urban areas. Early adopters are also the ones who can afford the more expensive electric vehicles. They will reside primarily in high end apartment buildings and are most likely charging at work right now. They want the convenience of charging at home!

Initially properties may only need 5 chargers or less. Dedicated circuits may be available on the house panel for the initial installation. The problem comes when you want to install more beyond what the house panel has capacity for. You will want to be prepared for this.

Some properties have already made expensive capacity upgrades by bringing in more electricity from the street. This involves contacting your electrician and local utility, determining if there is enough capacity in the area, estimating the cost for both your electrician and the utility build out, the permitting process, long lead times from the utility and resident disruptions. There is a better and cheaper way however.

EV charging technology has advanced significantly

Not all vehicles have to charge every day and not every vehicle needs a dedicated charger. Technology has advanced significantly in the past few years and has brought new capabilities with load management.

Load management allows for power sharing between the apartment units and creates more capacity for car charging. In many cases you may never have to bring in additional power from the utility. Load management also allows the vehicles to make more effective use of the chargers. Vehicles charging can be staggered and or pre-planned to avoid spikes in usage and demand charges, especially in the evening.

EV charging management point of sale

In addition to load management, many of these systems have integrated point of sale; drivers interact directly with the charger at the time of their charge, and payment for electricity and/or time used is collected at the end of a charging session, then forwarded to the system owner. In this way, EV charging can be monetized and marketed as a unique amenity, while increasing the value of a project.

If you would like to learn more or want an evaluation of your property please visit Leading Charge, and we can help you make your property a profitable fueling station of the future.