Has anyone sponsored a public charging station on your property?

[RollerCoast]

I own a small business in an absolute charger desert. We don’t have any reputable public chargers within a 5 county radius. So I’m exploring my options of building a public charging station in my parking lot, but I know absolutely zero about the topic. Has anyone done this? Is it even possible?

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[svet-am]

This is a great idea. I don't have a business but I would be willing to help sponsor public charging in the north metro of Denver

 

[domoplaytime]

Companies like ChargePoint offer hardware and services for setting up a public, private or fleet-oriented charging station. I believe you can also become a reseller to make revenue (or break even) from users of your station, and ChargePoint facilitates payment transactions, listing your unit publicly online, etc. Check out: https://www.chargepoint.com/products/commercial

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Do you want the chargers to be L2 or DCFC? Do you want them to be free or charge users?

If you want to offer free L2, then you can buy any number of off-the-shelf EVSEs and any electrician can set them up. Clipper Creek seems to be the most common brand I see in this arrangement, but any brand should work.

If you want to charge or want DCFC then it's probably best to find a partner like ChargePoint.

 

[RollerCoast]

I don’t need to make any money on it, but I also don’t really want to subsidize free charging. So I guess I’d be looking for a way to merely pass the utility costs onto the end user while letting them use the hardware for free. So ChargePoint is probably the way to go here. Thanks guys!!

 

[Ralph]

Are there tax incentives available?

 

[Dark-Fx]

It's important to understand who might be charging there. In a real charging desert, if there aren't any useful businesses near you, people will not use a Level 2 slow charger. If there are places they could spend a few hours, then they might use it. If it's a DC fast charger, amenities don't really matter as much.

Since you're near cedar point, there could be a lot of people that pass through, but unless it's an overnight stay, I would personally not bother stopping at a level 2 station.

 

[manitou202]

I helped my small town get a state level grant to provide $100k in funding for two 62.5kW chargers. Our local utility also provided some funding.

I would check your state to see if they have grant money, and maybe even approach your city and offer “free land” for public chargers if they would help with funding.

 

[manitou202]

Are there tax incentives available?

I believe businesses can deduct 30% of the cost up to $30k at the federal level.

Here is a link to the tax credit.
https://www.chargepoint.com/incentives/federal-charging-incentives

 

[Joints4Sale]

I think @OutofSpecKyle is working on putting DC fast charging at his office. He might be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[Ralph]

I believe businesses can deduct 30% of the cost up to $30k at the federal level.

Here is a link to the tax credit.
https://www.chargepoint.com/incentives/federal-charging-incentives

The OP's state (Ohio?) may also provide some incentives; in addition to administrating the federal funds.

 

[PNWR1T]

I helped my small town get a state level grant to provide $100k in funding for two 62.5kW chargers. Our local utility also provided some funding.

I would check your state to see if they have grant money, and maybe even approach your city and offer “free land” for public chargers if they would help with funding.

@manitou202 Would you be up for sharing how you helped your town apply? I'd love to hear the story and the problems you ran into along the way.

 

[a76marine]

I own a small business in an absolute charger desert. We don’t have any reputable public chargers within a 5 county radius. So I’m exploring my options of building a public charging station in my parking lot, but I know absolutely zero about the topic. Has anyone done this? Is it even possible?

I have recently done the project of an install for Level II charging at three locations for my large corporation. There are several things you need to think about, but off the top of my head these are what I can remember:

1. Brand of the Charger - Blink, Chargepoint, Juicebar, etc all have some pros and cons
   1. We went with Chargepoint because they were already an approved vendor in my corporation
   2. Blink had a VERY interesting play in that they will cover the cost of the charger and installation and you let them control the cost of charging. It's a complete turnkey solution with no up-front costs!
2. Cost of the Charger - The charger itself, and some of the electrical line materials, etc are a capital expense and can be depreciated over time. The cost of installation, etc is not.
3. Cost of Charging - If not using the Blink solution, you will be able to select the charging costs, idle costs, etc.
4. Distance from Building - The question of whether you put chargers up front by the handicap spaces, or in the back of the parking lot, is often determined by the cost of running electrical line farther distances from the building. It adds up quickly.

These are all I can think of off the top of my head. I really loved the Blink solution and would have loved to have gone that route if we didn't have to use the already approved vendor.

 

[manitou202]

@manitou202 Would you be up for sharing how you helped your town apply? I'd love to hear the story and the problems you ran into along the way.

My mother-in-law and I had the idea to approach our city about installing DC fast chargers. She knew a member of city council, and had prior experience grant writing. I knew all of the technical details of charging, and all about the EV experience.

I pulled together a presentation that covered several topics. An overview of modern EVs, and some data about the growth projections. I provided examples of what EVs owners look for when charging (tourist angle) and how many local residents without off street parking would rely on public charging to make an EV work. Then finished with the differences between level 2/3 charging.

We first met with the city council member who recommended we speak with the city engineer, and city manager. I gave my presentation to that group and they were pretty interested. I volunteered to reach out to several charging vendors (ChargePoint, EVgo, etc) and get some quotes and more details. We ended up bringing in a rep from ChargePoint and walked through details and several possible locations. Finally our city engineer talked to the local utility about the transformers needed and the hookup.

After putting together the numbers, we needed to go before city council to get approval for matching funds in order to apply for the grant. So I booked a slot and gave a 20 minute presentation to council. They voted unanimously on the spot to approve funding for two Level 3 chargers.

My mother-in-law and I worked with the city engineer and manager to complete the grant application and applied in January. ChargePoint actually provided an example grant application which was really helpful for using as a reference. Colorado also provided an EV Coach, who are volunteers from the state to help connect cities or businesses with the proper people and provide recommendations on the grant. We received approval of the grant funds in March ($100k for two chargers). The only disappointment now is the transformers required to be installed by our local utility are 9-12 months out. So it will probably be some time in 2023 before they go in. We still need to open the chargers to bidding from at least three vendors, but this will happen once the transformers have a delivery date. Most likely ChargePoint will win the bid to be honest. They have been really great to work with even though I was hoping for something larger than 62.5kW chargers.

Outside of the level 3 charger grant we have been working with the city to change local codes to require new homes to install a 50amp 14-50 oulet in the garage, and any hotel (we have lots going up in the area) to provide a minimum number of level 2 chargers based on their occupancy. Next on my agenda is to work with our Police department and City to purchase an electric police cruiser and work trucks.

 

[Kenmecca]

My mother-in-law and I had the idea to approach our city about installing DC fast chargers. She knew a member of city council, and had prior experience grant writing. I knew all of the technical details of charging, and all about the EV experience.

I pulled together a presentation that covered several topics. An overview of modern EVs, and some data about the growth projections. I provided examples of what EVs owners look for when charging (tourist angle) and how many local residents without off street parking would rely on public charging to make an EV work. Then finished with the differences between level 2/3 charging.

We first met with the city council member who recommended we speak with the city engineer, and city manager. I gave my presentation to that group and they were pretty interested. I volunteered to reach out to several charging vendors (ChargePoint, EVgo, etc) and get some quotes and more details. We ended up bringing in a rep from ChargePoint and walked through details and several possible locations. Finally our city engineer talked to the local utility about the transformers needed and the hookup.

After putting together the numbers, we needed to go before city council to get approval for matching funds in order to apply for the grant. So I booked a slot and gave a 20 minute presentation to council. They voted unanimously on the spot to approve funding for two Level 3 chargers.

My mother-in-law and I worked with the city engineer and manager to complete the grant application and applied in January. ChargePoint actually provided an example grant application which was really helpful for using as a reference. Colorado also provided an EV Coach, who are volunteers from the state to help connect cities or businesses with the proper people and provide recommendations on the grant. We received approval of the grant funds in March ($100k for two chargers). The only disappointment now is the transformers required to be installed by our local utility are 9-12 months out. So it will probably be some time in 2023 before they go in. We still need to open the chargers to bidding from at least three vendors, but this will happen once the transformers have a delivery date. Most likely ChargePoint will win the bid to be honest. They have been really great to work with even though I was hoping for something larger than 62.5kW chargers.

Outside of the level 3 charger grant we have been working with the city to change local codes to require new homes to install a 50amp 14-50 oulet in the garage, and any hotel (we have lots going up in the area) to provide a minimum number of level 2 chargers based on their occupancy. Next on my agenda is to work with our Police department and City to purchase an electric police cruiser and work trucks.

You've proved that instead of complaining about not enough chargers you and mom are going out and making a difference- Cheers to you!

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