Fast Charging profitability

[Riviot]

I just finished my final project for a grad class and used this article as a reference, it's a pretty good read on how to get DCFC to profitability and off subsidies. It's only a few months old but used a lot of 2022 data that seems really outdated already with owner operators already increasing rates beyond their suggestions.

Enjoy!

https://www.mckinsey.com/features/m...g-stations-be-profitable-in-the-united-states

Sponsored

 

[SANZC02]

I just finished my final project for a grad class and used this article as a reference, it's a pretty good read on how to get DCFC to profitability and off subsidies. It's only a few months old but used a lot of 2022 data that seems really outdated already with owner operators already increasing rates beyond their suggestions.

Enjoy!

https://www.mckinsey.com/features/m...g-stations-be-profitable-in-the-united-states

Thanks for sharing, I was surprised, especially living in SoCal and seeing how crowded stations are here, that the national average utilization for 2022 was only about 7.5%. That is less than 2 hours of use for a Charger per day.

 

[Supratachophobia]

Thanks for sharing, I was surprised, especially living in SoCal and seeing how crowded stations are here, that the national average utilization for 2022 was only about 7.5%. That is less than 2 hours of use for a Charger per day.

That's super interesting. The demand charges alone are thousands per month. That's just not enough use to break even on those, let alone turn a profit.

 

[Riviot]

Thanks for sharing, I was surprised, especially living in SoCal and seeing how crowded stations are here, that the national average utilization for 2022 was only about 7.5%. That is less than 2 hours of use for a Charger per day.

Right?! 4 25 minute charges a day. There must be some real quiet ones out there bringing averages down.

 

[COdogman]

Thanks for sharing the article you plagiarized for your project!

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Great read. Sounds like some stations are already profitable by these metrics, or will be after the initial capital costs are recovered.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Thanks for sharing the article you plagiarized for your project!

Hey now, plagiarism is good enough to become the president of Harvard.

 

[Riviot]

Thanks for sharing the article you plagiarized for your project!

The best part is I found this AFTER doing most of the quantitative analysis and came to the same conclusions on necessary utilization rate increase (33%) at similar price rates. I thought, "GREAT, he's gonna call bull on my research. "

 

[COdogman]

The best part is I found this AFTER doing most of the quantitative analysis and came to the same conclusions on necessary utilization rate increase (33%) at similar price rates. I thought, "GREAT, he's gonna call bull on my research. "

WE know you would never do that. Tell him to contact me if you need a reference.

 

[W1SE]

We just went from Portland to Boise and back on Friday and Saturday. We had 5 chargers during the trip we were usually the only ones there except for 2 stations that had only one other vehicle. Partly I think because there are now 3 more stations on this route that didn’t exist 5 months ago including a RAN. So yes I believe the utilization rate could be accurate. A network should hypothetically have to build an infrastructure to handle the busiest times. (Holidays and such)

 

[zefram47]

Even some indie charger operators are profitable already. The key, which I assume the article mentions, is limiting the impact of demand charges via on-site battery storage or other means.

 

[Riviot]

Even some indie charger operators are profitable already. The key, which I assume the article mentions, is limiting the impact of demand charges via on-site battery storage or other means.

It does, but not specifically with storage. It mentions one way to profitability is to half demand charge costs.

It's wild to see the differences in commercial and industrial rates by the different regions. California? >$.30. Puget Sound Energy? $.085

 

[buffaloNYR1T]

Interesting read. Did you for your grad project think about how the partnering of certain business segments with fast charging might accelerate or decelerate that path to profitability?

 

[azbill]

Right?! 4 25 minute charges a day. There must be some real quiet ones out there bringing averages down.

All the broken ones bring down the average since they are 0 per day.

 

[Riviot]

Interesting read. Did you for your grad project think about how the partnering of certain business segments with fast charging might accelerate or decelerate that path to profitability?

I did not, but the article covers ancillary fees. They'd need $1k per EVSE per month. That's a lot of flaming hot Cheetos!

I covered revenue rates, basically dollars per minute by each manufacturer. kW charging rates need to be weighed by failures and $/kWh rates as those change based on memberships.

Sponsored