4 min. read
Our Expert Insights series brings you real-world perspectives from our Commercial Markets experts on navigating energy upgrade and transition decisions.
In this video, Chris Kaiser, Director of Sales, EV Service Infrastructure (EVSI), Commercial Markets, dives into public EV charging sites, including what makes a good location, why charge point operators should focus on utilization, and more.
Watch the full video or read the transcript below.
Q: What is the difference between public and private EV charging?
CK: My name is Chris Kaiser, and I’m Director of Sales for EV Service Infrastructure at SitelogIQ.
Public fast charging is any fast charger that’s open to the public. It’s typically any charger that’s available for purchase by an EV driver who wants to use it, whereas private charging, or it’s often referred to as behind the fence charging [that] is reserved for specific members of an apartment community or a specific fleet or employees of a company that own the chargers.
Q: What is a site host and what are their responsibilities?
CK: In EV charging, a site host is someone who owns the land that EV chargers sit on. They could own the chargers as well, or they can rent the property to a company that wants to own the chargers themselves. Those companies are often referred to as charge point operators or CPOs.
Site host is the one who owns the land. They often will maintain the parking lot and they will also often provide amenities that EV drivers can utilize while they are charging at the chargers.
Q: What are the core characteristics of a strong public fast EV charging site?
CK: A good location for installing public EV charging infrastructure for site hosts is one that has amenities that are appealing to the EV drivers that the site host is targeting.
If you’re a rest stop on the side of a highway and you have bathrooms and convenience store, that’s going to attract drivers who are on a road trip.
If you’re in an urban area and you’re a grocery store or a quick service restaurant, you’re looking for maybe not those on road trips, but people going about their daily lives. Maybe they’re a rideshare driver or they live in a condo or apartment nearby without EV charging, so you want to provide the amenity on site that’s going to appeal to EV drivers who need to stop and charge their vehicle during the day.
Q: Why should public EV charging site hosts focus on utilization?
CK: The most important thing site hosts or charge point operators need to consider when deciding if a property is right for EV charging infrastructure, especially public fast charging, is utilization.
Fast chargers need to be utilized to get a return on the investment. The way utility electrical prices work, you can have a low utilization and extremely high electrical price. So if you have a low utilization on a site, your utility cost could actually be higher than the revenue that the site generates, which is going to result in an operational loss. Nobody wants that.
You need utilization to overcome some of the fixed costs on the utility portion of the bill.
Q: What is a mistake you wish site hosts would avoid when considering public EV charging?
CK: Utilities will often have defined EV charging rates for public fast charging. And so one of the first things I advise when an organization I’m working with wants to install chargers is engaging with utility, both to see if there’s any incentives to see what the process is for installing new electrical infrastructure, but also understanding the rate structure.
There are many utilities across the country where the EV charging rate might actually be higher than what CPOs are able to charge for utilization of those chargers. So it can be very complex. And if you’re not engaged with an expert, it is very possible to lose money from day one operating EV chargers.
Q: How can SitelogIQ help with the planning and installation of public EV chargers?
CK: SitelogIQ can help our customers engage with utilities because we are working with the same utilities day in, day out on energy infrastructure projects. We know what incentives are available, what the process looks like for adding infrastructure, and what the EV charging rates are going to be to help our customers understand the full cost impacts of installing infrastructure on their property.
SitelogIQ is happy to take all this on for the customer and help them understand what that process looks like.
SitelogIQ is your one-stop partner for energy efficiency, renewable, and electrification solutions. We handle all project steps, from design and installation, through incentive management. Let’s see if your properties would make good sites for public EV charging.