So, you want to install an EV charger at your workplace. You’ve done some research, but you still aren’t sure what’s the best solution for your business.
At CEC Facilities Group, we help you make the right decision. Here’s a checklist to help you get started.
What are your goals?
As with any capital expenditure, matching the right product or service to your objectives is critical. Do you want to attract retail customers? Improve your employees’ access to EV chargers? Transform your fleet, or run a profitable parking business?
- Attracting customers: Retail, entertainment, gas station, fitness, and grocery businesses have successfully grown profits by adding EV chargers. Many choose EV chargers with digital signage to increase advertising income. Target’s recent pilot program with ChargePoint found that EV chargers spend more than three times longer in the store and spent $1 more per minute than traditional shoppers. For these groups, a single row of dedicated chargers – with room for future expansion – might be the best decision.
- Workforce management: EV drivers have range anxiety. No one wants to run out of gas, figuratively or literally. Suppose your business is too far from a charger. That could discourage applicants – or convince current high-impact employees to find new work. Many companies install these chargers to provide an additional perk to their workforce. Since most employees will be charging while working, several middle-grade chargers should suffice.
- Fleet transformation: Frito-Lay is rolling out a 40-vehicle EV pilot program in the next few years. Like the food giant, you’ll need multiple, high-speed chargers to get your fleet rolling again. That will include a significant construction cost but will provide the best speed.
- Parking lot: In crowded downtowns, parking is already at a premium. Convenient payment and priority charging can vastly improve your income over traditional parking spaces. Best of all, if no one is using the EV charger, that space is available for gas-powered vehicles.
Choose EV charger types
Tier III chargers, sometimes called DC Fast Chargers or DCFC, are great solutions for fleets, but may be too expensive for retail or office locations.
In gas-powered vehicles, you typically choose from regular, mid-grade, and premium gasoline. EV chargers have three levels as well, but the EV designations refer to the speed of transfer instead of the quality of the gas.
Parking duration is a significant factor in these decisions. A full charge may take between 30 minutes and 10 hours, depending on the charger level. Consider the end users’ needs when choosing EV chargers.
- Level I (120 volts): These are commonly used in households and long-term parking centers. They typically add 4 miles per hour to your car’s range. With lower upkeep and maintenance costs, Level I chargers are the best fit for hybrid electric vehicles, which have a small battery alongside a combustion engine. Long-term parking companies often select this tier. So do frugal companies where employees are working a full shift.
- Level II (240 volts): Easily the most common charger, these can add around 40 miles of travel distance per hour. The box can be placed on a wall or pedestal, but will require dedicated infrastructure to power the charger row. The installation is more expensive than Level I, but the charging speed is often worth the exchange. This is best for consumer-facing businesses and employees parked for 4 hours.
- Level III (DC charging 400-900 volts): Often labeled the fast charger tier, these chargers use direct current to charge at 10 miles per minute, but speeds vary widely. They require high-voltage training to install and maintain, which may require an upgrade to your utility-provided service. This is the top of the line for customers or businesses that will pay a premium for charging.
- Note: Some brands claim to have “Level IV” chargers, but they are simply Level III chargers at the higher end of the spectrum. Also, modern cars limit how much electricity is accepted, so there’s little risk of overheating or fire.
Who can use your chargers?
Chargers come with built-in access panels. Will your charger be in a secure, employee-only area or part of a shared lot with other businesses? Are they open to the public or just your employees? Will you expect payment, give employees an account, or have a third-party app manage its access?
In all cases, the signal connection type is essential. While operational systems are hard-coded into the physical unit, any measurement or transaction must occur over cellular or Wi-Fi connections. Most chargers have both systems built-in, but some do not. Cellular-only devices must be in range of a cellular system. Wi-Fi signals must also be within Wi-Fi range, which could mean an additional expense to bring a Wi-Fi signal from the building to the parking lot. A dedicated installer like CEC can help you determine the need for this.
Most chargers have a way to restrict usage. Some companies supply an app account for their employees, a QR code, or a password to activate the machine. For public charging, drivers can use an app to connect to your device and reserve it for a specific time and transfer speed.
Location design
Do you want to allow one customer to pay for priority charging? Or should everyone have the same charging rate?
Carrying over from the last point, throttling is only necessary if you have shared infrastructure between chargers. For most commercial applications, a dedicated feed per charger is the best solution as it doesn’t split the charge among multiple chargers. This increases the construction cost but typically is worth the investment. Sharing a single ring between three or more chargers can drop your charging speed down a level.
If you decide to daisy-chain the connection between chargers, you can choose to prioritize one charger over another. Some customers may pay extra for this privilege, but know that every premium payment could create one or more unhappy, throttled customers.
CEC Facilities Group can help you walk through your electric vehicle charger installation and choose an EV charger that’s right for you.