EV Charging: An Additional Revenue Source
No matter what type of business you run, if visitors park at your location, adding electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment can be a fantastic additional revenue source for your company.
From selling the charging service itself, to promoting additional services, to selling advertising space, there are numerous ways installing an EV charging station can help your business make extra money.
And with sales of EVs expected to be anywhere from 40% to 50% of new vehicles in the United States by 2030, now is the time to invest in EV charging equipment for your business.
Charging as an additional revenue source
Probably the most common way to earn revenue from EV charging equipment installation is to charge drivers for the use of the equipment.
Charging for charging, if you will.
With this method, you can either charge for the power used (per kilowatt hour of electricity) or charge a flat rate for the time spent using the charger (per hour of time).
What price you set will depend on the type of business you run, the price you have to pay for electricity, the type of charging equipment you have, the availability of charging stations in your area, and other factors like the time of day the charger is being used.
Typically, you can charge more for the use of a Direct Current Fast Charger (DCFC) than a Level 2 charger because a DCFC will charge a vehicle quicker. DCFCs are also a significantly higher investment to install, so that is something else you will want to consider.
If your business is in a remote location and you have little competition nearby, you can also use this exclusivity to your advantage when setting your prices.
Customer spending
In addition to charging for the power being used, another bump in revenue may come from drivers spending more money in your business as their vehicles charge. Even the most advanced DCFCs are going to take some time to charge a battery to full (generally around a half-hour), meaning there will be time for drivers to go into your business and potentially spend some money.
This is especially true with electric car owners, as they tend to have more disposable income, on average, than their internal combustion engine (ICE) driving counterparts.
Networks and customer rewards
One of the main advantages of installing EV charging equipment at your business is that your location will be added to the various EV charging databases, like on Google Maps and other services that track where EV chargers are located. Using these location services, drivers can more easily find your charging stations.
Many of the various EV charging networks allow you to have full control over your chargers from a central dashboard. Often, you are able to format your charger pricing in various ways, including providing a specific price for a specific group of people, like members of a frequent shoppers program, for example. Your members can pay a lower rate for charging to encourage repeat business.
If your business serves food, you may consider offering package deals of a meal and a charging session on a DCFC, which would probably take about the same amount of time. If you run a cinema or a parking lot that people use for events or some other type of business where people would likely be parking their vehicles for hours at a time, you may consider packaging vehicle charging with tickets or a service you provide.
Advertising
Some EV charging equipment now comes with the ability to show dynamic ads on them. Some chargers are coming out now with 55-inch LCD screens for maximum impact.
Advertise your own services to your charging customers or sell advertising space to your neighbours so they can entice drivers, too.
Getting help with EV charging installation
Installing EV charging equipment is an investment and the return on that investment is going to be slow to begin with, but it will pick up in the future as more EVs hit the road.
However, you can get help with your investment in the form of federal government tax incentives for EV charging equipment installation, or state-level tax incentives for charging infrastructure installation. There is also the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program for sites that are in alternative fuel corridors.
Whether you take advantage of the federal government’s NEVI program, or you install a charging station and sell advertising on it, installing EV charging infrastructure is a fantastic way to earn revenue from the ongoing EV revolution.
Get started now to be a trailblazer before EV charging stations are everywhere.
