Electric vehicles (EVs) have become the standard vehicle to own, and to lease, and any commercial property without EV charging capability looks outdated. Landlords, businesses that want to offer charging to employees, and retail and hospitality businesses that have customers that expect charging availability all find it makes good business sense to install EV chargers. The commercial property market is becoming EV charge intensive, so the only question is how
Installation of chargers is more than just putting in the necessary EV charging infrastructure. It requires strategic decisions on how many chargers, what kind of chargers, and where to install them, in order to avoid
Why Charging is Needed in Commercial Properties
Office buildings and business parks have staff EV charging capabilities that are expected as a basic service. EV employees have to charge, so businesses that offer it are at a market advantage. Commercial prop- ertainly need to offer charging infrastructure if they expect to capture the EV employees.
Retail and hospitality businesses see charging differently. Customers who stop to charge typically spend 20-30 minutes at a location. That is time they might spend at your shop, cafe, or restaurant. Some businesses view charging as a revenue opportunity in itself, while others use it as a competitive advantage to entice customer visits and longer stays.
In multi-unit commercial properties where tenants own and control their own dedicated parking spaces, there is a legal need to install one charging point per parking space for each space that could potentially be occupied by an EV driver. The rules around shared visitor charging facilities are different – you need fewer chargers, but they need to be more accessible and potentially be faster.
Landlords who install charging facilities before leasing commercial property are in a position to command higher rents and are able to select premium tenants. It is one of those improvements that illustrates an owner is proactively managing a property and maintaining it, rather than one that is showing the impacts of being neglected.
Understanding Charger Types and Speeds
Slow chargers (3kW) are only worthwhile for situations where a vehicle will be parked for many hours or all day. Most staff charging at an office use 7kW chargers that are used for short periods of time, a range that is sufficient to recharge a vehicle without incurring the costs associated with installing rapid charging facilities.
Super fast terminal chargers (22kW and above) need three-phase power supply that several commercial properties do not have, these suit places where vehicles park for an hour or two and not the whole day, like retail parks, restaurants, and visitor parking.
Rapid and ultra-rapid chargers (50kW+) a type of charger that is common in motorway service areas. They require a lot of power supply and really make sense for the locations where the drivers stop only to charge and do not do other activities.
7kW chargers, in most commercial properties, provide ideal equilibrium between charging speed, installation cost, and electrical demand on your building. They will give approximately 25-30 miles of range an hour which is sufficient for staff parking or for longer consult visits.
Electrical Capacity and Infrastructure
Before installing several EV chargers, it is necessary to check your electrical Capacity and Infrastructure. Installing several 7kW chargers means your incoming power supply and distribution boards need to have Capacity to handle that extra load.
In some scenarios, your existing power supply is fine. In others, you may need an upgrade to your existing power supply before installing the chargers which of course adds to the project cost. Load management systems can mitigate the need for an upgrade to your existing power supply. These systems intelligently allocate the power between the chargers so that you do not exceed your supply Capacity.
New construction or major refurbishments should always make efficient plans with cable infrastructure. While future chargers may be included later, running cables during initial construction saves significant costs down the line. Start with a few chargers to keep initial costs down, and slowly add more as demand grows.
Installation Locations and Accessibility
More than most people realize, the placement of chargers is important and should be deliberate. They should be installed in the locations where vehicles are meant to park, where the cables can easily reach the ports on either side of the vehicles. Avoid dangly cables that intersect parking spaces to eliminate potential hazards.
For visibility, courtesy, and ease, it’s important that visitor chargers are located in easily accessible, prominent locations. Then, staff chargers can be located and installed in more secluded parking spaces. When it comes to integrated shared parking spaces, a decision should be made as to whether the charging spaces should be strictly reserved for vehicles that are actively charging, or if they can be used by any vehicle that is not charging.
Weather protection of the chargers is not usually necessary as they are designed for outdoor usage. However, it is considerate to implement some protection for people that are unplugging the charger in the rain. A covered walkway, or even a canopy, makes the facility more enjoyable to use.
Automated Control and Smart Charging Systems
Modern charging systems include features that allow you to manage access control, usage tracking, and payment collection. Such systems enable you to set up different rates for different user groups: free for employees, paid access for occasional users, discounted access for customers, and so on.
Load management is crucial if the business has multiple chargers. The system keeps track of the total power demand and control individual chargers so that the business’s power load does not exceed the total available capacity. Because of this, users can install more chargers than the business’s electrical supply would allow if all chargers were operating at full power.
Charging Your Charging Infrastructure
Determining if charging for charging is appropriate is not an easy task. The most common approach for businesses is offering free charging as an employee perk or customer incentive. Others choose to charge a cost-recovery tariff to cover their electricity expenses. Some even charge at a commercial rate for revenue generation.
Your charging policy should reflect your business’s strategy; for example, hospitable businesses usually offer free charging. Office buildings might provide free or subsidised charging to employees. Public retail businesses charge at commercial rates, particularly for rapid chargers.
Payment systems include simple RFID cards for known users and integrated payment via apps for public charging. The more public your charging provision is, the more seamless payment becomes.
Grant Funding and Financial Support
There are several grant schemes aimed to help reduce the costs associated with the installation of commercial EV chargers. The Workplace Charging Scheme provides vouchers to businesses and charities for the installation of chargers for their employees’ vehicles.
Local authorities may offer these additional grants for businesses installing public charging stations. These schemes are updated and changed often, so it is worthwhile checking on what is available when installation is planned.
Planning for Growth
EV adoption is likely more pronounced today than it will be in the future, so the charging provision is likely to need growth in the coming years. Installing charging infrastructure that is easily upgraded is the best route, such as running cables in ducting that allows for additional chargers to be added easily.
Some businesses install more chargers than they believe they will need, anticipating growth. Others install the minimum required and plan to expand easily. Either approach is acceptable as long as future growth is planned for and not just the current demand.