Electric car charging stations are becoming very popular as people across the country continue to use electric vehicles at a fast pace. The shift from vehicles with ICE or Internal Combustion Engines to electric has compelled many businesses to consider the future and wonder how they can exploit electric car charging stations as a business opportunity to earn more revenue.
There are a lot of drivers who can’t efficiently charge their EVs at home because of slow charging stations or simply forgetting to perform the task. The majority of drivers who charge at home are using Level 1 chargers, which normally come with the EV purchase.
Generating Passive Income
The potential of affordable fast-charging solutions is quite inviting for a lot of drivers, although a sweet spot exists between fast and affordable EV charging for businesses versus providing slow charging that many drivers may not be fully satisfied with.
Compared to the usual Level 2 aftermarket charges, Level 3 chargers can be quite expensive to a lot of business leaders looking for electric car charging stations business opportunity UK, since they cost much more than Level 2 chargers.
Electric vehicle drivers generally want to charge at the most affordable price in the most convenient locations, just like drivers of vehicles with combustion engines are looking for the fastest and cheapest option to fuel up using petrol. The only warning for electric vehicle drivers is they aren’t sold out with Level 1 charging because it’s very slow and unsatisfactory.
A survey conducted by E Source, reveals that most respondent EV owners with a Level 2 aftermarket home charger pay at least 75 cents/hour in utility costs will pay per hour for public charging.
For businesses aiming to seize an opportunity at passive income, adding Level 2 chargers provides an affordable option that’s sure to attract drivers.
Level 2 Electric Car Charging Stations as a Business Opportunity
The majority of drivers out there cannot depend solely on home charging to charge their electric vehicles, so they want to improvise while running errands, shopping or parking at the workplace. Thus, Level 2 charging will suffice for most of them and your business offers convenience and encourages them to look around for your products or services.
Exploiting electric vehicle charging stations as a business will also put your business on the map and feature collaborative data for searchers to locate the nearest charging station.
If your business provides charging, you’d be able to attract more customers and increase brand awareness and online visibility by including EV charging on your site. The information will serve as a flag in the search engines.
As concern for climate change increases, you will get the sympathy of a lot of consumers while growing your business and acquiring the means to passive income through charging.
Petrol stations are a good business. They are selling petrol to drivers while making a profit, just like many commodity vendors. But electric car charging is quite different. Even though the number of electric vehicle charging stations has increased in recent years, including home charge points, there’s still a lack of business EV charging solutions.
Most EV buyers are homeowners. Thus, they can install some kind of home charging infrastructure. There, they can purchase electricity at the standard consumer price, although they generally arrange for the pricing to be based on the time of the day when electricity can be cheap.
This can cost between 8 to 16 cents/kWh, an estimated 2 to 4 cents/mile of driving. Power companies sell electricity but aren’t very familiar with the EV charging business. Many others charge at work. Even homeowners opt for this because a lot of employers provide free charging to employees as an incentive. If they ever charge a fee, it’s generally not as big as the petrol stations.
For modern-day EVs with a 200-mile range, the owners can just charge at work or home and there is no need for them to drive around town. There may be EV chargepoints at parking lots and stores but they may not be encouraged to use them unless they’re for free.
Many of them are for free, just put them there as a way to attract customers simply to encourage green driving. But a lot of drivers do not even bother to use the free services. It’s a pain, and the usual dining or parking stop would not likely acquire even a single euro’s worth of electricity.
There are also charging infrastructure that costs much and aims to be a business. But they generally cost a lot, around 25-55 cents/kWh. That is double or even five times the EV charging station franchise cost and nobody will want to waste that much money.
Just think of what would become of petrol if everyone had a home petrol station from which they could fill a euro per gallon every night. How often do you think would they stop at a regular petrol station for 3 euros per gallon? Only if they’re desperate would they opt for it. A petrol station, under these circumstances, would not be good business.
But as we’ve mentioned, the situation changes for drivers who are far from home or doing inter-city trips. Under these circumstances, drivers are compelled to charge at public charging stations to keep driving. This isn’t always the case, though, as there are hotels that provide free charging to guests, reducing some of the necessities.
The advent of fast charging was spearheaded by TeslaTSLA +2.2%. While Tesla was building their supercharging network, they’ve made use of the charging stations free to all clients. The brand was not there to sell their cars, not electricity.
Tesla customers can opt for a monthly membership fee of £10.99 in the United Kingdom using the app to enjoy lower kWh prices (at least 50p/kWh. Non-members can still gain access at higher kWh prices (an average of £0.60). Rates may vary depending on the site and viewers can view these variations using the Tesla app.
This may be a bit more than home charging, but Tesla claims it’s a break-even price. Again, they’re not setting up the charging network to sell electricity, they want their cars to be sold. Fast charging stations are costly to install, and electricity prices tend to vary during the daytime. The majority of rapid chargepoints cost £11 for 30 minutes of charging for 44p/kWh (by April 2022).
Drivers rarely use fast chargers at night when the electricity is cheap. The key to the electric car charging business is simply management.
Non-business Problems
Since charging isn’t a business, there are negative effects to charging stations. A lot of the stations have been installed because of government subsidies. These have been placed inside odd locations where nobody goes to charge and have been idle for a long time.
What’s worse is that because the funds used to install them were derived from non-business sources, they were often built in bad condition. Even fast-charging networks were reported to have outages and needed repairs which didn’t come immediately.
It’s a problem that people on long road trips with Chademo or CCS fast charging have to deal with because they are looking to charge their vehicles in many locations.
Non-Homeowners
There are a lot of drivers who are unable to charge their cars at home or in the workplace. They depend on public charging stations to charge their vehicle. This is not a good situation for them since the prices of those stations are more costly than petrol for hybrids. Stopping to charge your vehicle is also time-consuming.
People who own these cars are regularly promised fast charging solutions that take only 10 or 5 minutes, but charging speeds of the sort will be costly because of the amount of power required for the job.
There may be businesses selling power to these drivers at a high price, although such drivers will be looking for other ways to be more cost-effective at their power. Such a demand compels apartment blocks to have an EV charger installed on their parking lots. They’ll do it either as a way to attract more tenants, or they may sell electricity.
Charging stations don’t have to provide fast charging installations since they can opt for more affordable installation costs and you can always charge while sleeping if you’re not travelling. This is a more viable option for customers who are not in a rush.
Aside from that, you save 1/3rd of the cost with night power compared to daytime power. This is another advantage for businesses looking to install charging stations in their lots.
Fuel For Profit
It must be considered that even though petrol stations sell EV charging station profit margin, many try to profit more from car washes, convenience stores and other services. Thus, a shopping centre with an EV charging station may be a good approach. You may require fast charging under these circumstances, though, because a 30-minute level 2 charging at a shop may not be enough.
On intercity road trips, though, drivers often do fas-charging while eating their meals. Since charging only takes 30-60 minutes these days, it’s not unusual for drivers to pair it with a meal to effectively kill the time instead of waiting.
Drivers on a long trip must eat and it’s just a matter of when and where to do it. It’s understandably not ideal to eat in limited locations, although this may improve in time. Restaurants today have combo deals such as food plus charing, or pre-ordering and delivering food to your car.
How Much Does Building An EV Charging Station For Business Cost?
The cost of installing EV charging stations will depend on the charging station’s size, potential and strength. The cost of installing a commercial electric vehicle charger is generally between £1,000 – £2,500 along with VAT, depending on the model.
There will also be additional costs such as cabling, foundation and fixing. The type of charger also affects its installation cost and there are three- slow, standard and rapid.
How to Start EV Charging Stations Business
Starting an EV charging business does not require any government license, although you must secure a permit from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. The government provides subsidies for commercial EV charging stations for sale and public EV charging infrastructure and equipment.
How Much EV Charging Station Business Make
If we calculate a minimum of 8 hours per day of use, and 10 cents per eclectic unit charged, an operator should be able to retrieve the costs of setting up the charger in just a few years. EVS reporters have reported that the running cost, including salaries, and equipment maintenance, may be daunting to some.
Patience, along with with the ability to invest must hold one in good standing until such time that you profit from the venture.
How Commercial EV Chargers Make A Profit
Profiting from a commercial EV chargepoint isn’t about getting revenue from every electrical unit sold. Customers spend at least 20 minutes to 5 hours for every charging session at the station, depending on the battery’s size. Prepare your place for business since you will not only be profiting from the EV charger but also from your main business.
You must be creative and business-minded in terms of attracting customers, and you must have additional products for them should they feel bored while waiting for the battery to be charged. You must offer snacks, drinks, etc., to customers while buying the products from your station while you earn extra profit.
You must also provide fast DC charging to allow customers to charge their cars in just an hour instead of many hours. This will increase your potential so you charge multiple vehicles from several customers who will likely be attracted to your business because of it.
Conclusion
EV owners are beginning to choose the place where they live, work and shop based on the location of charging stations. Keep your electric vehicle-driving employees and customers happy by providing this important amenity.
Whether you’re compelling visitors to buy more products in your store while they charge or charge a fee, there are several ways to profit from electric vehicle charging.
Show your support for creating a sustainable future by buying an EV charger, and complying with the latest regulations. With Pumpt, you can enact such a commitment by installing an affordable, but reliable EV charger. Go to our Products Page to check our units.
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