I am doing research into EV charging stations for multiple properties and am hoping to hear some of your insights.
Hey everybody I am looking to add some ev charging to some properties and interested in hearing some of y’all’s experiences with this!

Any companies you like?
Any red flags to be aware of?
Any great solutions you may have found?
Suggestions on buying vs. not buying?

Thanks for all y’all’s insights! :)
[{"id": "iphyv0p", "text": "This is a great question. Id like to hear thoughts and exp on this. Id like to know if there are any grants or tax breaks for this type of addition.  Thanks", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ipi3c8n", "text": "When we looked into it this year, we came to the conclusion, the only people making good money for their effort were the manufacturers. I haven't seen many independent operations putting them up, it's almost entirely virtue signaling corporations and public agencies. Same thing with solar with interest rates where they are today. Now, that didn't take into account any new subsidies that governments are offering. With 3% financing, solar looked good, with 6%, at that point you are an idealogue and not an investor. If you do it, try to find a car maker or manufacturer incentive program. My \"associate\" wanted to buy crappy commercial land and put solar and charging stations on it. I think that is one of the dumbest and stupidest wastes of money I've seen this year, especially when the regulatory environment at the behest of utilities seems to be turning against small scale solar.   \n\n\nI have solar on my home, but I wouldn't put it on any investments unless I felt that was required to get approvals and permits.", "replies": [{"id": "ipiidr3", "text": "I feel like EVs are taking off to the point where any building with a parking lot of a certain size is going to need to have at least a few charging spots in the near future to satisfy the tenants. Kind of like offering electrical outlets for other types of plug loads, it will just be expected, like access to other utilities. Is there an ROI on an electrical outlet? \n\nEventually I have to expect that tenants will gravitate towards buildings with at least a minimal EV charging infrastructure and that you'll start to see rents and vacancy rates reflect that. At some point it will reach a tipping point where it's just expected, just like other utility access. And given that the people buying EVs now are probably managers/bosses in their companies who have some influence over leases, that may happen sooner than we think.", "replies": [{"id": "ipm5az2", "text": "Have you had local tenants ask for EV chargers?  I live in Northern California and I can't remember seeing EV charges anywhere, but at national tenants and government/educational/nonprofit agency buildings. I'm sure there are some in smaller more upscale areas, but I don't think they will get that mainstream for another 5 years at least and by then the chargers will be cheaper and may even need to be different anyway.  \n\n\nI agree, that it will eventually be a differentiator. It will be like good landscaping. Some tenants want a pretty property and others just want the space. Depends on your market and need. My target demographic is middle income end customers for properties, so take that in mind when you read my comments. I wouldn't touch a class A office building with a computer mouse.", "replies": [{"id": "ipm8tcx", "text": "I do mostly residential and am generally a lurker here. Eventually hope to own some commercial space and participate in a bi-weekly commercial mastermind group, tho. I'm also in Massachusetts, where the financial incentives, politics, and income all favor EV adoption. \n\nBut in residential listings here, I'm seeing more and more homes and condos offer class 2 EV chargers as a selling point. And I have a good number of friends who own EVs already. Stands to reason that people will want to be able to charge their cars at work. Hasn't really hit commercial yet, but in Boston parking is at such a premium already that we'll have a delay. I fully expect to see the class A office parks out on the 95 corridor start to market charging soon. Many of them already have a couple of spots, they're just not marketing them yet.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "ipjt1ku", "text": "I\u2019d also say the places around EV charging stations make the real money. I agree with you as well. The only true people making money from chargers are the manufacturers", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ipihu37", "text": "Depending on your state, they're throwing down big rebates from the VW diesel settlement to pay for chargers and installs in multi-families and commernecial spots.  I've looked at every double donger charger on the market for commercial use, and I like SemaConnect in the USA, with networking hardware but not the subscription for networking, using edrv.io for the backend management.  Forget about chargepoint, they're the worst to deal with, and they charge $200/month for networking.", "replies": [{"id": "ipjp69c", "text": "Are you able to get a rebate with Sema connect? I\u2019m buying a bunch right now for a big apartment complex I\u2019m building.", "replies": [{"id": "ipkop96", "text": "The rebates are through the state where the prop is located.  They are federal funds given to the states to give in rebates to the buyer of the units.  They must be double dongers at a minimum.  Some of the states are ahead of the game and some are woefully not prepared.   Level2 or higher, double donger, wiht networking and 99.9999% uptime or somehting like that. https://electriccitycorp.com/federal-grants-for-ev-charging-stations/  \n\nWhat state are you in?", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ipirgcy", "text": "How are these structured? They just pay for it and the benefit to the owner is just increased traffic? There is no rent paid by the Station owner or investment from the property owner?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ipja3by", "text": "I work for a private equity firm - we own about 40 branded hotels across the US. We have electric stations at one property, and currently adding to two more (all three in Texas). The biggest benefit isn\u2019t what we charge the public for the station itself, it\u2019s that we can generate anywhere from $20-100k in revenue because it\u2019s a free amenity for our guests, and we typically get 1-3 guests that stay with us per day that choose us because of the stations. Costs around $20-30k for install (depending on how far you need to run the conduit and how much concrete you need to tear up). The value of the earnings we get from them is larger than the cost (apply a cap rate). Obviously you pick your spots. We won\u2019t be putting in stations at our properties in secondary or tertiary markets in the northern states (yet\u2026).", "replies": [{"id": "ipjhvih", "text": "How do you know people come to your property specifically because you have the chargers? Curious about your data indicator", "replies": [{"id": "ipm6rlz", "text": "Good question. Our management company uses two methods. 1) they send out surveys post stay with that question included, 2) guest has to ask for a code to use the charging stations, so the front desk agent will ask the question then. We found that the majority of folks with electric cars chose us for the stations. We have 4, and the stations are level 2 (I believe is what they\u2019re classified as) so they take several hours to charge a car fully. Perfect for someone staying overnight.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ipjamqx", "text": "I work for a PE MOB owner/ operator. We looked into it for our properties, but nothing really pencils for us and we found it\u2019s more of a capital cost than a recoupable, or NOI boosting factor for our properties.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ipjeypb", "text": "We do it as a \u201ccheck the box\u201d item, so just 1-2 chargers and nothing too high end.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ipk7ube", "text": "I was surprised to find that in my area, if I put in charging stations at my multi family rental property I\u2019m not allowed to charge tenants for their use (only the utility monopoly can charge for power) and if I have a 3rd party install and manage them I have to allow public access.  \n  \nSo basically it\u2019s a non starter here.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ipmtwow", "text": "Small tangent but related.  I've also started looking into this regarding backup energy storage.  Though not my primary responsibility, I was asked to find property owners who have space and hosting capacity for these on their property in the northeast. 20 year leases for supplying backup energy to local areas but I was thinking this would/should be part of infrastructure for EV.\n\nIf property owners need to use capital to provide charging stations, shouldn't both services be done in tandem to save on costs? I was thinking to find smaller properties/owners who'd be into the additional $35k-50k/year. Seeing some of the convo below, the route might be those with space and looking to offset EV charging station costs.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "iqaqpl2", "text": "If there\u2019s a way to make money I haven\u2019t figured it out. Every time I\u2019ve looked at it the only \u201cbenefit\u201d is an amenity for tenants. Miami is now requiring 20% of new parking to have chargers nuts.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]