As electric vehicle use spreads, demand for more—and faster—charging stations will grow too.
So far, when businesses have looked at installing electric vehicle charging, most have opted to go for slower, Level 2 charging which provides most vehicles with about 20 miles of charge in an hour. (A little more for Tesla destination chargers.) As the number of electric vehicles grows, however, and as their range/battery capacity increases, there’s a high likelihood that drivers will have more demand for faster-charging options too. It’s one thing, after all, to sit around for an hour or so to “fill up” your 80-mile Nissan Leaf. It’s quite another if you need to replenish 200+/300+ miles of range in your Tesla or Chevy Bolt.
So what does it take to install a DC fast charging station that’s open to the public? We got on the phone with Chris Bowyer, Director of Building Operations at The Alliance Center in the Lower Downtown (LoDo) neighborhood of Denver, to find out. The Alliance Center—which offers LEED Platinum-certified office space to 50 mission-driven organizations—recently took the plunge and installed a ChargePoint Express 200 50kw charging station in its parking lot, which it made available to the general public.
Considerations in Choosing What Type of Station
As Chris explained, however, the original plan was actually to go with a slower, Level 2 station:
When the unit was installed, it was the first Level 3 charging station in LoDo. That has since changed, as REI also installed two DC fast chargers, as well as two Level 2 charging stations, about 1.5 miles away. Nevertheless, Chris sees the addition of the charging station as an important piece of infrastructure—not just for tenants and guests of the building, but for the surrounding community too:
Cost of Purchase and Installation of a Level 3 Station
The total cost of purchase and installation came in at around $50,000, says Chris, with $16,000 of that coming from the Department of Transportation grant. But The Alliance Center saw this as an important investment in staying ahead of the sustainability game. Crucially, because The Alliance Center wanted the unit to be highly visible to people who might not otherwise know about or visit their offices, the organization decided to go with a networked charging station from ChargePoint. That means it appears on the ChargePoint app, can be monitored and diagnosed for any downtime or faults, and also communicates whether it is currently available or in use by another driver.
This networked option also allows The Alliance Center to charge for use—a feature that just about covers the cost of electricity, and also incentivizes drivers to move on once they have charged as much as they need to. The cost, currently, is $8.50 for a two-hour session, with a $1 discount for tenants of the building. The Alliance Center also pays ChargePoint both an annual operational fee and a small percentage of each charging session, but Chris says that the fees are relatively nominal compared to the overall project cost.
Choosing a Site for the Fast Charging Station
In terms of where to locate the unit on the property, Chris explains that it really wasn’t as much of a headache as you might think:
Why More Businesses should Provide Charging Stations
So far, the station has seen steady use—with about 20 charging sessions in the first month since installation. As Chris points out, however, due to concerns about EV range and range anxiety, a charging station like this serves an important utility even when it’s not in use:
That’s a point I would strongly agree with, and I would say that, by adding charging stations in convenient locations, it also makes it possible for folks to buy electric vehicles with only as much range as they realistically need—a critical component of making sure that electric vehicles deliver fully on their environmental potential.
It’s early days to say whether or not the station has directly influenced any tenants’ or neighbors’ decision to buy an electric vehicle (some evidence does suggest workplace charging significantly boosts sales), but existing drivers are certainly happy. Madeline Bachner, Program Director at The Cottonwood Institute, puts it this way:
Ultimately, says Chris, the entire experience has been positive for The Alliance Center, and the organization may even add more stations if and when demand grows. He strongly recommends that other organizations take the plunge, too, whether that’s Level 2, DC Fast Charging, or even simply an outlet in the wall:
