Building Out the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

Just how hot are electric vehicles? In the first half of this year, global EV sales nearly tripled compared to the same period in 2020, according to Wood Mackenzie. The research firm also says EVs are now 7% of all passenger car sales, and they’re on track to sell more than 6 million by the end of 2021. More EVs mean more charging stations will have to be built. At press time, the federal infrastructure bill still included funding for 500,000 EV charging stations, but the final outcome is yet to be seen.

“It doesn't look like this bill is going to be passed anytime before October, at the earliest,” says Carrie Sherer, associate director of government affairs at Black & Veatch, which provides engineering and other services for EV charging station operators. “It could be even later in the year.”

At the end of 2020, there were only about 32,000 public and private EV charging stations (see Chart), according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Although another 500,000 obviously means a lot of additional work for electrical contractors, that figure actually low-balls the business opportunity.

Here’s why: Many of the existing 32,000 stations have multiple ports because they’re in public places, for a grand total of about 107,000 ports at the end of 2020. For example, a single five-port station outside a grocery store could charge five EVs.

The more ports a station has, the more design and installation work it requires. For example, the number of ports often is more than a site’s existing electrical service can handle. If the site is close to a substation that has enough capacity, then the work might include adding a transformer nearby.

Port type is another factor. For example, at the end of 2020, more than 15% of public ports were DC fast chargers.

“You have DC chargers that are 50kW all the way up to 350kW,” says Maryline Daviaud Lewett, Black & Veatch director of business development for transformative technologies. “Then the complexity of the electrical installation is greater. With DC chargers that are a much higher power level, you often need new electrical service in that location."

“Sometimes it's quick because the utility has power available close by, and they have a transformer — or they just add a transformer in that location. Sometimes it takes 12 months to get additional power. So you have quite a bit of variation, especially in the 350kW range.” 

According to the Alternative Fuels Data Center, a resource of the U.S. Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Office, there are three main charging types. Level 1 uses 120VAC. Each hour of charging provides two to five miles of range, depending on the vehicle. Level 2 typically uses 240VAC in residential installations and 208VAC for commercial, with about 10 to 20 miles per hour of charging. Level 3, also known as "DC fast charging," typically uses 208/480VAC 3-phase input with about 60 to 80 miles per 20 minutes of charging.

Hit the Road

Most new public charging stations would use DC fast chargers so drivers can get in and get out, right? Not necessarily.

For example, the Electrify America network uses only DC chargers ranging from 150kW to 350kW. But other operators prefer to provide a mix of charging types. One reason is because the AC equipment is less expensive to buy, install, and operate. Also, people shopping at a mall might be fine using a Level 2 AC charger if they’re going to be there a few hours anyway. But other customers are willing to pay a premium for a DC fast charger because their shopping trip is a quick in and out.

“We are seeing the great majority of interest in Level 2 chargers because that provides energy at a sufficient rate for home or workplace use cases,” says Aleksi Paaso, ComEd director of distribution planning, smart grid, and innovation. “We see meaningful opportunity for DC fast charging as a destination service to places that customers spend less time such as restaurants and retail businesses. DCFC infrastructure like Superchargers and other extreme fast chargers will also be necessary for larger and heavier vehicles with long daily ranges.”

For owners of apartment complexes and other multi-dwelling units (MDUs), one common concern is the potential cost of upgrading service to support more or faster chargers — or both. A savvy design can knock down that barrier.

“There are things in the NEC that deal with energy management or power control to limit the load so we don’t necessarily size things one for one,” says Larry Ayer, vice president of Cincinnati-based Biz Com Electric. “If you need sixty 20A chargers, maybe we don’t necessarily put in 400A, 3-phase to handle all this. That’s helping so we don’t oversize things, and it’s not that massive [of an impact] for the grid.”

Another hurdle is a related to the location of parking for each unit.

“For example, your lease may name your parking spot," says Terry O'Day, COO of Santa Monica, Calif.-based In-Charge Energy, which provides engineering, O&M, and other services. “In these cases, onsite Level 3 (480V) charging might work for an apartment community.”

What’s the Business Model?

Network operators and property owners, such as real estate investment trusts (REITs), also are trying a variety of business models. For example, many gas station pumps have screens for showing advertiser-sponsored videos. Some EV charging station networks are adapting this business model, such as Volta.

“They offer the chargers and the installation for free to the real estate company,” says Black & Veatch’s Lewett. “They also offer the charging for free to the visitors of the mall. They make their revenue through advertising.” 

Some REITs view charging stations as a way to attract and retain shopping center tenants by driving business to them: People who need to kill a half hour might grab lunch at the development with chargers rather than one across the street without them. And as with paid parking lots and garages, tenants also could validate charging tickets for drivers who make a purchase over a certain amount.

“This is where the charging stations are showing up: where I have to go rather than choosing a stop on the journey,” says Craig Irwin, ROTH Capital Partners managing director for equity research. “You fill up where you go rather than going where you fill up. The traditional retailer model for petroleum is that [gas stations] make their money in convenience store. That whole model is transferring over to the large REITs across the country.”

For electrical contractors serving the commercial market, this emerging REIT model is something to consider in designs and bids because it affects both the project cost and future proofing.

“The wires that bring electricity to a charger are a much longer-term investment than the charger itself,” says ComEd’s Paaso, who also is a senior member of the IEEE Power & Energy Society and vice chair of the IEEE PES Industry Technical Support Leadership Committee. “We see that there is significant value that comes from considering charging when planning new construction and pre-wiring parking spots for future charging stations.”

Partner Up

Like many of its peers, In-Charge Energy uses partnerships to keep up with demand.

“As our industry is growing so quickly, we rely on our electrical contractor partners in those markets and throughout other markets in North America to complete our installation and commissioning, civil work, and maintenance services,” O'Day says.

There also will be plenty of work for electrical contracts that serve utilities, such as upgrading the grid.

“Utilities need to continue to develop, demonstrate, and deploy the technologies that can integrate all of the additional load that these vehicles represent,” Paaso says. “At ComEd, we’re demonstrating technologies — including managed EV charging and a cyber-secure Extra Fast Charging (XFC) EV charging station — to help us do so. This represents just the beginning of what utilities need to do to make this possible.”

Utilities also could get some relief if residential batteries power homes, such as when demand is high or when there’s an outage.

“A typical home draws about 5,000 watts,” says Biz Com Electric’s Ayer. “That could power a home for 20 hours.”

Kridel is an independent analyst and freelance writer with experience in covering technology, telecommunications, and more. He can be reached at [email protected].

SIDEBAR: Carrots and Sticks

In addition to the federal infrastructure bill, a host of other initiatives are well underway at the state and local level.

For example, when a Columbia, Mo., grocery store wanted to add a gas station in its parking lot, the city council wouldn’t approve the project unless it included a charging station. And earlier this year, Richmond Heights became the first Missouri city to require new single- and multi-family construction to be wired for EV chargers.

Richmond Heights also is an example of the growing number of utility programs that incentivize charging stations. The dual-port, Level 2 station outside its library was funded with a grant from Ameren, whose program provides MDU owners, businesses, and other organizations with incentives that will cover up to 50% of a project’s total cost.

Some utilities apply their residential rate to some public EV stations to overcome concerns about bill shock.

“Some of these get charged at the commercial rate, so you’ll get smart charged for demand factor when these are really residential-type uses,” says Biz Com Electric’s Ayer.