July 2023

How Associations Can Benefit Financially from Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCs) By Joe Desimone, Greenspot

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A s the automotive market shifts from the long-stand ing internal combustion engine to zero-emission vehicles, common interest community associations (CICs) all over the country have a very important decision to make: install charging stations now or wait? The reasons to start now are extensive and financially beneficial, which will be covered in detail throughout this article, but the option of waiting must also be addressed. The three most common points associations use to justi fy waiting are: (1) electric vehicles (EVs) may not be here to stay, (2) the technology may change, and (3) the cost of EV chargers may decrease in the future. These three justifications ultimately are not convincing: (1) If EVs are not here to stay, the entire automotive industry would not be shifting gears to react to gov ernment requirements. (2) In terms of technology, think of an EV as a giant cell phone and then think of how often the way we charge our phones has changed. Just like EV charging connectors are changing, cell phone con nectors have changed over the last 30 years, but most of the time we still plug them into the same power outlet. The newest technology, like wirelessly charging our cell phones, is inductive charging for

EVs. As we know, wireless charging is not as fast or efficient but provides more options to charge. The idea will be the same for EVs, but the use cases will vary and are not yet known. At the end of the day, we are supplying energy to a battery and that technology will not change. (3) Lastly, EV chargers are simply a means to distribute a commodity (electricity) at wholesale levels, and we know the demand will continue to increase over time. Basic economics in the commodity world explain that as demand goes up, so do prices. Our expectation is that both the cost of the hardware and the commodity will increase over time, not the other way around. The available energy to keep EVs on the road will continuously be constrained as the number of EVs and the population grows. Now that it’s a clear decision to move forward with implementing an EV charging solution, below are the reasons why this is important and how associations can benefit. The reasons to start now are the following: higher occupancy rates and long-term compounding financial benefits. Very soon, if not already, current and prospective unit owners and residents will require EV charging. “Require”

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JULY 2023