Was on the Less Talk More Action podcast recently, and we got into why EV charging still hasn't scaled in multifamily housing. The problem isn't demand. It's that most EV charging was designed for gas station thinking - get energy in fast and then move your car to make room for another vehicle. That logic falls apart in an apartment building. Put two shared chargers in a 50-unit property and it works fine until you have more than a handful of EV owners. Now you've got tenants fighting over available charging ports. The smarter landlords saw this coming and decided doing nothing was better than creating conflict. That's not laziness. It's a rational business decision given the options available. What actually works is personal charging in each resident's own space, with software managing energy across the whole building in real time. The average car sits at home 15 hours a day. Average daily drive is 36 miles. You don't need a fast charger. You need a reliable one that's always there when you want toplug in. Convenience carries the day. We also got into where this is heading. Control 150,000 vehicles each exporting 7 kilowatts during peak hours and you've got roughly a gigawatt of dispatchable power. The cars everyone's been calling a grid burden become its best new resource. And Virtual Power Plants make better neighbors than a fossil fuel plant!
Kathy Kuntz
4mo
Your strategy works well for high end rentals where everyone has a dedicated spot. But communities also have older multi-family housing where residents lack parking or share a small lot. We’re pursuing neighborhood solutions that won’t leave those folks behind. Our target is affordable neighborhood charging for people without dedicated parking with a plug.
Duane Ruth
4mo
Why confuse things. Just install charges for spots and let them charge. Use software to bill their card. Or include in rent if tou have Solar Power, etc. Use batteries to make arbitrage profit and tax benefits. Solve the whole building infrastructure in one move. Spread cost over time.
Joel Cesare
4mo
“You don't need a fast charger. You need a reliable one that's always there when you want toplug in.”
Watch the full podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Genqy-gry20&t=25s