Top 5 Things to Consider When Planning an EV Charging Network: #4 Commissioning, Maintenance, and Using Your Market Network

Next up in the top factors to consider when planning an electric vehicle (EV) charging network: commissioning, maintenance, and using your market network. Once you’ve squared away planning for funding, business planning, incentives, and finances, you can begin to make moves towards opening your station.

Commissioning and Maintenance

Commissioning your EV charging station is a vital step in getting your charging station operational. This process consists of necessary checks of station function to ensure that there are no issues when the charge is opened to the public, including:

  • All dispensers, pedestals, and cabinets are tested at their maximum expected function.
  • Traffic flow and markings are correct to ensure safety and ease of use for patrons.
  • Any amenities such as trash cans or vending machines are functional and have service plans in place.
  • All inspections and permits are complete and in place.
  • Any other items that will ensure proper function of the station and satisfaction of its patrons.

A common practice is to create a “stress test” event where EV enthusiasts and influencers are invited to come during a roughly 2–8-hour period and charge for free or extremely discounted rates. This will ensure the station can keep up with high demand, payment processing systems are in working order, and other additional functions are working properly. The station provider will sometimes offer food, music, free merch, and other fun items to bring a larger crowd to the charging station. This also serves as publicity for the station so when fully commissioned, there will already be awareness and demand.

Consider using a survey to ask your customers how they feel about the amenities offered at the station, how reliable the station is for them and their vehicle, how they might rate it compared to similar stations they have visited, and if they have any reviews that they would like to share. Depending on your business model (e.g., subscription-based charging system, one-use charging system, etc.), you may be able to send this survey to all the customers that you have in your internal system. If you are subscription-based, you can send this survey to all your customers at once. If you have a one-use charging system (i.e., customers pay every time they charge), you may consider adding a QR code somewhere on your site for customers to access the survey. The survey should also be conducted during the stress test event to make final site changes.

Once you’ve completed these items, the station is ready to be commissioned and open to the public.

Maintenance

Maintaining your EV charging station will involve many factors that you will need to keep track of on a daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly basis.

First things first: Are you servicing your customers’ needs? Once your station is open, make sure that you are getting a feel for how your customers feel about the station outside of the utilization rates that you calculate. This utilization data is extremely important, but you must also make sure that you are getting accounts of personal experiences. The survey mentioned above is a great way to collect this data.

It can also be collected from reviews on sites/apps such as PlugShare and Google Maps. Adding your charging site to these types of platforms is easy and a great way to drive traffic to your charging station. Simply follow the instructions for each platform on how to add the site to their maps. Make sure to include all relevant details such as charging speeds, connector type, gate code (if in a parking structure), etc.

Additionally, ensure that you calculate your chargers’ uptime, which refers to how often a charger is working when a customer uses it. Your chargers’ uptime will give you a benchmark of when and whether you need to replace your charger. Don’t wait till a customer shows up to find a broken charger to try and replace it; keep an eye on uptime to see when you need to take action and fix your charger.

Utilization Rates

Assessing your utilization rate is extremely important in keeping up with your station’s efficiency, usage, and potential changes in revenue. Depending on the scope of time you want to look at to create actionable recommendations for your station, you can choose to measure utilization from the following bases:

  • Hourly
  • Time of day
  • Daily
  • Weekly
  • Monthly
  • Seasonal

Each of these time measurements will provide unique data such as a dispenser not functioning, possible changes to pricing structure, and insight for future charger sites, among other things.

While working with your internal personnel or third-party service provider to calculate utilization rates, consider calculating based on what factors you would like to assess. For example, you could choose to calculate utilization rates for weekends and weekdays to compare the two over a period of time, as demonstrated in this paper by the National Laboratory of the Rockies in 2023. If you have multiple stations in your charging network, you may also consider comparing them with each other to evaluate how different location, amenities, or consumer segments can affect utilization rates.

This data is important for determining whether your station is being used effectively. If your utilization rate is too high, you may consider expanding or investing in more equipment. If your utilization rate is too low, you may consider finding ways to get customers engaged like extra amenities or discounted rate programs. You can also consider joining a network of like-minded organizations in your market to partner with on promotion of your charging networks together.

Using Your Market Network

As mentioned in our Equipment and Technology blog, you can choose to consult your own network of organizations in the EV charging market. For example, organizations that are a part of CALSTART’s membership program can reach out to fellow members in their network. This can be to plan partnership events, inquire about a certain company’s area of expertise, or even connect to sell or lease equipment and technology. CALSTART’s membership program can help you connect with these organizations. If you are interested, email MISTeam@calstart.org.

If you already have a market network, reach out to other organizations to help with your current needs. If you need an external organization to help you calculate your station’s utilization rate or execute the commissioning of your charging station, using your market network will help you take steps towards servicing your customers more efficiently.

Reaching out to organizations in your market network could help you host partnership events that bring attention to all companies involved while highlighting the services, technology, and benefits provided by each. Planning and carrying out this kind of event can be daunting, but it is possible and can be extremely beneficial. In the past, CALSTART has helped its own member organizations plan and host these events, which has boosted their visibility to other businesses, customers, and community members.

Remember to approach your market network with a collaborative mindset. The effort you invest in partnerships is often reflected in the value you get back. Collaboration and community amplify each other.

Stay tuned for our last installment in this series: regulations. This last installment will build on the concepts mentioned here. These factors govern what kind of technology you use, how you maintain your site, what kind of amenities you can offer, and much more. We might have saved (one of) the most important factor(s) for last. Keep an eye out!