MAXIMISE YOUR BENEFITS WITH ELECTROMOBILITY STEP BY STEP

Buying an electric car charger and making it available to the public now makes even more economic sense than ever. We have prepared some useful hints and tips for you.

 

Electromobility is no longer just a hope of the future. Numbers of Electric cars are gradually increasing and latest surge in numbers across European countries suggest, that Slovakia should also expect major changes in this field. The cost of maintaining an electric vehicle is already significantly lower than the cars with internal combustion engines, especially for the city drivers. When you add various benefits to this, which the Slovak government already recognizes, the result is clear. It pays to invest in electromobility.

The purchase and operation of a charging station that can be made available to the public is one of the options. Today, it is no longer just the domain of entrepreneurs, virtually anyone who owns a parking space can make it profitable.

Here are some tips on how to set up a public charger and what to look out for in the process.

1. Parking space – to use or to rent out?

If you are looking to earn an extra income through EV charging and you have a parking space, you have two options.
a. Invest in a good quality charging point and start earning by making it available to the users for a charging fee.
b. Or rent a place to a charging station operator, who will profit instead of you.

2. AC or DC?

If you decide you want to have full control over your EV chargers, the next decision would be, whether to buy an AC or a DC charger. DCs are significantly faster, but many times more expensive, and their frequent use can degrade car batteries. AC have a maximum power of 22 kW and are designed for daily charging.

3. Check cabling, circuit breakers and reserved capacity

Next step would be to verify that your electricity connection can handle the charger load. Otherwise, you will need to either adjust it (for example, by increasing the value of the circuit breaker or increasing the reserved capacity) or permanently limit the power of the charger to prevent network overload.

It is often necessary to reduce the power of the charger only for certain busy phases of the day, which, however, also prevents you from using the charger to the fullest extent possible. Replacing the circuit breaker, increasing the reserved capacity or in some cases a completely new connection means additional costs.

The ideal solution is to optimize charging according to the current consumption of the building, which comes as a standard with AgeVolt charging system. In practice, this translates to the system monitoring the occupancy of the building in real time and allocating the maximum available power to charge the vehicle.

This option is especially welcomed by larger companies, which pay fines in thousands of euros per year for exceeding the reserved capacity. Even more interesting is the integration between AgeVolt and photovoltaics, in which the case the vehicle is only charged from the excess energy obtained from the sun, which in practical terms means EV charging at no cost.

4. Monthly fees

When comparing EV charger suppliers, it is very important to find out if your purchase of a charging point does not result in additional monthly fees that are not directly related to the supply of electricity. They may ask, for example, for system administration or various licenses for software control.

5. Available Grants

Whether you are buying an electric vehicle or an EV charger, check for any available grants. Currently, the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic has decided to support the construction of electric chargers until the end of November 2020, where entrepreneurs and municipalities can send in their applications. The state will reimburse half of the project for companies, they can receive a maximum of € 9,000 grant. Municipalities, higher territorial units and organizations set up by them can receive upto € 18,000, while only 5% of the project can be covered from their own resources. Details can be found on the website of the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic.

6. Connecting to the network of public chargers

To be able to access all benefits of EV charging, the charger must be able to be connected to one of the roaming platforms. This will allow users to find your charger on the map, check its current availability, book it, find out the necessary information about it as well as process the payment.

Find out in advance which platforms your future charger is compatible with and what is their transaction fee.

In summary, these are all important points that you should consider and compare before securing a charging station. The advantage of a good purchase does not lie in the price of the charger itself, but in the return on investment and the subsequent profit – the key factor to remember here is the total cost of ownership.

The boom of electromobility is here now, good luck to those who are ready!