Before installing EV chargers, you should think about what EV charging policies you will implement at your site. Will the EV chargers be open to the public or restricted to a certain user group? Are the chargers going to be monetized or free for EV drivers to use? Will the same policy apply to every charger at your site, or will you mix and match permissions and pricing?
Whatever policy you choose, ensure that the signage posted at your site and notices circulated to employees/residents mirror the policies you set in your site host dashboard.
Workplace
“Workplace charging” is the term for any charging that occurs in or around an office building. This includes private offices serving a single company, as well as high-rise buildings with semi-public underground parking lots.
Just like with mixed fleet depots, some workplace charging sites may serve multiple use cases. For example, chargers in a high-rise building may serve the employees that work in the building in addition to the general public who parks in your lot while attending events downtown.
If your workplace chargers are intended exclusively for employees of your company, your dashboard allows you to set these chargers to “private” and restrict access. Alternatively, if your office parking lot doubles as a public parking lot, set your chargers to “public”. You can also mix and match access settings at any site, reserving certain chargers for a specific group while opening up the rest to the public.
Like with public chargers, you should also think about why you are installing workplace chargers. Is this 100% for employee satisfaction? Free workplace charging is a great perk for employees and may even encourage some employees to switch from a gas vehicle to an EV. Or are you looking to recoup your energy costs? Workplace chargers can bill usage fees just like any public charger.
When setting fees for workplace chargers, look at your historic electricity bills to understand your cost. Based on this cost, you could break even on your chargers (only bill employees what you pay), make a profit (possibly to recoup charger install cost), or even subsidize charging (only recoup part of your electricity cost with low usage fees).
Depending on how many of your employees drive EVs, your chargers may quickly become fully occupied. It is popular to post signs limiting charging to 4 hours or less; however, in practice this is difficult to enforce. Instead, we recommend to either (a) instal more chargers, or (b) set tiered pricing rules that increase over time, which will encourage drivers to move once their battery is adequately charged.