And how you have more available than you think…
EV Charging for Destination & Collectives.
The Conundrum:
One of the biggest counter-arguments I am coming across in my role as an EV Charging Consultant to the Hospitality Trade is, ‘We do not have enough power at our property to facilitate the additional electrical demand of EV charging’.
And these business owners would be correct. To a degree.
I’ve seen it first hand at my own premises and also from client’s who have, for example, had small 7kW AC Tesla chargers installed - actually being an eye witness to when an EV owner plugged his car in, inadvertently tripping the whole electrical system for the entire building, shutting down the bar, kitchen, customer areas, bedrooms, tills, management systems, everything. Because the electrical supply became over-loaded. Not good!
So the thought that there is insufficient power to facility EV charging is then often combined with the logical next step of investigating how much cost would be involved to acquire additional power supply to the property. Which then results in an unsurprising conclusion that current EV charging demands do not warrant such a significant capital investment or disturbance at present.
Absolutely logical. But let’s dig a little deeper…
What if I told you that it is not necessary to incur the expense and disruption of increasing power to the property or investing in an additional supply? And that it is not a question of what amount of power is present at your property, but WHEN that power already present could be made available to facilitate the EV charging infrastructure that YOUR guests require?
First of all, we need to quickly assess what type of EV charging we require. The present EV charging landscape consists of three defined categories:
Categories of EV Charging.
Ultra-Fast DC charging:
These units are in excess of 150kW and most definitely require their own dedicated electrical supply and sub-station infrastructure on site. This category of a charger is perfectly suited to motorway service charging, where dwell time needs to be minimised, and can charge an 88kWh capacity battery in less than 30 mins.
Rapid DC Charging.
Similar to Ultra-Fast, these charges can normally deliver up 50-80kWh using DC current to the EV, and represent a quick method of charging that suits short-to-mid dwell time car parks. This category of charger is being rolled out at speed by the majority of supermarkets as a case example, but still represents significant costs and additional electrical sub-structures.
Fast AC Charging:
You are already probably familiar with this type of charger, as these EV chargers are the more commonplace used by EV owners from their homes. They range from 3.6kW to 7.4kW on a single-phase electrical supply (domestic property), and up to 22kW on a three-phase supply (commercial property). They can charge an 88kW battery to full or almost full over a period of 8-9 hours.
Right, back to our power situation…
And concluding that you can have the EV charging facility that your business requires.
The Solution:
Fast AC charging with units that are 7-11kW are the ideal solution for destination hospitality venues.
The majority of, if not all, hotels, destination inns, pubs, etc already have sufficient power within the property to facilitate this category of EV charging solution. And it will be more than sufficient for you and your guests. We do not need 80kW or above Rapid or Ultra-Fast chargers - they are amazing, and hugely suitable to service shorter dwell times for EV drivers using the motorway network for example. But we do not need that category of speed or power within the hospitality sector. AC charging at 7-11kW via a multi-unit infrastructure is more than adequate to serve your guests’ requirements. And is far more flexible, adaptable, scaleable, practical, manageable, and affordable.
As I mentioned previously, it is a not only how much power is present, but a question of how that power is utilised and WHEN that power can be made available.
A commercial kitchen operation can account for between 60-75% of the daily electrical usage of properties such as pubs or hotels. For a good food operation, I would suggest that the daily electrical kitchen consumption would average at perhaps 350kWh (discounting refrigeration appliances). And then if we also account for other high usage electrical items such as coffee machines, dish washers, glass washers, kettles, etc; we could possibly estimate at a daily consumption of between 400-450kWh. (Divide by 12 hours = 33-38kW).
This is a lot of power.
But it is being used by the kitchen. Which is why, when our guest from the story above plugged his EV into the Tesla charger, he shut down the entire building. Because the Tesla charger was not controllable, and was not inactive when it should have been, so as to protect the main purpose of the electrical capacity - to run the core business of food service.
But…
This electrical consumption is not in use overnight when the kitchens are closed and the only guests on site are in their bedrooms. And this is our target audience for hospitality EV charging - the overnight Destination Visitor.
The Daytime Guest will often not be travelling too great a distance to get to your property. They will have often charged overnight at their home, are likely to have 200+ miles of range in their vehicles and do not need to charge whilst they are visiting yourself for two hours or so.
But your overnight Destination Guests are more likely to have travelled a distance and would very much appreciate the ease and convenience of being able to charge overnight, to ensure their EV being ready to facilitate their journey or activity for the following day.
So whilst the kitchen is closed overnight, we now have all that available power not being used within the property. Which means we have sufficient power already available to support our required EV charging facility. When we need it. All without having to apply for any increases or additional electrical supply from the DNO.
All we then need is to be able to control and schedule the EV chargers according to when this power is available.
I have helped previous clients with this very same dilemma. Explaining exactly WHAT is possible, within safe parameters, and establishing an EV charging infrastructure using this ‘opportunity benefit’ of the presently available electrical power. And these infrastructures are all controllable and flexible to the clients’ parameters, with adjustable scheduled charging windows, remote access and management, and automatic load balancing to protect both the infrastructure and the building (the EV chargers receive their electricity last, after all the others appliances in the building have been catered for - as an over-riding protection).
In circumstances similar to the above scenario, I have been able to help the client establish an EV charging facility of 4+ 11kW EV chargers, charging the EV’s of guests overnight whilst they sleep comfortably in their beds, and without compromise to the clients’ business. Enabling that business to now advertise and cater for the growing demand for overnight EV charging by their prospective guests. AND to be able to derive additional revenue from this entirely new facility that they provide.
All without the need for any ADDITIONAL power supply to the building.
W H A T | W E | D O 💚
EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURES
⚡️www.ev-pow.com⚡️
EV-Pow specialises in the installation and management of EV Charge Points and infrastructures to existing properties and those in development for:
Destination Sites.
Hotels, Inns and AirBnB.
Property Developers.
Business Owners.
Fleet & Company Car management.
Private and Commercial Landlords.
Collective EV charging solutions.
Schools & Academic Institutions.
With over thirty years experience of owning and operating multiple Destination Dining Inns and Hotels, combined with EV charging expertise of behalf of clients such as Amazon and Pfizer; EV-Pow now specialises in helping Hotels, Destination Inns, AirBnB properties, Company Car & Fleet Operators, and Collectives navigate the world of EV charging by providing tailored solutions to meet their specific needs.
Whether you’re looking to install charging stations in your parking areas, integrate EV charging into your guest services, generate an additional revenue stream, or future proof your business for tomorrow’s motorist visitor, we are here to help.
From just advice to the installation of a single unit or Multi-unit / Multi-site infrastructure; EV-Pow can facilitate a solution tailored to YOUR needs today. And future proof it for tomorrow.
And for business and community, EV-Pow could provide your EV charging infrastructure at Z E R O | C O S T to yourself. And can manage the whole operation on your behalf.
⚡️🔋 J O I N | U S 🔋⚡️
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