One of the big shortfalls in electric vehicle charging right now is charging in condos, apartments, and other multi-tenant residences. Over 70 million Americans and 10 million Canadians live in condominiums, rental apartments and other multi-resident homes with shared parking.
Until today, it has been very difficult for condos and other multi-unit residences to install EV Charging. This is for a few reasons. The first reason EV Chargers have traditionally been too expensive. The second problem is that many condo boards, and building managers believe that installing separate EV Chargers in a parking garage requires too much power and expensive electrical upgrades. The third reason is that fees associated with other competitive multifamily EV chargers continue to add up, so the building never pays off its initial investment to start generating a return on investment.
This is why United Chargers created the Grizzl-E Smart Commercial Bundle. The goal of the Grizzl-E Commercial Bundle is to simplify the process of installing Level 2 EV charging stations, managing chargers, and keeping track of usage. It is easy to install, easy to maintain, and easy to use for both EV drivers and building managers. With Grizzl-E Commercial Bundle, you get the very economical Grizzl-E Charger, but it is also easy to install, and there are no additional operational fees. There are no network fees or other payments for three years. After three years, the service can be renewed with ChargeLab or any other provider – so United Chargers delivers the ability to change providers after the initial term because its chargers utilize OCPP 1.6J protocol and can be connected to any backend software which utilizes the same protocol.
Installing EV Charging in condos and other multi-tenant residences is not as difficult or expensive as many believe, and with the Grizzl-E Commercial Bundle, it can be simple and economical to install as many EV chargers as you require. Buildings will need to install a 50-amp 240-volt power line to the parking lot and have a Wi-Fi connection. Getting the Wi-Fi connection to the parking facility can be easily accomplished with an extender, that can plug into any 120V outlet and extend the building’s Wi-Fi by 300 feet.
For power, most multi-tenant residences have extra power that they can utilize for EV charging without needing any expensive upgrades to the electrical system. To install a 40A charger, each charger will require a 50A breaker available in the electrical panel. Once the power is installed, the building can install the NEMA 14-50 or NEMA 6-50 plugs, or the chargers can be directly hardwired.
Often, there is not enough power in condos to meet that requirement. This is why one of the significant advantages of the Grizzl-E Commercial Bundle is dynamic power management or load sharing between different chargers. Using ChargeLab’s Smart Charging software, up to four 40A chargers can share a single 100A line. The chargers communicate with each other to ensure they can share the same power line without exceeding the limit. That way, if only one vehicle is charging, it can use the full 40A, but if all four cars are charging, they will automatically decrease their usage so the power consumption will not trip the circuit breaker. Load management is essential for multi-unit residences. It keeps installation costs down, allows buildings to install more chargers, and means that buildings don’t have to install a separate circuit for each charger.
So how much does this all cost? The typical installation of individual EV chargers at condos based on a 100-foot distance from the main panel is approximately $1700-$2200. Installing a new panel can allow a building to connect up to 20 charging ports with power management for less than $1,000 per charger for the electrical work.
With the Grizzl-E Commercial bundle, you get the EV charger, three years of software services, and a three-year warranty included in the bundle, all for one low price of $1,299 USD or $1,699 CAD.
Other EV Chargers range from $2,000 to $3,500 just for the charger alone, and this often does not even include the warranty, which can be up to $500 for three years. Some EV charging systems charge an activation fee and require dedicated trained installers to set up the EV Charger to the network. Not with the Grizzl-E Commercial bundle. Once the chargers are powered, connecting them to Wi-Fi and the ChargeLab backend is a simple process that anyone can do through our custom interface. There are no network or monthly fees for ChargeLab services either. Everything you need to control all aspects of your EV charging is included in the bundle.
Once the charger is connected to the ChargeLab backend, the site host will be able to access a dashboard where they can manage their EV chargers, set pricing, monitor revenue, and download a variety of different reports about their EV charging.
Now the EV Drivers who want to use the charger will also have a great user interface. All they have to do is take out their smartphone and scan the QR code on the front of the charger. As soon as they scan the QR Code, our web app will pop up where they can put in their credit card information and pay for a charging session without ever downloading a dedicated iOS or Android mobile app.
You can purchase the Grizzl-E Commercial Bundle on grizzl-e.com for just $1,299 USD or $1,699 CAD. For more information on the Grizzl-E Commercial Bundle, check out our website or contact us at sales@unitedchargers.com so we can discuss the best solution for you.
