Commercial EV Charging
High-stakes personal decisions requiring trust, guidance, and coordinated execution across multiple parties.
Inside this journey
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Customer Discovery
Align on desired outcomes, site constraints, utility capacity, decision-makers, and success signals.
Discovery Questions
Why Is This on Your Radar Today?
- What's prompted you to explore EV charging now?
- Tell us about any recent tenant conversations, leasing events, or incidents that made this a priority.
- How urgent is a decision on this project from your perspective?
- Who on your team reacted most strongly when this topic came up—and what was their primary concern or desire?
- What is your primary goal for offering charging in the next 12–24 months?
- Do you already work with vendors (EV charging providers, electrical contractors, or specific property managers) we should know about?
What Would Make This Project a Win?
- If you could guarantee one outcome from this project—tenant happiness, cost neutrality, or future-proofing—which would matter most?
- Which measurable goals would prove the deployment succeeded (pick all that apply)?
- What uptime target would you consider acceptable for the chargers and network?
- How will you know the system is accepted at handover—what are your acceptance criteria?
- If you had to describe a headline outcome that would make the owners feel this was worth doing, what would it say?
What's Hidden Behind Your Electrical Panel?
- Are you confident the existing electrical service can support additional charging, or are you hoping upgrades won’t be necessary?
- What is the building's main service size or main breaker rating (amps)? If unknown, approximate or upload later.
- How is metering arranged for the site?
- Has anyone completed a recent load study, one-line diagram, or as-built electrical drawing?
- Where are chargers most likely to be installed: surface lot, structured garage (ramp levels), curbside, tenant-designated stalls, or fleet area?
- What physical or historic constraints could affect installation (ceiling height, concrete thickness, heritage status, ventilation, conduit runs)?
- How would you feel about trade-offs such as using software load management instead of a transformer/service upgrade?
Who Holds the Keys (and the Budget)?
- If one signature could greenlight this tomorrow, whose signature would it be and why?
- Which stakeholders must be consulted or will influence the decision (leasing, operations, sustainability, tenants, municipality)?
- What budget approval thresholds should we know about (e.g., amounts that trigger additional approvals)?
- Do you have procurement constraints—preferred-vendor lists, competitive-bid requirements, or sole-source policies?
- How do your stakeholders typically react to revenue-share or concession models versus capital spend?
- How important are vendor references, past portfolio, and uptime SLAs to your decision—deal breaker, very important, or nice-to-have?
Money: What's Realistic vs. Fantasy?
- Would you prioritize lower upfront cost with shared revenue, or owning equipment and keeping recurring revenue?
- Do you expect utility rebates or incentives to materially change the installed cost?
- After rebates, what installed cost per Level 2 port would you find acceptable?
- Are you open to multi-year operations and maintenance agreements to secure uptime and simplify management?
- How would you prefer billing to work for users: operator-managed payments, property-managed accounts/permits, or free for certain user groups?
- Who in your finance team should we involve for rebate capture, budget alignment, or revenue accounting?
Tenant Experience — How Should It Feel?
- Are you responding to tenant requests or trying to create an amenity that attracts new tenants?
- Which user groups will be primary drivers of demand: employees, visitors/customers, residents, or fleet vehicles?
- What payment or access model do you prefer: pay-per-use, permit-based, free for tenants, or integrated with parking accounts?
- How important are features like reservations, priority stalls, or charging time limits for tenant satisfaction?
- What are your biggest concerns about tenant experience (billing disputes, access control, fairness between tenants)?
- Do you have internal communications resources to educate tenants, or would you want the vendor to provide tenant-facing materials?
- What charger types do you believe suit your site (wall-mounted Level 2, pedestal Level 2, DC fast) and why?
Timeline & Risk — What Could Break This?
- In your experience, what single issue derails most projects like this—utility lead times, permitting, tenant pushback, or something else?
- Are there immovable deadlines we must hit (rebate expiration, tenant move-in/move-out, lease renewal)?
- How much parking disruption is acceptable during installation?
- Do you have preferred construction hours, noise restrictions, or security protocols we should plan around?
- Tell us about a past capital project that ran into trouble—what happened and how would you avoid it here?
- If we discover a major electrical or site constraint on assessment day, who must be informed immediately?
Smallest Step That Proves a Big Idea
- Would you be open to a small pilot (2–10 chargers) to validate demand before a full rollout?
- Which deliverable would move you from discovery to proposal: a site visit & high-level SOW, a preliminary engineering budget, or a full electrical study?
- Who should we coordinate with to schedule the site assessment and collect drawings (name, role, contact)?
- Can you share utility account numbers, one-line diagrams, or site drawings to accelerate analysis? (Choose best option)
- When is a realistic date for our team to perform an on-site assessment?
- After our discovery conversation, what would leave you feeling confident and ready to move forward?
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Solution Experience
Walk through how our integrated site assessment, electrical design, and operations deliver tenant-facing charging using the customer’s real site scenarios and outcomes.
Experience Meetings
- Solution Experience Kickoff
- Customer Site Scenario Walkthrough
- Electrical Design & Capacity Proof
- Operations & Tenant Experience Validation
- Experience Validation & Go/No‑Go
- Align on SLA, monitoring KPIs, and the tenant onboarding and acceptance testing plan.
- Introductions & Objectives
- Compile a list of site constraints and stakeholder approvals needed (structural, parking management, tenant sign-off).
- Create 2–3 tenant journey storyboards (arrival, charging, billing) for operations review.
- Reaffirm Future State & Targets
- Demonstrate electrical feasibility for the selected placement scenario and the ability to meet the future state.
- Select a preferred electrical approach (upgrade vs. LMS vs. phased) with cost and timeline clarity.
- Identify utility coordination needs, permit dependencies, and technical sign‑offs required to proceed.
- Deliver a preliminary single‑line diagram and load calculation supporting the chosen electrical approach.
- Provide NTE cost estimate and schedule range for the preferred electrical path and record decision rationale.
- Initiate utility engagement and capture required application materials and expected lead times.
- List permit types, responsible parties, and estimated approval timelines for the project plan.
- Recap Acceptance Criteria
- Prove the platform and operational model will deliver the agreed future state and success signals.
- Agree on a one‑sentence future state and measurable success signals to prove in the experience.
- Agree on revenue/billing model and responsibilities for billing reconciliation and tenant support.
- Provide an SLA summary and a KPI dashboard template mapped to the customer's success signals.
- Deliver draft tenant onboarding materials and acceptance test scripts for customer review.
- Circulate a sample billing flow and revenue-share calculation for the customer's finance team to confirm.
- Assign operational owners and confirm escalation contacts for maintenance and incident response.
- Executive Summary: Current → Future
- Obtain explicit customer decision to proceed to Solution Scope or identify exactly what remains to be resolved.
- Agree on owners and timelines for any residual risks that must be closed before Scope or Deployment.
- Schedule the Solution Scope meeting with required stakeholders and deliverables.
- Record the go/no‑go decision and circulate a one‑page decision memo linking to all proof artifacts.
- If go: finalize attendee list and prework for Solution Scope; if no‑go: assign owners and target dates to close the gaps.
- Create a concise risk register with owners and mitigation deadlines for the project file.
- Produce a single clear sentence describing the current state, with consensus from stakeholders.
- Surface and quantify the key consequences of doing nothing or a partial solution.
- Confirm necessary prework, data artifacts, and owners to enable the site‑specific experience.
- Document the agreed one‑sentence current state and circulate to all attendees.
- Quantify consequences (cost/tenant risk/operational impact) using available data and share a short memo.
- Capture the agreed future state sentence and the list of success signals/acceptance criteria.
- Collect prework artifacts: annotated site plan, latest utility bills, tenant parking profiles, and deliver to the team.
- Recap Preconditions & Future State
- Validate at least one placement and user-flow scenario that demonstrably supports the defined future state.
- Identify and document site constraints, tenant preferences, and stakeholder approvals required for chosen scenarios.
- Agree on 1–2 preferred placement schemes to be carried into electrical design modeling.
- Produce an updated site plan with the agreed placement scheme(s) annotated.
- One‑sentence Current State
- Review Existing Service & Metering
- Review Annotated Site Plans
- Key Evidence & Proof Points
- Network & Platform Capabilities (Proof Points)
- Tenant & Use-Case Scenarios
- Billing, Revenue-Share & Tenant Billing Experience
- Load Study & Peak Demand Modeling
- Explicit Consequence
- Open Risks & Mitigations
- Placement Options & Tradeoffs
- Upgrade Options & Tradeoffs
- Maintenance, Monitoring & SLAs
- Cost/Timeline Snapshot & ROI Implication
- Define Future State (One Sentence)
- Decision & Next Steps
- Power‑per‑Port & Load‑Management Proof
- Tenant Onboarding & Acceptance Testing Plan
- Success Signals & Acceptance Criteria
- Operational Flows (arrival → charging → billing)
- Risk, Contingencies & Utility Coordination
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Solution Scope
Specify charger counts, power-per-port, electrical upgrades or load‑management, placement, permitting responsibilities, and acceptance criteria.
Scope Configuration
- Install Level 2 AC Charging Stations
- Install DC Fast Charging Stations
- Install Electrical Transformer and Service Upgrade
- Install Distribution Panels and Circuit Breaker Upgrades
- Trenching and Underground Conduit Installation
- Install Charger Branch Circuit Wiring and Conduits
- Mount Chargers to Concrete Pads and Bollards
- Install Load Management and Power Control System
- Install On-site Metering and Submetering Hardware
- Install Network Gateway and Cellular/Wi‑Fi Connectivity
- Install Payment Kiosk and Access Control Hardware
- Commission Chargers and Perform Site Commissioning
- Deliver Preventive Maintenance and Repair Service
- Install Signage, Pavement Markings, and ADA Stall Markings
- Provide Property Staff Charger Operation Training
Scope Questions
Install Level 2 AC Charging Stations
- Desired number of Level 2 (AC) charging ports to install?
- Target power per port (kW) for Level 2 chargers?
- Intended primary user groups for these Level 2 chargers?
- Preferred mounting/placement for Level 2 chargers (helps determine civil/electrical work)?
- Who will be responsible for permitting and parking authority approvals for Level 2 installations?
Install DC Fast Charging Stations
- Number of DC fast charging (DCFC) dispensers or ports required?
- Target charging power per DCFC port?
- Will DCFC be publicly accessible or limited to site users?
- Does the site currently have three-phase service and sufficient service capacity for DCFC?
- Preferred payment and billing model for DCFC (impacts kiosk/integration scope)?
Install Electrical Transformer and Service Upgrade
- Does the site require a utility transformer or service size upgrade to support the chargers?
- Preferred ownership model for upgraded transformer/service?
- Acceptable timeline for utility service/transformer upgrades?
- Are there site constraints (pad space, historical/site access) that may affect transformer placement?
- Who will coordinate utility applications, fees, and interconnection agreements?
Install Distribution Panels and Circuit Breaker Upgrades
- Do existing distribution panels have spare circuit slots or space for new breakers?
- Estimated number of new subpanels or breakers anticipated for this deployment?
- Should new panels be installed in the main electrical room or remote enclosures near parking?
- Are there property or vendor standards for panel brands, breaker types, or labeling?
- Who will arrange and be present for final electrical inspections and sign-offs?
Trenching and Underground Conduit Installation
- Will charger feeds require new trenching and underground conduit runs?
- Approximate trench run length from electrical source to parking area?
- Are there known underground utilities or obstructions along the proposed run?
- What surface restoration is required after trenching (affects civil scope and cost)?
- Who will secure civil/street-opening permits and coordinate with the municipality?
Install Charger Branch Circuit Wiring and Conduits
- Do you require dedicated branch-circuit wiring to each charger location or shared circuits via load management?
- Preferred conduit type and routing for branch runs in your facility?
- Are there existing conduits or raceways near stalls that can be reused?
- Are there cable length or voltage-drop constraints that will affect charger placement?
- Do you require as-built wiring schematics and labeled circuit directories on completion?
Mount Chargers to Concrete Pads and Bollards
- Will chargers be wall-mounted, pedestal-mounted on concrete pads, or require bollards for protection?
- Do parking stalls require protective bollards or vehicle-impact barriers?
- Are ADA-compliant stall dimensions and clearances required at these charger locations?
- Are there scheduling constraints for concrete pours, curing times, or contractor access?
- Who will coordinate site access, traffic control, and contractor staging for mounting works?
Install Load Management and Power Control System
- Do you require load management or power-sharing to stay within site service limits?
- Should the power control system integrate with the building EMS/BAS or operate standalone?
- Do you need priority or policy-based charging rules (e.g., tenant priority, fleet priority)?
- Is integration with utility demand-response or time-of-use controls required?
- Who will be authorized to manage configuration, thresholds, and firmware updates for the power control system?
Install On-site Metering and Submetering Hardware
- Do you require submetering for individual chargers, groups of chargers, or whole-site only?
- Will meters be used for user billing, tenant cost-allocation, operational reporting, or rebate compliance?
- Does the utility or rebate program require revenue-grade metering or specific meter certification?
- Preferred metering communication protocol or integration (affects gateway scope)?
- Who will own, maintain, and read metering equipment for billing and reporting purposes?
Install Network Gateway and Cellular/Wi‑Fi Connectivity
- Do chargers require real-time network connectivity for monitoring, payments, firmware updates, and remote support?
- Preferred connectivity method for the site?
- Are there parking areas with poor cellular or Wi‑Fi coverage that need a site RF survey?
- Should network gateway support OTA updates, remote diagnostics, and analytics forwarding?
- Who will manage SIMs, data plans, and network security policies (VPNs, firewalls)?
Install Payment Kiosk and Access Control Hardware
- Do you require an on-site payment kiosk or will payments be handled through the charging network/app only?
- Is access control required (permit-only stalls, RFID cards, license-plate recognition)?
- Does the kiosk/access system need to integrate with existing parking or property access systems?
- How should revenue from paid charging be allocated?
- Are ADA accessibility features and multilingual interfaces required for the kiosk?
Commission Chargers and Perform Site Commissioning
- Should commissioning include full functional testing, network verification, and site load testing?
- Do you require a formal acceptance checklist and sign-off process from property owner or stakeholders?
- Will facility, IT, or security stakeholders be available on-site during commissioning?
- Do you require a tenant or pilot user acceptance test period before final acceptance?
- Do you require as-built documentation, schematics, commissioning reports, and O&M manuals delivered digitally?
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Mutual Commit
Finalize pricing, rebate and revenue-share allocation, SLAs, permit handoffs, timeline, and roles for construction and operations.
Agreement Modules
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- Pricing and Payment Schedule
- Rebate & Incentive Allocation
- Revenue Share & Billing Model
- Service Level Agreement (SLA)
- Installation & Construction Agreement
- Permit Responsibilities & Handoff
- Utility Coordination & Electrical Upgrades
- Testing, Commissioning & Acceptance Criteria
- Operations & Maintenance Handoff
- Change Order Procedure
- Insurance, Indemnity & Liability
- Data Processing & Privacy Agreement (DPA)
- Termination & Decommissioning Terms
- Final Acceptance & Closeout Checklist
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Deployment
Coordinate utility upgrades, permitting, installation, network integration, and testing with owners, milestones, and contingencies.
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Success
Confirm acceptance against success signals, monitor uptime and usage, onboard tenants, and manage ongoing support and improvements.
Success Reviews
- Acceptance & Success-Signal Review
- Operational Monitoring & SLA Review (Recurring Monthly)
- Tenant Onboarding & User Experience Workshop
- Support & Continuous Improvement Retrospective
- Quarterly Executive Business Review (QBR)
Issues & Enhancements
- Support to produce RCA for top three incident types and proposed remedies
- Finance to deliver a reconciled revenue-share statement for the reporting period
- Engineering to schedule and communicate planned firmware update window
- Ops to adjust monitoring thresholds based on agreed peak-event definitions
- Attendee Roles & Communication Paths
- Ensure tenant admins can complete registration and demonstrate a successful charging session.
- Agree on tenant-facing policies, signage, and enforcement responsibility.
- Confirm support SLAs and tenant communication plan for launch.
- Ops to produce tenant welcome kit (step-by-step registration, FAQ, contact info)
- Property to approve signage locations and provide any branding rules
- Support to create a tenant-specific escalation list and onboarding schedule
- Marketing to prepare tenant launch emails and pilot incentives
- Review Incident & Ticket Trends
- Identify high-impact reliability fixes and assign owners to reduce repeat incidents.
- Ensure maintenance readiness with appropriate spare parts and contractor SLAs.
- Produce a prioritized three-month improvement roadmap with owners and dates.
- Introductions & Objectives
- Procurement to reorder critical spare parts to restore minimum inventory levels
- Product to plan and schedule a firmware release validation in staging
- Ops to publish the three-month improvement roadmap and assign owners
- Program Performance Summary
- Validate that the program is delivering expected business value and decide on continuing, expanding, or modifying scope.
- Approve any required capital allocation or contract amendments for the next quarter.
- Ensure leadership alignment on strategic priorities and next major milestones.
- Finance to produce a detailed variance report comparing actuals to forecast
- Leadership to approve or decline proposed expansion scope and funding
- Operations to provide a project plan and timeline for any approved expansion
- Customer success to schedule a stakeholder alignment session to communicate executive decisions
- Validate that all documented success signals are either met or have an agreed remediation plan.
- Secure formal acceptance or conditional acceptance with clear remediation owners and dates.
- Establish the initial operational monitoring cadence and primary support contacts.
- Owner to close identified punch-list items and report status before next checkpoint
- Operations team to publish initial uptime/usage baseline dashboard access for the owner
- Schedule first 30-day monitoring review meeting
- Opening & Previous Action Review
- Confirm SLA compliance or document deviation and corrective plan.
- Identify capacity constraints or utilization trends that require operational or design changes.
- Resolve billing or revenue discrepancies and confirm payment/reconciliation steps.
- Operations to investigate recurring incident category and propose permanent fix
- Review of Contractual Success Signals
- User Registration & Access Flow
- Uptime & Incident Summary
- Financial Review & Revenue Share
- Maintenance & Spare Parts Readiness
- Software/Firmware Update Strategy
- Usage Patterns & Capacity Observations
- ROI vs Business Case Review
- Commissioning & Test Results
- Live App/Portal Demonstration (Hands-On)
- Regulatory & Utility Incentive Updates
- Uptime Baseline & Initial KPIs
- User Feedback & Adoption Barriers
- Billing & Revenue Reconciliation
- Signage, Allocation & Parking Policy Integration
- Punch List Review & Remediation Plan
- Alerts, Thresholds & Monitoring Tuning
- Expansion Options & Capacity Roadmap
- Improvement Backlog Prioritization
- Support Workflow & Tenant-Facing SLA
- Formal Acceptance & Handover Criteria