For most individuals and businesses, installing an electric vehicle (EV) charging station(s) will be the first time they have ever gone through the project. As exciting as it is to provide charging solutions for residents, employees, or customers, it can be fairly challenging throughout the job.
Like other first-time projects, this inexperience can lead to unnecessary design, product selection, and execution. These missteps will, unfortunately, incur additional time and money.
Of course, this would be an undesired outcome. Installing EV charging stations is already a capital expenditure. If the cost is higher than expected than it can set the owner back more than expected.
To avoid this undesired result, individuals and businesses can hire an EV Charging consultant.
What Is an EV Charging Consultant?
Sometimes known as an EV consultant, an EV Charging consultant helps individuals and businesses install charging stations. Like other construction projects, installing EV charging stations has a lot of pitfalls throughout the job.
Without the proper expertise, the project can take unnecessary turns that cost additional money and time. With an EV Charging consultant, the individual or business can rest assured that the project will be completed per expectation without these avoidable mishaps.
With the experience of completing several EV charging station projects, an EV Charging consultant knows how to save the owner money, how best to design the charging stations, which incentives are available, and much more.
What Does an EV Charging Consultant Do?
An EV Charging consultant services include, but is not limited to:
- Assess charging station demand
- Develop feasibility study
- Recommend specific charging equipment
- Provide preliminary design
- Calculate preliminary cost estimates
- Solicit and review contractor bids
- Solicit and review charging vendor bids
- Review engineering drawings
- Coordinate permitting with local jurisdiction
- Coordinate project approvals with utility service provider
- Schedule and monitor construction
- Provide quality control assessment throughout construction
- Coordinate project signoff with local jurisdiction
- Train and educate host and users on EV and EV charging
- Research and apply for incentives
As detailed above, an EV Charging consultant can provide many services to an individual or business looking to install charging stations.
Ultimately, the EV Charging consultant can either guide the individual or business through the process or be the project manager. As a project manager, the EV Charging consultant will coordinate and facilitate the project on behalf of the owner in order to get EV charging stations installed.
Why Should Individuals and Businesses Consider Hiring an EV Charging Consultant?
As mentioned previously, individuals and businesses can save time and money by hiring an EV Charging consultant. Just like hiring other consultants such as a CPA, an EV Charging consultant knows how to best navigate the project and can direct the owner in a way that best suits their expectations.
Of course an individual or business can complete their own taxes, however, they are likely to misstep or not maximize the tax credits and deductions giving them the best result. On a similar note, an EV Charging consultant can do the same with a charging station install.
There are many different types of EV chargers with various features. For example, some chargers, such as Chargepoint, can process payment, only allow employees, or change pricing based on electricity rates. The EV Charging consultant can review the owner’s needs in a charging station and select the best product for them.
Additionally, there are a lot of design considerations. An EV Charging consultant can maximize the design to reduce the amount of electrical and site work required to get the stations installed. In the end, this can save the owner a lot of money.
Furthermore, an EV Charging consultant can also save valuable staff time. Employers know very well to assign work to its employees in the most efficient way. If an employee is at capacity or doesn’t have the correct skills of a certain task, they will most likely require a lot more time (which translates to company money) to complete the job.
If the employer instead hires a consultant, they can in the end save time by maximizing their employees to other job functions they know well how to do. Alternatively, the employee can continue working on other essential tasks and leave the charging station project to an outside agency.
Closing Thoughts
Installing EV charging stations is both exciting and nerve racking. The technology is still fairly new and most people who get them installed have never done so before. As such, there is a lot to learn. Likewise, there are many different types of chargers and design decisions that can affect the total cost, project duration, and charger features.
By working with an EV Charging consultant, individuals and businesses can expect to receive a final project that meets their expectations without any headache. The EV Charging consultant can facilitate the entire project as the project manager allowing employees to continue working on other important tasks.
If you or your business are interested in installing EV charging stations but would rather leave it to a professional, get in touch with us to see how we can work together. Schedule a consultation below to get started today!
Hi there! I’m the founder and project manager at Charged Future: the EV charging consultancy. Charged Future helps businesses achieve their EV charging goals. Specifically, I serve as the project manager for your EV charging project, which can save you both time and money! Additionally, I can search and apply to all eligible rebate applications, which can typically cover a large portion of the project cost.
