How to Determine Fair Pricing for Parking with EV Charging Stations
Five to ten years ago, people considered the benefits of electric vehicles (EVs) for the environment and maybe their pocket, too. Now, when driving down the road, it is guaranteed you will see various types of EVs all around you. People have realized that by ditching their fuel-based cars and adopting the electric car way of life, they are doing their part to minimize their carbon footprint and save themselves a good amount of money in the long run. However, there is still a question about the cost of charging and parking these electric vehicles. Additionally, should there be an idle fee when a vehicle is parked beyond the charging window? Like gas, the EV charging parking cost varies based on location, state, and the EV vehicle’s size. This variation makes it difficult for property owners to decide how to determine fair pricing for parking with EV charging stations.
Property owners: if you seek guidance and general knowledge about how much to charge for EV-equipped parking spots for parking and considering idle fees to deter parkers from overstaying the charging window, you have come to the right place! Read our quick blog on determining fair pricing for parking with EV charging stations.
How much does it cost to charge an EV?
So, we have already concluded that owning an electric vehicle is undoubtedly cheaper than owning a fuel-guzzling car. The easiest way to save money with these vehicles is for EV owners to charge their cars at home with either their Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 charging stations. But what of the instances where EV owners are away from their homes and need to charge their vehicles? And what about EV owners living in a rental building who must rent parking and need to charge their EVs? How much does it cost to charge an EV in these scenarios?
Public EV charging pricing
There are two ways that property owners determine fair pricing for their EV charging stations.
- The first way is property owners charge the EV owner based on kilowatts per hour (kWh), billing in cents per kWh. This way is the most standard approach. On average, most property owners who have invested in EV charging stations in their parking facilities have made Level 2 chargers available to their residents, tenants, and renters. Level 2 chargers typically operate between 7-19 kilowatts. As most EVs have about a 68kw capacity, it usually takes an EV anywhere from 4 to 10 hours to charge.
- (As ParqEx’s home base is Chicago, IL, we will quickly analyze EV charging costs in Illinois based on battery size. The average electricity cost in IL is 17.43 (cents/kWh). This translates to approximately $2.96 to charge a tiny EV, $11.85 to charge an average EV, and $21.44 to charge a large EV.)
- An alternative way to charge EV owners for their charging session is to bill for electricity by the minute. This system allows a standardized amount of electricity to transfer from the charging station to the vehicle per minute. This approach is regulated based on differing state legislations along with electric companies.
How much does it cost to park an EV?
We know that parking costs vary depending on location and demand for spots. There will always be a demand for parking spaces, no matter what part of the United States people are in. In the same breath, there is a constant and ever-growing demand for EV charging parking spaces.
For the property owners with EV charging stations on-site, this lack of EV parking supply nationwide serves your benefit. By listing your EV charging parking spot on ParqEx’s parking marketplace, you can determine the cost you will charge for parking, choose between the two options listed above to determine fair pricing for EV charging stations, put time constraints on spaces, deliver notification to EV users who are about to overstay their allotted parking window, enforce violating vehicles with fines directly through the app, and earn revenue off of these charging stations.
So, how much does it cost to park an EV? As a property owner, you can determine the pricing! A common practice in deciding upon parking prices is to see what others charge in the area and build off that. For EV owners seeking parking and charging at your property, bill these users for parking and EV charging!
How to enforce EV charging stations?
Like any form of parking, EV parking also needs to be enforced. There will always be people who violate parking rules and regulations. That is why it is important to have proper enforcement regardless of the type of parking facility you operate. ParqEx’s platform and Enforcer App can help your property management and enforcement team stay on top of it all regarding recurring EV parking charging station violations, like overstaying a charging window.
Over the years, Tesla has even struggled with grievances around enforcing their supercharging stations. So much so that they decided to implement “idle fees.” The Tesla team finally settled on charging a fee of $0.50 per minute to any EV owner connected to a charging station whose vehicle was fully charged. These idle fees served as a quick way to eradicate the recurring issue of EVs overstaying at charging bays.
ParqEx enforces similarly but takes it a couple of steps further. ParqEx will issue two alerts and reminders to the EV owners, informing them they must remove their vehicle from the charging station before receiving idle fees. Additionally, idle fees and any other parking rules these vehicles may infringe upon are issued within the ParqEx app, making the collection of parking fines immediate and hassle-free.
How to determine fair pricing for parking with EV charging stations varies based on location, price of electricity, price of parking, and the charge duration. For property owners that offer charging stations to their community, the bottom line is that these stations are amenities you provide. And like most amenities, they can be a fantastic source of income. Charging EV owners purely based on electricity will not generate revenue; you must also bill for parking.
EV charging and parking come with its fair share of headaches. If your property has faced EV parking challenges such as revenue limitations, improper use of charging stations, overstaying after full-charge, and enforcing EV charging stations, ParqEx & our innovative parking property technology can help. Book a demo with us today!
