EV Charger Financial Incentives for Hotels
Is your hotel thinking about accommodating electric vehicles (EVs)? With the number of EV drivers on the rise, there are both opportunities and financial incentives for hotels to get ahead of the trend by offering guests a place to charge.
Only 26.6% of American hotels have installed EV charging stations on their property. Many businesses begin their EV charger projects by asking about the cost of EV chargers. However, successful projects begin by analyzing business goals first and then figuring out how to get there. Many factors influence the cost of EV charger installation. And there are many financial incentives available to your hotel if you know where to look and how to acquire them.
It helps to work with an experienced partner who can guide you along the way. EV charging projects are complicated, with many necessary steps to bring the project to fruition. Of course, this includes the upgrade of the necessary utility infrastructure and installation of the EV chargers themselves. As part of the process, Future Energy also helps you to apply for and obtain available financial incentives. Our consultants help your hotel find ways to reduce your overall installation costs.
The pool of funds is limited, and all businesses are competing for the same financial incentives. That’s why it’s important to get in line early to maximize the opportunity to offset the cost of EV charger installation.
Beginning the EV Readiness Journey for Hotels
Before any discussion about financial incentives, Future Energy assesses your hotel’s readiness to install EV chargers. Part of the assessment involves working with you to identify your unique business use case.
Collecting Business and Operations Data to Drive Decisions
EV charging is about much more than dropping a piece of equipment in your parking lot. Instead, Future Energy uses data to drive business decision-making so that you can maximize the value of your EV charging project.
We help to educate our clients about available smart technologies and energy use and the potential impact of EV charging on your business processes and profitability.
Future Energy collects business and operational data concerning your hotel’s operations, sales, energy use, and other important metrics to evaluate your specific needs.
Using Available Government Funds to Reduce EV Charger Project Cost
Many hotel & hospitality businesses are unaware that there’s money available to cover up to 100% of your EV charger infrastructure installation costs. One way to approach your strategy is to start at the end. In other words, if you wish to qualify for funds, you can determine the qualifications first and then design your project to meet the network and hardware requirements.
Identifying Financial Incentive Requirements
Qualification for financial incentives usually requires your hotel to meet specific requirements. These requirements include:
- Public port specifications: A certain number of EV chargers must be available for public charging.
- Hardware coverage: Some financial incentives require the installation of direct-current fast chargers, also called level 3 chargers. Level 3 chargers can fully charge an EV in about a half hour. Providing a quick charge for drivers ties in with government mandates to support the transition to EVs.
- Utility coverage: Your hotel’s infrastructure may need to upgrade to 480-volt three-phase power to support level 3 chargers.
Finding and Obtaining Financial Assistance
The process of offsetting EV charger installation costs with financial incentives is complex. This is especially true for businesses with properties across state lines or even hotels in different cities.
Future Energy’s FIND the Money Tool
Future Energy has developed an extremely accurate database that we use to help our clients uncover 99% of financial incentives available at the national, state, and local levels. Our Financial Incentive National Database (FIND) tool includes tax incentives, grants and rebates, and utility rate reductions.
Future Energy identifies funding opportunities proactively. That means Future Energy can identify programs for your business before they hit the market. Additionally, Future Energy helps our clients stack incentives so that your hotel maximizes all available money to apply to your EV charging project.
National Incentives
The federal government has passed legislation and established credits to encourage businesses to invest in EV charging environments. For example, the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit offers a tax incentive of up to 30% of the cost of EV charging equipment and installation, subject to certain requirements.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides additional opportunities to qualify for federal money to offset the cost of EV chargers. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program sets aside money for states to allocate to qualifying businesses that install EV charging infrastructure.
Local Variations
Generally, your local utility will provide rebates for commercial EV charger installation as well as offer special rates that apply to EV charging. These incentives vary widely in terms of requirements and financial opportunity.
If you own multiple franchises in various states or local jurisdictions, it can be complicated to untangle all of the differing regulations. Future Energy’s subject matter experts specialize in helping businesses with entities in multiple locations.
Recognizing the Urgency of Obtaining Funds
The pool of available financial incentives is limited. Money runs out, and all businesses are competing for the same pool of funds.
Future Energy works with businesses across North America to help them obtain incentives. We understand exactly what local utilities are looking for. Proper preparation means your business gets to the front of the line to obtain financial incentives.
Applying Funds to Reduce Installation Costs
Your EV charging station project generally has to meet requirements in two ways, and Future Energy can help. First, you will have to meet specifications for electrical infrastructure and EV charger availability. Second, once you have installed your EV chargers, most utilities have an ongoing requirement regarding connectivity. In other words, you must establish a data connection with your utility.
Preparing Financial Assistance Applications
Often, financial assistance applications list many requirements that differ by location and type of funding.
No matter how many states your hotels operate in, you don’t have to search for local incentives as a one-off. Instead, you can manage the logistics surrounding financial incentives nationwide for all your locations very rapidly. The FIND tool identifies all available funds in every state, and then Future Energy consultants guide you through the various application processes.
Connecting Hotel Chargers to the Larger EV Charging Network
Financial incentives rely upon the ability of your EV chargers to connect to the internet. For example, utilities must be able to monitor EV charger use in order to apply rate reductions.
Future Energy’s software Interface connects to all of your hotel’s smart systems and allows you to measure and monitor power use throughout all your properties. Interface also connects to wider EV charging networks, which helps to establish them as “public facing” and thus fulfill a primary requirement of acquiring financial incentives.
Finding Help in Acquiring Financial Incentives for Your Hotel
Future Energy strives to provide exceptional customer service, helping you to find all available financial incentives to offset EV charging project costs. Contact us today so that we can begin to work on establishing your business goals and how obtaining financial incentives fits into your plans.
