NEW YORK—Invisible Urban Charging (IUC), a New Zealand-based EV charging company, is installing 6,000 EV chargers in Florida. Once they have been installed, the company will have doubled the number of EV chargers in the state, making it the largest EV charger operator in Florida, according to the company.
AP reports that the chargers will be mainly at commercial sites, parking lots and other developments. The company is beginning its EV roll out in Orlando by working with Lincoln Property Company to deploy EV chargers at its new Truist Plaza building.
"EV charger infrastructure is a critical piece of the puzzle that will accelerate the shift to electric transport,” said Nigel Broomhall, co-founder and chief executive officer of IUC, in a statement. “By rolling out high volumes of EV chargers, we encourage more people to drive electric sooner. We expect our rollout will also help add high-paying local jobs, and more EVs will improve air quality, make Florida cities quieter and cleaner, reduce the dependance on foreign oil, and assist in [helping] reduce the impacts of climate change.”
IUC plans to partner with major property owners, developers, parking lot operators and other clients to provide on-site EV charging. The sites will pay IUC a monthly fee once the chargers are installed. EV owners pay to use the chargers through an IUC charging app.
The initial phase involves 3,827 chargers being installed over the next 12 months in Florida, mainly in the Orlando and Tampa areas, with at least 50 chargers available at each site, according to the company.
Pilot Company recently announced it’s partnering with General Motors on a national DC fast charging network that will be installed, operated and maintained by EVgo through its eXtend offering. The network of 2,000 charging stalls will be co-branded "Pilot Flying J" and "Ultium Charge 360" and will be open to all EV brands at up to 500 Pilot and Flying J travel centers.
Vehicle manufacturers are moving their production lines to electric vehicles, and the Biden Administration wants half of new vehicle sales be electrical vehicles by 2030. Building out an EV charging network is important to the adoption of EVs, and according to Jay Smith, executive director of the Charge Ahead Partnership, the fastest, most efficient way to build a network is to utilize fuel retailers who already have the real estate in the right locations.
“They offer the amenities that drivers have come to expect, and they have the infrastructure to provide that service. They’re used to serving drivers, and they want to continue to serve drivers in the future,” he said on last week’s NACS Convenience Matters podcast episode.
However, there are two reasons preventing convenience-store retailers from getting into the EV charging business. Find out these reasons in the episode “Is an Electric Vehicle Future Possible?”
The NACS EV Charging Calculator allows retailers to assess the cost and profitability of offering EV chargers at their sites. The calculator focuses on what retailer utility costs associated with EV recharging are and what the corresponding revenue must be to recover those costs after allowing for potential ancillary in-store visits and purchase profitability.