EV Connect & Electrify America Bringing EV Charging To Multi-Family Residences

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EV Connect is building charging systems for multi-family buildings in New York City, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Raleigh. This is good news for hundreds of potential electric vehicle (EV) owners, as multi-family buildings have often been the Achilles heel for potential EV owners.

EV Connect Opens Up Multi-Unit Residential Charging for Potential EV Owners

We’ve seen many companies jump on the energy management bandwagon this past decade by installing charging stations for EVs. In this modern information age, using smart chargers offers data on our habits and energy use that means better prediction and potentially more effective help for EV adoption.

EV Connect provides such EV charging solutions and accompanying energy management systems for a complete future energy ecosystem. Its offering is a much-needed platform in the multi-unit residential space where charging stations are most needed and would often be shared. Although absent for the most part until now, a few cities are starting to mandate charging stations in such locations.

The Electrify America network, which Volkswagen was required to fund as one of its penalties for its long-term diesel emissions cheating scandal, also must include stations in such locations. Along this route, EV Connect has announced charging solutions for Electrify America for a few multi-unit dwellings in a key cities — New York City, Los Angeles, San Jose (California), and Raleigh (North Carolina).

Electrify America is investing $2 billion into EV Connect’s charging infrastructure. You can read more about Electricity America in this article from Kyle Field. EV Connect will acquire, install, and manage at least 630 charging ports at these multi-unit residential properties and workplace sites. The company says it will focus on the greater New York City, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Raleigh markets, where EVs have become more prominent the past few years. The 10 year contract includes software and hardware maintenance as well as ongoing management services for these locations.

According to Jordan Ramer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer for EV Connect: “The New York and Los Angeles markets are not only the two largest cities in the U.S. but represent more than 50% of the current EV driver populations. We are honored that Electrify America recognized our significant presence and success in these very large markets, and entrusted us with these very important opportunities.”

EV Charging Achilles Heel — Multi-Unit Dwellings

Multi-unit dwellings have been the darkhorse of EV adoption. A substantial proportion of potential EV drivers park on the street or in parkings lots for apartment buildings or condos. Street charging is still difficult to come by and won’t allow for overnight parking in most cities. Parking spaces in either situation are hard to equip with charging stations, especially if you’re a renter not invested in the property. A few cities have started forcing developers to include charging stations for dwellings accommodating a certain number of percentage of units. It seems to us every new unit, whether multi-family or single-family, should include at least a 240V outlet, at least for washing machines and dryers. But the sooner municipalities require that new developments have wiring in place for EV charging needs (or even require the stations themselves), the better. As soon as multi-unit dwellings routinely offer charging stations, we can expect EV adoption to get a welcome boost.

EV Connect & Electrify America

Work on the EV Connect projects noted above has already started and the company tells us all locations will be operational within 15 months. One thing we found of interest is that EV Connect says it will make its charging and some of its management data available to Electrify America in order to build a more robust platform.

But the thing we like the most about EV Connect is that it not only is one of the nation’s largest charging station providers, but it is based on an open, standards-based platform for EV charging. This is something we welcome since charging protocols should be open in order to make adoption as swift as possible.

Recent New York State Energy Research Development Agency (NYSERDA) Cleaner Greener Communities and California Energy Commission (CEC) West Coast Electric Highway program grants made it possible for EV Connect to complete key ecosystem buildouts in New York and California.

And what’s not to like about giving multi-unit residential properties and workplaces EV charging stations?

You can follow EV Connect on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, YouTube, and Instagram.

Featured image credit: Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica


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Nicolas Zart

Nicolas was born and raised around classic cars of the 1920s, but it wasn't until he drove an AC Propulsion eBox and a Tesla Roadster that the light went on. Ever since he has produced green mobility content on various CleanTech outlets since 2007 and found his home on CleanTechnica. He grew up in an international environment and his communication passion led to cover electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, renewable energy, test drives, podcasts, shoot pictures, and film for various international outlets in print and online. Nicolas offers an in-depth look at the e-mobility world through interviews and the many contacts he has forged in those industries. His favorite taglines are: "There are more solutions than obstacles." and "Yesterday's Future Now"

Nicolas Zart has 572 posts and counting. See all posts by Nicolas Zart