December 23, 2024

A Better EV Charging Experience: 5 Tips for Commercial Properties

5 Min. Read

Are you planning a commercial electric vehicle (EV) charging project? To maximize your investment and ensure long-term profitability, offering an exceptional charging experience that is convenient, reliable, and seamlessly user-friendly is a must.

But unlike most other commercial services, EV charging will require new strategies and procedures that incorporate more than just customer service and a quality product.

In this article, we will explore strategies you can implement to provide your customers with an excellent EV charging experience that sets your business apart and sets your EV charging operations up for years of success.

Smarter Charging: Why EV Charging Site Design Matters

Creating a great EV charging experience starts with ensuring safety and convenience. While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) establishes design and accessibility standards for commercial EV charging stations, going beyond compliance can improve the user experience even further.

Here are some things to keep in mind when site planning your EV charging locations with a licensed electrical contractor:

You want to ensure the location of your EV charging station is easy to see and access from the road.
Make sure EV drivers have enough space to comfortably maneuver around the chargers.
With more than 40 different EV models on the road in 2024, factors like cable length and charging station placement play a crucial role in ensuring accessibility for all types of EVs.
At this time, men are twice as likely to own an EV, with many women citing public charging safety as a concern. By offering well-lit charging areas that create a safer and more welcoming environment, you can help bridge the gender gap in EV adoption and foster increased EV adoption.

EV Charging Uptime and In-Person EV Charger Maintenance

A recent study found that EV charging networks have an average uptime of just over 73%. Improving uptime is crucial to delivering a reliable and positive EV charging experience, and the key to achieving it lies in prioritizing preventive EV charger maintenance.

Daily visits from a site attendant to the charging sites can help catch obvious issues, such as leaves, snow, or trash blocking access to the stations, or damaged charging cables. Immediately addressing minor issues can help prevent small maintenance problems from becoming greater and more time- and cost-intensive to resolve

You should also partner with a qualified EV charging station installer to perform monthly and seasonal inspections. A licensed professional can test charging station performance, assess wear-and-tear on charging cables and ports, and ensure stations are running the latest firmware.

For optimal uptime, hire a licensed professional who offers commercial electrical services and maintenance solutions. These plans typically include regular visits and emergency repairs, which is beneficial, as finding a qualified contractor on short notice can be difficult due to the high demand for these services and the dwindling workforce of qualified electricians.

Remote Monitoring

Remote monitoring also plays a crucial role in charger maintenance by enabling a proactive and quick response to potential issues. Here are some key benefits:

Onsite cameras can detect issues as soon as they arise, enhancing safety for users in the charging environment.
Connected chargers can self-report software issues and malfunctions, allowing monitoring by a third-party provider, a company employee, or an onsite team. With over 50% of charger issues coming from connectivity problems, a charger going offline can automatically trigger a visit from your maintenance partner.
Add signage with a direct contact number or implement an app that allows EV drivers to report issues directly.

By prioritizing remote network monitoring, you can ensure a seamless charging experience and prevent downtime. It’s essential to have a responsive process in place for addressing any issues when a charger goes offline or self-diagnoses a problem, as delays in maintenance and repair can lead to an increase in frustrations for your customers and, over time, a lack of trust in the reliability of your services.

Clear Communication at the EV Charging Site

A well-informed user is a satisfied one. Your commercial EV charging site needs signage that indicates amperage and other charging specs so that EV owners can check for compatibility and know approximately how long charging will take. This can also help prevent EV drivers with lower amperage needs from taking up space at faster charging stations.

Clearly displaying your pricing model is also important, whether you charge by the kWh, hour, or use a flat-fee pricing structure. Consider implementing a fee for idle time to encourage drivers to charge mindfully and prevent frustration from other customers waiting to charge.

Signage should also indicate the path to enter and exit the charging site to avoid confusion.

Enhance the EV Charging Experience with New Tech Solutions

A charging app can greatly improve the EV charging experience. Functions can include checking for charger availability and uptime, estimating charging times, and paying digitally.

Innovations such as computer vision, a combination of AI and smart cameras, are also transforming EV charging. For example, this technology can quickly identify EV models to deliver personalized charging recommendations or help with spotting problems at the charging site. Smart cameras can also read license plates to bill users accordingly and manage charging preferences. It’s an interesting solution for sites that combine workplace EV charging or commercial fleet electrification in addition to public charging.

Building a tech-oriented charging infrastructure designed for future growth from the start will put you in an ideal position to adopt new technologies as they become more readily available.

Offer a Better EV Charging Experience with Qmerit

By focusing on accessibility, safety, reliability, and user experience, you can build a successful commercial EV charging station that will quickly become a preferred charging destination for EV drivers in your area.

Remember that well-maintained, user-friendly charging stations don’t just serve your current customers, but also help drive the broader adoption of electric vehicles and position your business as a leader in sustainable transportation infrastructure. This can also help your company achieve its ESG goals, further propelling your business into a more resilient future.

As your commercial electrification partner, the Qmerit network offers EV charging installation services and maintenance plans.

With coast-to-coast coverage, turnkey solutions that streamline your project, and the largest network of certified electrical contractors in North America, we’ve built our reputation on providing the highest level of quality and service—making electrification easy.

With over 450,000 EV charging stations installed and an industry-leading customer satisfaction record, no one is more experienced or qualified than Qmerit’s network of certified electrical contractors.

Contact Qmerit today for seamless EV charging solutions at your commercial property!