Experience Sharing on Charging Pile Investment and Site Selection
How to choose the right site for community charging stations?
The construction of community charging stations often requires significant equipment and capital investment, so each station we build is intended to truly serve as many users in need as possible. How do we determine the site selection for charging stations? There are mainly four key points:
1. Geographical location:
Dense Population Area: Choose commercial districts with high foot traffic or places with complete supporting facilities, such as shopping malls, supermarkets, and dining areas, to enable users to quickly locate and access the charging station.
Traffic convenience: Ensure the charging station is easy to navigate and avoid areas with complicated road conditions to reduce users’ driving time and improve the charging convenience.
2. Land resources:.
Sufficient parking space: Choose a place with sufficient space to plan parking spaces, to avoid occupation by gasoline-powered trucks, and at the same time, consider parking fees, choose a place with lower fees or free parking fees, so as to reduce the charging threshold and cost of car owners.
Land nature: Prioritize land with clear property rights and industrial, commercial or construction land to avoid the uncertainty associated with leased land.
3. Vehicle resources: Focus on areas with concentrated new energy vehicle owners, such as regions with a high density of commercial vehicle drivers (e.g., taxi and ride-hailing drivers).
4. Power resources: Choose locations with electricity price advantages and the possibility of power capacity expansion to meet the power supply requirements for charging station construction.
Key Considerations for Charging Pile Site Selection
First, vehicle density. Similar to gas stations, charging piles serve as "energy replenishment" points for vehicles. Therefore, site selection must ensure sufficient vehicle density to avoid overly remote locations. If the surroundings are too isolated, it will take longer for owners to drive there, which can cause unnecessary troubles, especially for vehicles with low battery levels.
Secondly, the selected address should have a good drainage system. Charging piles are electrical equipment and improper drainage can lead to extremely serious hazards in the event of electric leakage. The installation site of charging piles should have smooth drainage, avoiding low-lying areas and places prone to water accumulation to prevent sensitive components like circuit boards from coming into contact with water during later use, which could cause vehicle malfunctions or electric shocks to personnel.
Finally, fire safety requirements must be met. Flammable and explosive articles should not be stored around the charging pile, and they should be kept away from fire sources to eliminate potential safety hazards. Additionally, during charging pile construction, emergency power-off buttons should be installed, and clear markings for these buttons should be posted. In case of a fire, a chain reaction may easily occur. The construction of charging piles or stations must comply with the regulations for Class C industrial buildings.
In summary, in addition to the above aspects, anti-collision facilities should be installed around charging piles to avoid unnecessary losses caused by collisions with other objects or vehicles during charging.
Locations Where Building Charging Stations Are Sure to Be Profitable
1. Areas with High Vehicle Density: As the name implies, focus on areas with a high concentration of EVs, especially commercial vehicles at this stage.
At present, the profit margin for operators mainly comes from service fees in charging costs, which are relatively low. In order to make a profit, charging stations should be built in places where the number of EVs can ensure the utilization rate of charging piles. Moreover, at present, ordinary C-end users account for a relatively small proportion, and commercial vehicles such as taxis and ride-hailing cars are the primary profit drivers. Therefore, operators should particularly focus on the number of commercial vehicles in the city.
For example, first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen have relatively high vehicle inventories, with Shanghai ranking first with over 100,000 vehicles. These cities have early and rapid new energy market development, making station construction here easily profitable. However, intense competition in large markets makes it increasingly difficult to expand scale.
As a result, second- and third-tier cities with favorable policy environments have become new choices for operators. Driven by mandatory policies, many automakers are promoting new energy vehicles, and the inventory of charging vehicles in various regions is gradually increasing.
2. The closer to the city center, the better: Is building a charging station in the city center highly profitable? Yes! But is it difficult to build there? Very much so! Therefore, station site selection is not simply about being as close to the city center as possible.
For site selection, all sections of a city can be roughly divided into three categories:
Express charging points at transportation hubs such as stations.
Key node charging points in office buildings and commercial centers and other places with a certain distance from the city center.
Trip-purpose charging points in residential areas and the city center in residential areas and downtown areas.
The first two types mostly provide charging services for commercial vehicles, which have high power, fast charging and high profits, making them priority choices for operators, while the third type is not recommended at this stage.
The target users of charging stations in downtown and residential areas are mainly ordinary end users, who are currently in small numbers and cannot ensure high charging pile utilization. Besides user volume, other insurmountable factors include:
Tight parking spaces: Existing parking spaces can barely meet the needs of gasoline-powered vehicles, making it difficult to allocate space for EVs. Even if a station is built, fuel vehicles often occupy charging spaces.
Insufficient power capacity: The city center rarely provides the high-power capacity required for charging stations, and retrofitting is difficult.
High parking fees: Limited by power capacity, stations in the city center usually have low power and slow charging, resulting in high parking costs that affect the user experience.
In the future, if you want to expand end users and form large-scale operations, the site distribution of various commercial centers is also indispensable. What solutions will be available in the future remain to be seen, and this stage is not the priority goal of operators.
3. Build Piles Where Users Are:
Both government agencies and private capital are now vigorously building charging infrastructure, and the number of charging piles is increasing everywhere. However, the utilization rate of already-built piles is extremely low. Is this due to too few users? No—it's because piles are not built where users need them. Where there are users, there is a market. Analyzing different user types helps us understand comprehensive user needs.
Currently, charging users of NEVs can be divided into two categories: commercial vehicle users and ordinary individual users. Judging from the development of new energy in various regions, promotion generally starts with commercial vehicles such as taxis, buses, and logistics vehicles (e.g., Taiyuan, Shanxi, where all taxis are electric). These commercial vehicles have many daily mileage, high power consumption and high charging frequency, which are the main target users of operators' profits at present. Ordinary individual users are relatively fewer, though some cities with effective policies (e.g., Shanghai's free license plate policy) have a certain scale of individual users, while most cities still need to grow this market.
Combining the above-mentioned zonal charging points, express charging points and key node charging points (e.g., transportation hubs and commercial centers at a distance from the city center) are more suitable for commercial vehicle users and offer higher profits, making them priority site selection considerations. Trip-purpose charging points (e.g., residential areas and office buildings) are suitable for ordinary individual users. Although their current scale is small, corresponding charging piles can gradually develop as user numbers grow with the promotion of new energy vehicles.
4. Follow the Direction of Policies
When we are entangled in the location, it is not wrong to follow the footsteps of the policy.
Beijing and Shanghai exemplify excellent policy-led development of the new energy industry. Many people in Beijing choose electric vehicles to avoid the long license plate lottery wait, while Shanghai's free license plate policy has propelled its electric vehicle inventory to the world's top. Through the growth of electric vehicle users, we see the market opportunity for operators.
Cities with newly introduced incentive policies for charging infrastructure are also priority choices for charging pile operators.
In addition, in the specific site selection of each city, the current policy encourages the construction of open charging stations in residential areas and public institutions, enterprises and institutions, office buildings, industrial parks, etc., and encourages the development of highway charging networks. Considering the site selection in combination with these factors, it is sure to enjoy more policy convenience in the future.
Site Selection Guidelines and Method Recommendations for Charging Operation Stations
I. Site Selection Principles for EV Charging Station
Priority of location: business center > suburban junction > suburban center.
High-traffic zones:
1. In the downtown business center, taxis and online car trips are concentrated.
2. Areas with concentrated passenger and logistics vehicle traffic, such as around train stations, bus stations, and large logistics parks.
3. Residential areas of ride-hailing and taxi drivers, typically located in suburban centers
Site properties:
1. Prohibited land: Agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery land.
2. Land requirements: Clear property rights, with land use designated as industrial, commercial, or construction land.
Preferred land:
1. Land with freehold property rights.
2. Leased land with a lease term of at least 5 years.
3. At least 10 charging parking spaces, with high surrounding electric vehicle traffic (based on heat maps).
Power requirements:
1. Optimal selection of surplus power capacity, low input cost of high and low voltage distribution equipment and low construction cost.
2. Ability to independently apply for station power supply, preferably close to a ring main unit, with a recommended installed power of at least 800kW.
3. Electricity prices following new energy electricity price or peak-valley-flat electricity pricing.
Other advantages
1. Site independence. Comprehensive independent parking lot is the best, and gates can be added at the entrance and exit.
2. Convenient access: Bidirectional access or dedicated entry/exit channels are preferred.
3. Parking spaces are accessible for 24 hours.
4. Above-ground parking spaces are superior to underground parking spaces, so it is not easy for the underground station to meet the acceptance requirements. For example, it is expressly stipulated in Shenzhen that the average power of charging piles in underground parking lots cannot be greater than 40kW.
5. If the existing parking lot is used, it is better to have management personnel.
6, the terrain is high and there is no water, and the ground has been hardened.
7. It is recommended to be more than 100 meters away from residential areas, or the terrain is relatively empty, otherwise there may be risks such as noise complaints and radiation complaints.
Second, the station development method
Direct method-commercial complex
Senior managers, if they have the corresponding resources or channels, can directly communicate with the chairman and general manager of the real estate group company or branch company, or the management personnel of the real estate company responsible for the corresponding property department, such as the vice president in charge of administration. This method is more common in operators with resources, often with multiple stations at a time.
Property managers and property companies are equivalent to butlers of commercial complexes, among which property managers generally have the right to negotiate for renting parking spaces. Know the situation of parking spaces (how many parking spaces can be rented, the rental price of parking spaces, the rental period) and the power situation (the current available distribution margin, electricity charges, etc.) like the palm of your hand.
Direct method-land for villages in cities, driving schools or abandoned factories
In some areas, the urbanization process is not high, and there are still some villages in the city and idle land of abandoned factories. In some areas, driving schools with large venues will be rebuilt in order to promote the construction of new energy. Such sites need to pay special attention to whether the property rights of the land are clear.
Indirect method-parking lot management company
Generally, the main business of such companies is smart parking lot management system. Direct contact with commercial complexes or property companies, familiar with the situation of major property companies in a city or region and need to keep in touch with property managers.
Indirect method-comprehensive building advertising media company
Often keep in touch with commercial complex property management companies and have a high degree of familiarity with property companies.
Indirect method-other ways
Such as engineering construction team, security and low-voltage electrical companies.
Large-scale mall parcel locker operators, such as HIVE BOX, Express Delivery, etc.
