Grow your revenue with an EV charging station business

With EV sales growing globally, installing EV chargers presents a lucrative business opportunity for various industries.

Operating public charging stations works well as an additional business as it runs without putting much effort in - quite the opposite of the classic petrol station. More importantly, EV charging stations can profit your business by strengthening your current revenue streams and building brand-new ones.

We'll investigate ev charging station business costs and how you can support a healthy ROI. 

Why invest in a business ev charging station

Investing in commercial stations, in particular, can provide a lucrative ROI for your business. 

However, you need to recognise that there are different use cases involved; for instance, business chargers often require a faster charge rate to ensure all employees have the opportunity to charge.  

Because of this, first determine who will use your chargers and where a strategic location would be. Other aspects to consider are:  

• Consider your business model
• Generate EV charging station revenue
• Attract new paying clientele and increase dwell time
• Make the most of government subsidies and incentives
• Use charging stations for advertising

EV charging stations business model

Like any business, it’s best to approach the project with a strategic plan - to support this, you may want to follow a particular business model. 

Do your research, think about collaborations, expect to future-proof your business, and invest in good-quality hardware and software. 

Where you start will ultimately depend on how much experience you already have within the EV industry.

It’s essential to note that the EV industry is incredibly fast-moving, so the importance of agility can not be understated. Be bold but flexible with your business decisions. 

What are the best ev charging stations for business

The best charging stations for you will completely depend on who they are intended for . It’s important to remember that different EV drivers have different needs. 

For example, a HGV fleet will likely need a charging depot hub with ultra-fast chargers (DC 150-600 kW) to limit downtime and reduce operational costs. 

In comparison, at a shopping mall, you may want to invest in AC chargers (up to 22 kW​) but have more of them to reduce wait time for drivers. 

Once you’ve determined the speed, you’ll also need to choose a charger brand. Virta can help you determine what’s best for your chosen project. We support over 400 different charger models on our platform - ensuring your business ev charging stations are best suited to your needs.

How to grow your revenue with ev charging stations 

Earning revenue from the charging stations themselves is the number one way to make money with EV charging. Of course, if you choose to set up fees for charging.

Set your prices and determine how much you earn

With Virta Hub, our cloud-based platform for managing EV charging operations, you always have an overview of your charging stations. Not only do you get access to reports and statistics, but you can also set the prices (fees) for charging. This way you have the most significant influence on how much money you earn. 

You can easily plan your profit margins and set your prices accordingly. But before you can do that, you must choose a suitable pricing model for your charging business.

Billing for public charging can be done in several ways:

• Time-based – based on how long the charging session lasts
• Energy-based – based on how much electricity is charged during a charging session
• Fixed-rate – e.g. a monthly subscription
• Hybrid pricing – a combination of time and energy based

Learn more about EV charging pricing models and how to choose the best one for you in our blog post.

With the Virta end-to-end charging solution, you can quickly turn EV charging into a profitable business and scale quickly if desired - even across multiple countries.

How much can you earn?

This is often a difficult question to answer because the outcome depends on multiple factors: 

• Location
• Utilisation
• Charging prices
• Competition
• Type of charging station (AC or DC charging, number of sockets)
• Private or public charging 

Due to the many factors, it’s rather difficult to state a concrete number. Generally, one can say that between 15% and 30% of the charging fee remains with the charging point operator (CPO), i.e., the profit margin. So an investment in a charging station should pay off on average in about five years.

Location and ROI analyses

At Virta, we help you plan your EV charging business right from the start. Our advanced location analysis tools help determine if your chosen location is suitable for EV charging stations. Factors such as the number of registered EVs and the availability of public charging stations in the area play a role, as well as the traffic volume and the road infrastructure nearby your location.

If your location seems highly profitable, consider investing in a higher number of charging stations or DC fast and high-power chargers.

An ROI (return on investment) analysis shows you the business potential of your charging stations and helps you predict your future profits.

Thanks to our extensive charging network with over 90 000 charging points, we can access valuable data from over 30 countries. This is exciting, especially looking at the insights from Sweden and Finland, as the market for electric cars in the Nordic countries is several years ahead.

Benefits of ev charging stations for business: Additional revenue

As we stated before, the primary revenue often comes from the charging station itself, but that’s not the only way to earn money. Installing EV chargers in your location brings more money-making opportunities to your business. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Attract new paying clientele and increase dwell time

The revenue you make as a byproduct of having EV chargers on site shouldn’t be underestimated. Even though, nowadays, there are many fast and ultra-fast charging stations on the market that cut the charging time, in many cases, to less than 30 minutes, the EV driver must still stick around for the duration of the charging session.

This time is often used on other services you offer, whether you operate a shopping centre, a hotel, a restaurant or a petrol station. It can be a quick shop in your store or a meal in your restaurant; either way, the additional revenue from your EV-driving customers can make a considerable part of your income. Using the example of a shopping centre, where an average charging session takes up to two hours, you could see an average additional revenue of up to 50 EUR per charging session.

Besides additional revenue, your business also benefits from several other positive aspects. These often represent vital long-term added value, such as increased customer loyalty and satisfaction and a sustainable company image, not to mention the number of new paying customers who find your business thanks to the availability of EV charging on site.

Incentives and business grants for ev charging stations

Electric vehicles are booming, but the state of EV charging infrastructure needs to be improved in many countries. Many governments are therefore finding a way to accelerate the expansion of the charging infrastructure to support the surge of EV sales.

This is primarily done with various incentives and grant schemes for businesses and individuals alike. In the UK, one can use various incentives and grants to fund their EV charging infrastructure. In many cases, grants and incentives can make up to 75% of hardware and installation costs. Even though grants and incentives won't necessarily create new revenue streams for you, they can significantly lower your initial investments.

Here are some examples:

• Workplace charging scheme: For businesses looking to install EV charging stations for employees.
• EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets: For small and medium-sized companies looking to install EV charging stations for staff and company fleets.
• The on-street residential charge point scheme: For local authorities looking to install on-street EV chargers for residents without access to a home charger.
• EV charge point & infrastructure grant: For landlords looking to install multiple charging sockets on their property. 

Our sales experts will be happy to advise you on the subject of incentives and grant schemes eligible for your business.

Let’s talk!

Use charging stations for advertising

EV charging stations have displays; why shouldn’t we take advantage of that space and use it for advertising purposes? You can advertise your business or offer it to external parties, more than willing to pay for this service.

Let’s take an example of our customer ENERES, which introduced the concept of media chargers already back in 2020. In the future, this innovative solution gives ENERES a chance to show off targeted advertisements that connects adverts with the EV driver charging at the media charger.

A glance into the future

The world’s leading management consultancy, Bain & Company, describes the future of the EV charging business as ‘golden’ in the latest study on e-mobility. 

According to the report, the EV charging business is only now getting started, and it’s expected to grow into a large and profitable multibillion-euro market in Europe by 2030. For example, EV charging revenue in Europe is expected to increase from the current 7-8 billion EUR to 55 billion EUR by 2030.

The right time to jump in and start making money with EV charging is now. Our goal at Virta is to support you every step of the way - by providing you with suitable hardware, software and support long after your EV charging stations are installed.

Learn more about creating a profitable business out of EV charging in our free e-book.

Download it now below 👇