The integration of EV charging in apartment communities faces hurdles such as high costs, limited space, complex ownership, regulations, and uncertain ROI. Orange was built from the ground up to solve all these issues, but how exactly did we do it?

Electric vehicles have revolutionized the automotive industry, from promising a greener future and reducing reliance on fossil fuels to challenging the dealership model and changing how cars are sold. As EV adoption continues to surge, it becomes crucial to address the lack of charging infrastructure, especially in apartment communities. 

While the convenience of at-home charging is widely sought after, the reality is that EV charging stations are not yet commonplace in apartment complexes. While millions have been spent and many start-ups have come and gone trying to solve this problem, it remains persistent. Delve into the reasons behind the slow integration of EV charging at apartment communities and you can see there are some major challenges, but with the right solution many of these problems are easily solved.

Infrastructure Costs

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Challenge: One of the primary challenges hindering the widespread adoption of EV charging in apartment communities is the high cost associated with installing the necessary infrastructure. Retrofitting an existing apartment complex with EV charging stations requires significant investment in electrical infrastructure upgrades, dedicated parking spaces, charging equipment, and related maintenance expenses. For property owners, these costs can be prohibitive, especially when considering the potential low utilization rate if most residents don't own EVs.

Orange Solution: While infrastructure additions will always come at a cost there are some rather clever ways to bring these costs down substantially. By understanding how EV drivers charge the answer becomes rather simple. Most EV drivers want to be able to come home, plug-in, and then go about the rest of their night.

Not too many people want to come back to their parked car after a few hours and move it. So the current standard of a 6.6kW level 2 stations are completely overkill as they put roughly 30 miles of range per hour back on the vehicle. As the Average American drives under 40 miles per day and because they'll likely come home and park for 8 hours or more, high powered stations don't really fit in apartments. 

Orange solves this by providing lower powered stations that can bring upwards of 150 miles of range overnight. These stations cost up to 70% less, cut down massively on the infrastructure needed, and can be installed en masse. In essence, by going lower powered apartment communities eliminate many of the high costs associated with adding EV charging.

Limited Space

Challenge: Apartment communities often face space constraints, which pose additional challenges when it comes to implementing EV charging infrastructure. Providing charging stations requires allocating dedicated parking spots with suitable electrical connections. As parking spaces are already a valuable commodity, accommodating EV charging stations without sacrificing parking availability can be a complex task.

 The need for additional space can deter property owners from pursuing such installations. This comes mostly in the form of large complex charging systems that take up a great deal of wall space and when new electrical infrastructure is required (see above) it too can take up a great deal of space, especially in electrical rooms that were not designed to add additional infrastructure.

Orange Solution: Bringing new infrastructure into any building is going to take up space, but unlike oversized and complex charging systems that need cable management systems, Orange is a simple, minimal plug. By choosing to use a receptacle-based system we cut down on the inherent space limitations that exist in apartment community parking areas, especially underground garages.

Complex Ownership Structures

Challenge: Apartment communities are often characterized by complex ownership structures involving multiple stakeholders, such as property management companies, homeowners’ associations, and individual unit owners. Making decisions regarding infrastructure installations requires consensus among these stakeholders, which can be time-consuming and challenging. Conflicting interests, budgetary constraints, and varying levels of enthusiasm for EVs can further complicate the decision-making process.

Orange Solution: It’s never easy to make all these competing interests happy, however Orange works with apartment communities ensuring that we can be extremely flexible when implementing the right solution. If you don't have an electrician, we are happy to recommend some. If you have someone you already like or one on staff, we'd love to work with them. We can just sell your hardware and let you set it up yourself or we can provide complete turn-key services. We want to work with communities in the capacity that they need and give them the ability to build out their charging systems exactly how they want.

Regulatory Hurdles

Challenge: The regulatory landscape surrounding EV charging infrastructure is still evolving in many regions. Depending on local laws, property owners might encounter zoning restrictions, permitting issues, or regulatory requirements that make it difficult to install charging stations. Adhering to these regulations, obtaining necessary permits, and ensuring compliance with safety standards can add considerable complexity and delays to the installation process.

Orange Solution: Solving for these regulatory hurdles can be a pain, even for us. However, another benefit of using lower-powered charging outlets is that many of these issues simply don't apply. Why? It’s because while our outlets are packed with functionality, from an electrical standpoint they are simply lower power outlets and as such permitting and safety concerns are not of great concern. Beyond that, many fees associated with permitting high power appliances such as EV chargers do not apply to Orange either so even more money can be saved.

Uncertain ROI and Revenue Models

Challenge: From a property owner's perspective, the return on investment (ROI) for EV charging infrastructure might not be immediately evident. Given the current relatively low penetration of EVs in the market, property owners may question the financial viability of installing charging stations. Additionally, because installing traditional systems has a high upfront cost it will take decades to achieve any kind of payback, and that’s without factoring in the long-term maintenance costs required. 

Determining appropriate pricing models to recoup the investment and cover ongoing maintenance costs can be challenging if not impossible. Property owners need assurance that the demand for EV charging among residents will justify the costs incurred but even then, it’s unlikely they'll achieve any kind of true ROI.

Orange Solution: Orange makes earning a true ROI easy. First, by using lower-powered stations we significantly reduce the upfront costs associated with EV charging by upwards of 70%. By driving down costs as much as possible we present the property owner with a real opportunity to achieve a positive ROI. Furthermore, we work with each property to build a business plan that not only ensures profitability for the property owner but also keeps EV charging costs low, so residents know they have a reliable and affordable place to charge. Lastly, we built our Orange Outlets to last, rigorously testing them to 10,000 plug-in cycles. Even under heavy use our outlets will last well over 10 years.

While the transition to widespread EV adoption is gaining momentum, the lack of EV charging infrastructure at apartment communities remains a significant obstacle. The challenges discussed, such as high costs, space limitations, complex ownership structures, regulatory hurdles, and uncertain ROI, collectively contribute to the slow pace of implementation. However, Orange designed our system from the ground up to specifically address the needs of apartment communities. By doing this we were able to avoid many of the pitfalls that come with adding EV charging to apartments and can bring more EV chargers to more apartment communities than anyone else.