Oboy. Just what a hotel (or store) manager wants to hear. Another hare-brained scheme that will increase costs by a huge amount and (maybe) attract a couple of customers.
*That* is what is probably going through the manager's head as you say "bla-bla-bla install a charging station bla-bla-bla increase revenue bla-bla-bla installation costs bla-bla-bla free." Waita minnit. Did I just hear the word "free?"
I believe that you will have to use the time-honored sales tactic of presenting a problem, and then presenting the solution.
THE PROBLEM:
"Where can I charge my electric car?" is a suitable opening gambit.
If he replies something like "In our parking structure, spaces 201A and 201B," then your problems are over.
If he replies something like "Down the street, hang a left, go two more blocks, and there's a charging station at the train station parking lot," then at least you can skip the educational part and go directly to the charging station sales pitch.
If he replies something like "Huh?" then you will have to first explain electric cars, that they are the future (like it or not), that their owners are constantly on the prowl for charging stations, that providing them is a good thing, and they may even be inexpensive to install and operate, and that having them might even generate some revenue.
EDUCATIONAL PART:
Explain that you have an electric car, that it goes for XXX miles on a charge, and you charge up at a charging station the way ordinary cars fuel up at a gas station. (You may want to skip mentioning that you *could* charge on an ordinary 110v electrical outlet, because you would be derailing yourself.)
A charging station is not a gas station or a train station, but a name for a relatively simple box about the size of a briefcase that hangs on a wall, feeding 220v electrical power into the car to recharge its battery. Sort of like recharging your cell phone, only bigger. The electric car's battery is really big, so it takes several hours to do it. That's just the way it is, given the current state of technology.
There all kinds of types of charging stations out there, but so far the most common ones use a connector plug called "J1772" (think 'shape of the plug'). They are used on the Nissan LEAF, the Chevy Volt, The Toyota Plug-in Prius, the Ford Focus Electric, the Honda Fit Electric, the BMW ActiveE, and more are coming. (The Tesla Model S can use it with an adapter that they carry with them.)
It will take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours (or longer) to charge such a car - it depends if its almost full, or almost empty. So the owner will probably be staying that long, shopping and spending money, while the car charges up.
THE SOLUTION:
Install a charging station. It won't be that expensive to install, it will be practically free to operate, it will lure more well-heeled customers to your place of business, and you get to tout yourself as a progressive green company.
THE BENEFITS:
Currently, electric car owners are already using smartphone apps to root out charging station locations; they plan their trips around those charging station locations, they shop where they can charge, and they come back.
{Although it will be difficult to prove, the conventinal theory is that the owners will probably choose to dine at your restaurant, or at least park here and shop nearby.}
As more electric cars are getting on the road, having a charging station (or stations) will become more of a selling point. You can list the availability of a charging station on your website as an added plus to your establishment.
HOW TO ACHIEVE IT:
You'll have to install a charging station. As long as you're at it, you may as well install several. (The costs for installing the successive units go way down after the first one.) Its probably less trouble to install a charging station than the trouble they went through when they had to upgrade the equipment in the computer server room.
THE COST:
The costs are in three basic categories:
There's the planning and permitting stage (and this is rather unpredictable, given the wide range of requirments based on city, county, state, and Federal electrtical codes and regulations).
There's the cost of the charging station. It may be FREE! There are a number of state and Federal incentives (i.e. grants, rebates, tax breaks) to install these charging stations. {It is up to you if you want to push him toward a specific model like the Coloumb, ChargePoint, or Blink solutions.}
And finally, there's the cost of the installing the unit on your premises. The cost will vary from place to place, but you may be able to justify the expense as an item in the building maintenance and upkeep budget.
{I think that the manager's eyes will start glazing over if you start talking about electricity rates, meters, junction boxes, conduits, circuits and amperage rating at this early point in time. And if this is the manager you're talking to, that kind of detail isn't in the "big picture" anyway.}
OPERATING COST:
There are no real "costs" to a charging station if it isn't in use. It isn't like the ice machine that runs day and night whether anybody get a bucket of ice or not. Its like a vacuum cleaner thats either on or off.
So it only needs electricity when its charging a car. The amount of electricity it uses to charge a car is about 10 kilowatts per hour; that costs out to about a dollar an hour - probably less if you get lower industrial electricity rates.
POSSIBLE PROFITS:
It is up to your own decision-making process on whether to charge for the almost-free electricity, or, like so many other places, they are offered to the electric car customer at no additional cost (glad to have you shop here!), and the operating costs are simply folded into the advertising budget.
Or, you may wish to add a small surcharge to the parking to cover the expense.
WRAP IT UP:
* The installation costs of a charging station are relatively minimal in the grand scheme of building upkeep.
* The operating costs are probably going to be so low you won't even notice it, and if it is, you can bill the electric car customer for it.
* The are benefits (intangible tho' they may be) in advertising yourself as green and progressive, and there is (again, hard-to-quantify) an expected increase in customer traffic and resulting sales in attracting the more affluent electric car owner/customer.
In a nuthsell, this is what I believe we have to do when we want to encourage someone to see the light and want to install a charging station (at their cost) and operate them (at their cost) so we can go there and use them (for our benefit).
-- Ardie
So, let me just have my installation man call on you, say, next Tuesday.
