Pando Electric and Peninsula Clean Energy partnered to cover 100% of the 90 community parking spaces at an East Palo Alto condo development. The kicker? They did it for 70% less cost than everyone else.

TL;DR Key Takeaways

• Pando Electric and PCE brought 90 High Power Level 2 EV charging stations to the Woodland Creek HOA covering 100% of the parking spaces

• Using Pando Electric’s unique EV charging system, the property was able to install for 70% lower than the next lowest bid - totaling over $100k in savings

• Pando Electric’s solution costs under $500/station fully installed thanks to PCE incentives

• Pando Electric brought Level 2 charging speeds at a price lower than Level 1 solutions

Over the past decade, the majority of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure has focused on public charging, leveraging national incentive programs. This has led to the installation of many Level 2, 240-volt 40-amp chargers in shopping centers, airports, and business parks, as well as DC fast charging stations along major transit routes, to the tune of several billion dollars. However, these stations were installed before the widespread adoption of EVs, and EV charging was often misunderstood as analogous to refueling at gas stations. In reality, charging an EV is more akin to charging a cell phone, where owners recharge at home overnight and start each day with a full battery.

EV adoption reached a turning point with the introduction of Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y in 2019, surpassing internal combustion vehicles in new vehicle sales in certain markets. Considering the growing concern for climate change and the environment, both consumers and governments are advocating for more incentives to expedite the shift towards a sustainable future. This growing shift towards EVs highlights the need for more charging stations, particularly in residential areas such as apartments and condos.

In response to this need, Pando Electric collaborated with Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE), the community-led clean electricity provider for San Mateo County and the city of Los Banos, to establish a program aimed at accelerating the installation of charging stations in multi-unit properties. Unlike single-family home charging, it is unclear who should bear the costs and how energy expenses should be managed in multi-unit properties. Although EVs generally require higher upfront costs, it has been demonstrated that they result in long-term savings, contribute to an overall reduction in costs related to car ownership, and even help stabilize the grid. 

Moreover, the prices of EVs are expected to decrease significantly in the coming years, leading to a projected market dominance with some estimates suggesting over 50% market share in California by 2029. To accommodate this anticipated surge in demand, it is crucial to scale up the installation of charging stations in residential areas, particularly in apartments and condos, to ensure EV ownership's convenience and overall satisfaction.

The Pando Solution

To address the challenges of installing charging at multi-family properties, Peninsula Clean Energy worked with many EV charging suppliers to create an incentive program that simplifies adding charging within these properties. Traditional charging solutions often fail to resolve issues specific to multi-family properties, such as limited panel capacity in smaller, older buildings, connectivity problems in underground garages, and assigned or deeded parking spaces. Recognizing these limitations, Pando Electric teamed with Peninsula Clean Energy's EV Ready program designed to overcome these obstacles and facilitate the addition of EV charging infrastructure in multi-unit residences.

This is why the Pando Smart Outlet became an essential piece of the EV charging puzzle, specifically targeting multi-family housing. The Pando Smart Outlet is a 9.6kW 240-volt, 40-amp smart outlet that supplies variable load charging, and monitors energy usage while providing access control and automating payments between tenants and owners. Given that most people spend more than 8 hours at home each night, the Pando Smart Outlet leverages this extended charging window to achieve the equivalent experience of charging your cell phone overnight. 

“Peninsula Clean Energy often utilizes electrical outlets to provide EV charging in our incentive programs for multifamily properties, since they are a great way to provide affordable charging at scale,” said Phillip Kobernick Senior Transportation Programs Manager at Peninsula Clean Energy, “What makes Pando Electric’s solution unique is its ability to provide both high-power Level 2 charging and load management, which helps to avoid time-consuming electrical service upgrades and reduce costs.”

Pando’s approach employs a proprietary Adaptive Load Management (ALM) system that intelligently manages the building power to its maximum efficiency. Recognizing that each vehicle connects at different times and requires varying amounts of energy, Pando simply uses the currently available building capacity to send power precisely when and where it's needed most. Pando Smart Outlets also allow the property to “daisy-chain” up to five outlets on a single branch circuit, significantly reducing infrastructure costs, and driving costs down to their lowest possible point. This innovative method allows Pando Electric to install up to ten times the number of high-power EV charging stations compared to traditional systems all at a fraction of the cost. 

Pando also simplified the design of a typical charging station. By eliminating the fixed charging cable, the Pando Smart Outlet allows residents to use the mobile charge cables that come with most electric vehicles. This innovation eliminates the most common failure point of charging stations, the affixed charging cable, avoiding the need for an electrician to come out to replace the entire unit in the event the cable breaks or is damaged. Replacing a mobile charge cable is far less expensive than having to fully replace a charging station, which will typically require a licensed electrician to perform work. Further shipping out a new station and booking time with an electrician can take weeks or even months in some cases, whereas getting a new mobile charge cable is as simple as an overnight package from Amazon.

These design choices were made to ensure a seamless charging experience for both the property owners and the residents. Pando Electric enables more parking spots access to charging while reducing panel requirements and installation costs. Now, let's look at a real-world scenario where Pando Electric, with the aid of Peninsula Clean Energy, added 90 EV charging stations covering 100% of the Woodland Creek HOA condo's private parking stalls for a fraction of the cost of our competitors.

Woodland Creek - East Palo Alto, CA

The Woodland Creek HOA, located in East Palo Alto, CA, has 90 condo units and private parking spaces in three underground garages. Initially, the property had planned only to add six traditional Level 2 charging stations, however after looking at the growth of EVs and the likely potential that many current and future residents would own an EV they decided to look into more comprehensive options.

As the property was still in the design phase it was suggested to add 300 amps of available capacity specifically for EV charging broken out to a single 200A panel and an additional 100A panel, which was an easy change order before construction began. Construction on the property is slated for three separate phases, with each phase concluding in the completion of roughly ⅓  of the living and parking spaces. 

By working with PCE, the property was able to tap into the EV Ready incentive program funds to help offset some of the costs associated with adding the charging stations. In this process, it was discovered that by leveraging incentive funds they could add significantly more stations (up to 90 in total) and reduce their overall costs. There was only one problem, they could only do this with Level 1 120-volt, 20-amp charging outlets, and the HOA leadership felt this was simply a poor charging experience for residents. 

That's when Pando Electric stepped in. 

By leveraging the unique features of the Pando Smart Outlet, the property was able to get the best of all worlds, a high-power Level 2 charging station, capable of adding 300+ miles of range overnight at an even lower cost per port than any of the other competitors. 

Traditional Systems vs. Level 1 Outlets vs. Pando Smart Outlet

Initially, the property considered installing six traditional Level 2 charging stations, which typically cost approximately $2,000 per charger. When factoring in all costs, the station, the wiring, panels, etc., after incentives, the total cost per station landed around $20,000 per station. This investment only provides six stations and in all likelihood only covers the property for a few years until more are required, trapping Woodland Creek in the endless upgrade cycle that many properties are facing today.

Due to these high costs, PCE recommended utilizing their incentive funds tailored for socket-based solutions. These were more generous and due to the nature of socket-based EV charging stations allowed the property to cover 100% of the private parking spaces. By using low-power socket-based smart outlets the property could drive down costs significantly and add more stations in one go. Most smart Level 1 solutions cost around $700 for the station and when factoring all costs minus the PCE incentive would land right around $1,700 per outlet over a ten-fold decrease from a traditional solution. 

While the cost savings are truly impressive when comparing a traditional Level 2 system to a socket-based Level 1 solution, there is a downside for residents, charging speeds. A traditional Level 2 system can provide upwards of 300 miles of range overnight, more than enough to fill most EVs from 0% to 100%.  In contrast, Level 1 solutions typically get around 60 miles of range over the same period, which covers daily driving needs but little else. However, this lower charging speed posed a major concern for the property, as it was perceived as too slow and likely to exacerbate "range anxiety" among residents.

“We hadn't considered electrical outlets as an EV charging solution until we went through the PCE program. Pando's smart outlets gave us the best of both worlds, more affordable EV chargers that can also provide higher power.”- Tom H., Woodland Creek Owner

This is where Pando Electric and the Pando Smart Outlet shine. Not only is it a socket-based solution that fully takes advantage of the PCE incentives program, but Pando’s high-power Level 2 outlet enables charging speeds of over 300 miles overnight. However, Pando Electric was not done yet. Thanks in large part to Pando’s ALM system, they can dramatically cut down on the total cost. Where competitors averaged $20,000 per Level 2 station and $1,700 per Level 1 outlet respectively, Pando cost the property a mere $405 per Pando Smart Outlet fully installed, after incentives.

Pando Electric not only brought the property Level 2 charging speeds, it did it at a reduction of over 70% of the cost of a Level 1 solution, all while covering every single one of the property's private parking spaces. Through a strategic alignment of PCE incentive funds with Pando Electric’s advanced technology, the Woodland Creek HOA saved over $100,000, and brought their residents the powerful charging solution they sought. 

Combining PCE incentives with Pando Electric has effectively solved the EV charging conundrum at multi-family housing. 

If you or your property manager would like to learn more about this project or how Pando Electric can save you thousands of dollars on your EV charging project call 888-313-0515 or contact us here.