When the EV Charger Drives Up to You
This could be part of a clever solution for a problem many property owners have yet to face.
Typically, it makes sense to start working on solutions to problems when there’s one to solve. But with the development of electric vehicles, or EVs, and the implications this will have in commercial real estate, maybe a bit of advanced planning is called for.
People who drive EVs will want to charge them, and that often means at an office, hotel, retail store, or someplace else where individuals go. Fueling EVs isn’t like filling a tank of gas in five minutes and then, poof, you’re on your way. Charging takes more time with a car that has to be in place for the event.
If you have an existing property, do you take out some parking spaces and add charging? What if a knucklehead with a conventional fossil fuel car takes up one of the spaces? That’s time and energy to deal with it, plus the potentially irate person who might come to find the non-electric car towed. Or, what if there is a handicapped driver in an electric car? Do you now need to double up, expanding handicapped parking to add some dual-use space?
EV Safe Charge, an EV charging technology vendor, came up with an interesting idea: a charging robot.
The product, called ZiGGY, “will bring EV charging to parking facilities, shopping and entertainment centers, hotels, fleet operators and property owners, providing cost-effective charging, overcoming the limitations of stationary EV chargers without the need for costly electrical infrastructure,” according to the company.
People who park an EV can use an app on a mobile phone or that is part of an in-vehicle infotainment system and request the assistance from the robot. The device, which looks a bit like a humongous refrigerator on wheels, comes over. The consumer plugs the cable in, either paying for the electric or not, if the property owner provides it as a free amenity. Once done, the charging unit returns to its base to recharge its own battery because the power has to come from somewhere and one of the devices is basically a large battery on wheels.
“Sites already on board for using ZiGGY include Holiday Inn Express in Redwood City, CA, Opera Plaza in San Francisco and The William Vale, a luxury hotel in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood,” the company says.