The multi-family market has been largely ignored by most in the EV industry. Even in places like the Bay Area where EV market penetration is relatively high, only 9% of all EVs reside in apartment communities. Many of the major EV charging providers do offer some kind of multifamily solution, however, in most cases these quickly turn into problems for the community as many were never truly designed with the apartment community in mind, but why is that?
Apartment communities require a very delicate balance when it comes to adding new amenities, especially when it comes to EV charging which can be expensive. First, the drivers themselves will want reliable access to affordable charging, next the community will want to ensure that all residents have equal access, and finally, the landlord will want to ensure that they can keep costs low and deliver a sustainable return on their investment. It's because of these competing factors that have made the multi-family market so difficult.
Unlike those companies that have come before, Orange wanted to design a system that was specifically designed for apartment communities and to ensure that everyone can gain access to EV charging regardless of where they live.
Simplicity Sells
Oftentimes apartment charging solutions end up being a complex mix of hardware and software that on the surface seemingly solve the problem. However in the long run these solutions end up being overly expensive to not only install but maintain as well, leaving landlords picking up the tab.
Orange researched the entire EV market and found that over 90% of single-family home EV drivers didn't opt for an expensive charging station but rather installed a relatively innocuous power outlet. This came down to simple dollars and cents, as most EVs come with a mobile adapter, and installing a dryer outlet gives the same charge speed as a Level 2 charger but at half the cost.
That's why Orange developed the Orange Outlet 620 and Orange Outlet 520. Not only do we allow for the same access to power that comes with a full-blown charging station, but we also install for 60% less than anyone else. Furthermore, by removing the cable and simply offering an outlet on a wall we reduce the maintenance costs by 99%, as the main failure point on any charging station is the cable. This way, landlords not only save a lot on the installation they also don’t really need to worry about maintaining Orange Outlets as there are very few scenarios where they'll actually need it.
Intelligence is Key, Not Costly
One of the other big reasons apartments have a hard time installing charging solutions is that they need a reliable way to monitor, bill, and get reimbursed for the power that the residents used. While this may seem trivial it's important that both the driver and the landlord are able to accurately know just how much money they’ve spent or owed. This allows for landlords to see just how much they can expect to receive back each month and begin to recoup the costs on their investment.
This is a key aspect of apartment charging, knowing who is responsible for payment and exactly how much energy they used. However, saving on costs is also very important. If the station costs are too high the landlord might be unwilling to install more than a handful or none at all. If the costs to use the station are too high EV drivers will likely find somewhere else they can charge or completely abandon EVs altogether.
This is why Orange not only built in a wireless mesh network with metering capabilities, but also offers it for less than our competitors. We want to do everything we can to incentivize more stations being installed and more satisfied EV owners on the road. We can’t do that if we make our technology wildly expensive, so instead, we made it affordable so that everyone can have access to EV charging.
Keeping The Balance
In the end what matters most is keeping everything in balance and Orange was designed to ensure this happens. While we have low installation costs and almost zero maintenance we also offer landlords a path to a positive return on their investment. However when we ensure that a landlord earns a profit on each station we also protect the EV drivers from having their charging costs increase too much.
Keeping costs low for both the landlord and for the EV driver ensures that everyone is happy, but we don’t just stop there. We also enable the community to install more stations as they need and because these stations can generate revenue a landlord is far more likely to install more once they are needed. This means that when buildings choose Orange they are EV ready for the life of that building as we install more chargers for less, generate more revenue and maintain an easy to use system that ensures power is accounted for accurately and fairly priced.
Orange thought about this process from end to end and will only continue to refine our solutions as time goes on. Our end goal is to ensure that everyone has equal and affordable access to EV charging no matter where they live and with the Orange Outlet we have done just that.
Reliable EV charger that’s even easier to manage.
