With the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act or EVIDA lapsing into law, establishments will soon be required to put up EV charging stations. And while most of them are free, why not make it a source of additional income? That’s where Solarius EV Charging comes in.
Solarius EV Charging is a sister company of Solarius Energy—a solar installation company based in Northern Luzon. As the company expects the quick adoption of electric mobility, it has since expanded its business to the installation of home EV chargers, and now, even to public destination EV chargers as well.
Peter Wilson, Solarius’s CEO, drives an electric vehicle on a daily basis, and with that, understands the pain points of ownership very well. He explains that 80 to 90 percent of the time, EV charging will be done at home where the cost could be as low as P 2 per kWh when using solar power (that’s P 140 to top up a 70-kWh battery, if you’re not too good with mental math).
The next step would be to introduce destination chargers. EV owners will probably only rely on these for 10 to 20 percent of the time but because they’re located in destinations of public interest—hotels, shopping malls, offices, and the like, they eliminate the so-called range anxiety.
Solarius EV Charging proposes that these destinations could have their own EV chargers. While some, mostly malls, have been offering them as a free service, this company thinks that it should be time to offer it as a paid service.
Now, because they’re connected to the grid, they’re not as cost-effective as using a home charger paired with solar power. The cost of topping up a 70-kWh battery goes up to P 2,450 for the entire 3.5 to 10 hours. It’s a bit pricey, but considering that a rapid charger will set you back P 4,500 for a 45-minute charger, this is a bargain.
For the location partners, the chargers (including the installation) are completely free. In fact, they stand to earn back the actual energy (in kWh) used to charge the EVs with a 10 percent commission.
Meanwhile, for EV drivers, Solarius EV Charging expects to build a network of 60 locations by the first quarter of 2023 and about 500 locations by 2025. The first location in Metro Manila is actually at the Fairmont Hotel in Makati City.
Using any of the AC chargers is easy and entails just three steps: Scan, Pay, and Charge. Payment can be done via credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or even through digital wallets such as G-Cash and Maya.
If you’re a property developer and would like to look at EV charging service as additional source of income, you can contact Solarius through their website or via email at info [at] solarius.com.ph. They can also be reached through mobile phone at +63 949 882 2125 or +63 917 560 0860.
Are they allowed to sell or do retail electricity, don't they need congressional approval since only Meralco is allowed?
ReplyDeleteGood question. I asked that during the press con, but didn't get a response. Even the DOE guy who was present didn't want to comment. Instead, he referred that a detailed IRR for the EVIDA is coming out February next year. This also includes the framework for number coding exemptions for EVs/Hybrids. Currently, that's a gray area too.
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