Leasing Land for EV Charging and Battery Storage: Emerging Trends and Opportunities

Jason R. Goldfarb, Esq. | Law Office of Jason R. Goldfarb, PLLC

Jason Goldfarb specializes in real estate infrastructure –telecommunications, solar, power storage, and outdoor advertising, with a heavy emphasis on EV charging for the needs of real estate owners, developers, investors, municipalities, and companies in the EV ecosystem that concentrate on parking, mobility, multi-family, commercial, and fleet operations. He is a nationally recognized thought leader, author, lecturer, podcaster, and news contributor (featured on CNBC, Law 360, JD Supra, etc.), and he obtained his experience working for companies that have owned, managed, developed, built, bought, sold, and invested in billions of dollars of infrastructure.

His practice focuses on start-ups and mature businesses of all sizes and specializes in navigating contracts, investment, and deployment of infrastructure assets.

Jason has extensive experience drafting and negotiating contracts and transactional agreements, with subject matter expertise in purchase and sale agreements, leases, licenses, easements, amendments, title, surveys, and due diligence, and he’s an accomplished attorney and advisor to clients seeking guidance on corporate matters, business structuring, and day-to-day business operations.

I. Important stats | 2:00pm – 2:20pm

• The growth of EV’s in the US
  • Cost and ownership trends
    • Elimination (mostly) of the $7,500 tax credit
    • Counterintuitive thought – Why you should buy a pickup truck instead
    • The “drop” in EV sales
    • Massive corporate investments
  • Climate impact
    • Reduced emissions vs
    • What runs the power plants
    • Mining of mineral resources for batteries
• New battery and storage technologies
  • How it’s impacting EV’s
  • Let’s talk battery storage
• What was behind the epidemic of unreliable EV chargers
  • Expected ubiquity
    • Depends on the market
    • Where it’s fallen short
      • Reliability & maintenance
      • Location
      • Payment processing
      • Compatibility of charger types and vehicles
      • The land grab
      • Poor contract drafting
  • Current state
• What’s happened to Federal incentives?

II. Unique challenges of deployment | 2:20pm – 2:40pm

• Cost
  • Equipment
  • Power sources & grid distance
  • Installation
• Lack of (reliable) infrastructure – Why can’t it just “work”?
  • Maintenance
  • Software
  • “Truck rolls”
  • Payment processing
  • Plugs
  • Location
    • Zoning
    • Site plans
    • Convenience
    • Space considerations
  • Charging and storage types
  • Dumb deployments are instructive
• Compliance
  • Fire safety
  • Insurance
• Utility hookups and competition
  • You cannot compete with the utility company!
    • Disadvantage
    • Advantage
• Who pays for usage?
• Who pays for taking up the space?
• Co-ops, condos, community associations
  • Declarations or proprietary lease
  • By-laws
  • Rules & regs
  • Condominium Act 339

III. So, you are ready to drive in… | 2:40pm – 3:00pm

• Should you (lease) let your property be used for EV charging or battery storage?
  • Pros & cons
• Location, location, location
  • Maximizing utilization rate
  • Minimizing infrastructure cost
  • Encouraging desired customer behavior
  • Avoiding unintended consequences
• EV charging types – why they matter (a lot!)
  • Level 1 – least expensive
  • Level 2 – $1500-300
  • Level 3 – Six figures , massive power requirements, short grid distance
• Typical Investment
  • Don’t break the bank
  • Future proof
• Handling maintenance
  • Who, how, service contract
  • Repairs
  • Upgrades
  • Day-to-day operation
  • Quality of service (practical, see SLA later for contract)
• Benefits
  • ROI
    • Rent
    • Use of an otherwise unused real estate asset
    • Profit share
    • Amenity
    • Property image
    • Indirect revenue
      • As a service
      • Drive traffic
      • Earn $$$
    • Different tools & structures from low tech to sophisticated billing software
    • Green bona-fides
• Utility usage/expected “costs”
  • Beware the “peak” power costs
  • Power management – alternatives?
  • Is your grid ready
    • Solar, batteries, & storage
  • Is your power contract ready
  • Is your lease ready
• Telematics/data – Typically not yours e.g. Tesla
• Legal documents/structure – Wild west
  • Purchase
  • Lease
  • Easement
  • Profit sharing
  • Length (i.e.) term of agreements
  • This isn’t like “regular” real estate!
• EV charging software
  • All in-one
    • A La Carte
    • Payments
    • Maintenance
    • Telematics
  • Service contracts SLA
• Timeline from project start to finish

Break | 3:00pm – 3:10pm

IV. Use cases | 3:10pm – 3:30pm

• Brownfield & Greenfields
• Single-family
• Multi-family
• Mixed-use & retail
• Hotels
• Raw land
• Shopping Center
• Adapting the fueling station model
• Corporate & academic campuses
• Parking lots & garages
• Commercial
• Industrial
• Fleets
• Trucking short haul/long haul/last-mile

V. Other projects to consider | 3:30pm – 3:50pm

• Electrical work
  • New lighting
  • New cameras
  • New meters
  • Upgrade existing service
• Lot work
  • Re-surface / repaint
  • Change lot layout
  • Add covered stalls
• Energy work
  • Solar, wind, and other renewables projects
  • More about batteries!
  • Energy efficiency

VI. Final thoughts | 3:50pm – 4:10pm