Seeing more electric vehicles (EVs) pulling into your lots? If you haven’t already, you will very soon. Global sales of passenger EVs are expected to surge over the next few years, rising from 10.5 million in 2022 to approximately 27 million in 2026, according to the 2023 BloombergNEF (BNEF) Long-Term Electric Vehicle Outlook report. BNEF predicts that in the U.S., thanks to a new round of federal incentives, EVs will make up about 28% of passenger vehicle sales by 2026.

These numbers mean parking lots will be filling up with EVs looking to get a charge. The new way to fuel will be more like plugging in your phone while you do other activities (in this case, shop, work, dine out, go to appointments and more) rather than making a special stop at a fueling station.

This new fueling movement gives parking operators — and other businesses — a big opportunity to stay competitive by offering an all-inclusive parking experience that includes EV charging. It’s also a way to generate a new revenue stream by attracting the growing number of EV drivers to your parking facility who are visiting shops, restaurants and offices nearby.

It's clear that EV charging will be desired by customers, but how do you get set up in a way that will have a positive impact on your bottom line? Let’s break it down.

It can be easy to think that deploying EV charging is as simple as putting stations in the ground, but focusing on hardware is asking the wrong question. When we talk to customers running the most advanced EV charging programs out there, supporting thousands of drivers every day, a key theme we hear over and over is that success in EV charging requires having the right hardware and the right software to manage it. That’s because it’s the software that gives you the power to build a best-in-class EV charging program and scale as your needs change and your driver base grows. No matter who is charging or what they drive, our software lets you meet their needs.

Whether you’re initially looking to serve employees, customers, residents or fleet vehicles, you’ll likely find that the audience you serve grows over time. Choosing a software-driven EV charging solution will give you the flexibility and power you need to address these changing requirements and manage stations, vehicles and drivers to make EV charging work for your business in a way that's easy to track and scale.

Nothing gets ChargePoint as excited as talking about the EV revolution and they are obsessed with ensuring people have the freedom to roam wherever they choose. The ChargePoint app puts the EV universe in the palm of your hand – literally. As a company founded by and for EV drivers, they designed their app to make the EV driver experience as simple, affordable and convenient as possible. Being connected to the largest EV charging network in the world doesn’t hurt either.

Learn more about some app features that put the EV driver front and center:

1. Check pin colors and shapes for station status and type

Did you know that our app uses color coding and shapes to show info about stations? Green means a station is available to use, blue means a station is currently in use and gray means a station doesn’t have an available status (probably because it's not part of the ChargePoint network).

Owing to its higher energy density and lower weight, hydrogen has been touted as a potential alternative to electricity for powering zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks for long-haul fleets. However, transitioning to hydrogen as a potential fuel source for these types of vehicles faces challenges that may outweigh any potential benefits.

Here are some of the reasons electricity is a clear winner for fleets.

1. Availability

Electricity is everywhere. With the rise of charging infrastructure in cities, along highways and at depots, motor pools and even drivers’ homes, access to charging is becoming increasingly more convenient for fleets of all types and sizes.

Hydrogen infrastructure is not yet in place. There are currently few hydrogen refueling stations in operation (nearly all are in California), and the cost of building and managing them is high. It would take a significant investment to build out a nationwide hydrogen refueling network, and it isn’t clear there is enough demand to justify the investment.