EV Charging for Colleges and Schools: Your Guide to Reliable, Affordable Charging for Your Whole Community

The electric vehicle (EV) fleet is growing quickly, and the demand for educational institutions to have EV chargers available has increased as more students, faculty, staff, and visitors expect to be able to plug in their vehicles on campus or at adjacent facilities. 

With many schools also eager to establish their sustainability credentials, installing EV charging is an easy way to meet this need. Examining the current demand for EV chargers at schools, below are some of the best strategies for developing a reliable, sustainable, and cost-effective charging solution for your campus.

The Growing Demand for EV Charging on Campuses

According to research from the insurance comparison site The Zebra, younger generations such as Gen Z indicated a greater interest in electric vehicles, compared to millennials and baby boomer generations. More than two-thirds of Gen Z respondents indicated that they had considered an electric vehicle, compared with about half of millennials and only a third of baby boomers. With the cost of EVs dropping each year and a growing interest among the younger generations, students will certainly be pioneers of EV adoption over the coming years.

A similar trend is evident among faculty at most higher educational institutions. A 2023 poll from Ipsos found that 47% of people with a college degree are interested in purchasing an EV, compared with about 31% of the general population.

Taken together, these statistics indicate that while the demand for EV charging is rising across society, it is likely growing even faster at educational institutions, increasing the demand to meet this need. 

The Strategic Advantage of EV Charging for Colleges and Universities

EV charging aligns with institutional sustainability initiatives

Higher educational institutions have high standards and are leaders in establishing and ushering ambitious sustainability goals, inspiring support from students and faculty for these initiatives.

EV charging installation provides educational institutions with the ability to measure environmental sustainability growth on each campus. Some EV charging solutions, like SWTCH, even include detailed reporting that reveals the amount of CO2e emissions averted by the energy delivered through your charging stations. These reports provide a comprehensive review of how these individual charging stations make a real impact in your community. 

On-campus charging can boost your student and faculty recruitment initiatives

Sustainability is a growing priority for students, and the data proves it. A survey by Students Organizing for Sustainability International found that 92% of respondents believe all universities and colleges should actively promote and incorporate sustainable development. Additionally, 90% said they would be willing to accept a lower salary to work for a company with a strong environmental and social record.  

Students want their educational institutions to take strong measures to improve sustainability, and they’re willing to make major life decisions based on it. Installing EV charging stations can help you demonstrate your commitment to providing a more sustainable campus. You can showcase this investment in brochures, on your website, during campus tours, and throughout recruitment efforts.

Beyond sustainability, EV charging stations offer a practical benefit: convenience. For EV-driving students, faculty, and staff, having on-campus charging can be a game-changer, especially for those who live in apartments or areas with limited access to charging infrastructure. 

Workplace EV charging stations are growing quickly. According to PwC, about 17% of all EV charging stations in the United States are expected to be installed in workplace environments by 2030. With this growing interest in EVs and by investing in these chargers, not only will you be enhancing sustainability efforts, but you’ll be able to deliver the kind of convenience that makes your school an even more desirable place to study and work.

EV charging stations can help you connect with the public

For larger campuses, EV charging can offer benefits beyond daily use by students and staff. Schools that host public events–such as sports games, lectures, and conferences–have a unique opportunity to make a strong impression by providing EV charging stations.

Once again, these stations serve as a highly visible testament to the school’s commitment to sustainability, but the benefits go beyond this. EV drivers value the convenience of charging while their vehicles would otherwise sit idle for hours. Plus, since charging stations are often placed in prime parking locations, they are likely to see frequent use during public-facing events.

The Best Ways to Fund and Afford EV Charging for Your Campus

While EV charging may seem costly at first, several strategic technological and financial choices can significantly reduce the expense of acquiring and installing chargers. Here’s a quick look at some of the most impactful cost-saving options you should consider. 

Take advantage of as many funding programs as possible

A variety of incentive and rebate programs are currently available to help offset the cost of purchasing and installing EV charging stations. While these programs won’t exist forever, taking advantage of them now can significantly reduce your costs.

With funding opportunities at the federal, state, local, and even utility levels, the options available to you will depend on your campuses location. If you would like help identifying the best programs for your institution—and then applying to them—you can reach out to the SWTCH team.

Incorporate charging fees into your operating budget for the chargers

One unique benefit of EV chargers is that over time, they can pay for themselves. Typically, users of a charging station pay for the cost of the electricity they consume, plus a small additional fee that goes to the station owner.

While these fees may seem minimal on a per-charging session basis, they can add up quickly if your stations see regular use over the years. In fact, many properties find that after a few years, the costs of procuring and installing the EV chargers are fully paid off, and they even begin generating a profit–assuming there are no laws that prohibit such profits.

Whatever your plans for your EV charging—whether you’re budgeting or estimating costs—be sure to factor in the potential revenue generated by the stations. You might be surprised by how much they can ultimately contribute.

Consider alternative models for paying for your charging stations

While securing funding can significantly lower the cost of installing EV chargers, you can eliminate upfront costs entirely by choosing a different type of contract: EV charging-as-a-service (EV Caas).

With EV CaaS, all costs—including hardware, installation, and even electrical upgrades—–are spread out into manageable monthly payments over the term of a contract (typically around five years with SWTCH). This approach can make installing EV chargers even easier to manage while allowing you to benefit from the same funding programs available for an outright purchase.

When it comes to an upfront purchase vs an EV CaaS arrangement, there’s no objectively right or wrong choice, but it’s worth considering both options to ensure you arrive at the best approach for your specific institution.

Your Roadmap to Installing Effective EV Charging for Schools

If you intend to install EV charging stations at your campus, it’s important that you go about the process in a way that ensures your EV charging infrastructure:

• Properly addresses existing demand for EV charging
• Maximizes the value of your dollar in terms of the number and kind of charging stations installed
• Meets any federal, state, or local requirements for EV charging infrastructure, including any specific requirements for educational institutions
• Provides a clear pathway to expanding the number of charging stations installed as demand continues to grow

Fortunately, these are all elements that are relatively simple to account for with proper planning. Here are some steps to take.

1: Assess your campuses demand for EV charging stations

When installing EV charging stations, you want to install at least as many charging stations as needed to address the present demand for charging. In an ideal scenario, you’ll also have at least a bit of excess capacity so that you can accommodate increases in demand over the next few years without having to complete additional installations.

One easy option is to issue one or more surveys to see how many people drive an electric vehicle or wish to purchase an electric vehicle in the next few years and, of those groups, how many would make frequent or occasional use of EV charging on campus.

Likely, you’d want to survey students, faculty, and staff and do so in such a way as to be able to segment the responses to understand where your demand is concentrated. You might choose to locate chargers differently if you notice that the majority of your demand comes from faculty, for example, instead of students.

You should also review any feedback you have received over the past couple of years to see how many requests have come in around EV charging—odds are quite good that you’re getting more such requests than you used to.

If you’re not entirely sure how many chargers would be needed to address existing demand and provide a buffer for the future, chat with your EV charging solutions provider to get their input. They should be able to work with you to come to the right number.

2: Choose the right kind(s) of charger for your institution

There are many kinds of EV chargers out there to choose from, and you’ll want to do a bit of work to ensure that the ones you select are the best fit for your institution and the drivers being served.

In general, the best experience will be produced by installing a large bank of level 2 chargers. These are fast enough to deliver a nice increase to a battery’s state of charge, especially over the course of several hours of charging—perfect for students or staff spending hours on campus at a time.

Depending on the kind of traffic you see on your campus, there can also be a case for installing one or two DC Fast Chargers (DCFC) in addition to the bank of level 2 chargers. Where a level 2 charger would take a few hours to bring a battery from near-empty to full, a DCFC charger can accomplish the same in anywhere from 20 minutes to just over an hour.

Just note that these charging stations are much, much more expensive. Depending on the hardware and the electrical upgrades required to operate a DCFC charger, you might be looking at a bill of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per charger.

For most campuses, investing in an adequate number of level 2 chargers is the most practical and cost-effective choice at this stage of EV adoption. While DCFC can offer additional benefits, it’s important to carefully assess your campuses unique needs before deciding which solution best fits your goals. 

3: Familiarize yourself with applicable Permits and Zoning Regulations

It’s likely that your EV charging installation will need to comply with specific permits and zoning regulations. Whether you handle this process independently or with the assistance of your solutions provider and installation partner, be sure to research all requirements necessary for your project to adhere to applicable building codes.

This is also the right time to make sure that your future EV charging stations will meet any requirements imposed by the funding programs you apply to. Once you figure out which permits are needed and what the requirements and timelines are for your funding programs, be sure to apply as soon as you are able so that progress can begin immediately.

4: Choose a solution with intelligent energy management to build for the future

Your EV charging needs are going to change within just a few years. As more EVs will be on the road, the demand for convenient charging options will grow—especially among students, many of whom live in apartment complexes that are often slow to meet this rising need.

The solution? Install chargers equipped with intelligent energy management capabilities.

Ordinarily, each level 2 EV charging station requires its own electrical circuit to function. To install multiple chargers, you would need to have an equal number of circuits available, which most properties don’t. Completing the electrical upgrades necessary to add a sufficient number of circuits is often very expensive.

This challenge is easily addressed with load management technology. Basic load management allows up to four stations to share a single circuit, while more advanced solutions—like SWTCH’s load management system—can support up to 20 charging stations on a single circuit. Behind the scenes, the system intelligently reallocates power based on demand, ensuring efficient energy distribution.

As EV charging demand increases and educational institutions wind up needing to install more EV chargers, load management technology will be necessary to get enough chargers installed. Without it, expanding your charging infrastructure simply won’t be cost-effective.

Educational institutions play a unique role in society. They’re hubs of innovation, beacons of learning, centers for community, and leaders in advancing sustainability. By embracing EV charging, schools of all kinds can meet a new, growing need in their communities for accessible and reliable EV charging while reinforcing their commitment to sustainability. It’s a forward-thinking move that’s worth pursuing—and with the funding opportunities available today, it doesn’t have to break the bank. 

Ready to unlock the benefits of great EV charging for your campus?

CollegeBuys, in partnership with trusted providers like SWTCH, is dedicated to helping districts implement sustainable solutions on their campuses. For more details on how to take advantage of FoundationCCC’s agreement with SWTCH, please contact cbcontracts@foundationccc.org.