Name: Wheels & Watts: Powering EV Charging for the Hospitality Industry
Uploaded: 2025-09-23T19:18:02.100Z
Duration: 1 h 40 s
Description: Wheels & Watts: Powering EV Charging for the Hospitality Industry

Transcript for "Wheels & Watts: Powering EV Charging for the Hospitality Industry": Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Wheels and Watts webinar series. This series is brought to you by EasyRide, Plug in America, lynkwell, and Bryant Electric. Today is our fifth in the series, and our focus is on hospitality industry. We have great two case studies. And our goal is to show how the investment in sustainability attracts talent, serves customers, and positions your hospitality business as a leader. And even if your business is not in hospitality, we still want to inspire you and recommend that you, install workplace charging and, help, to bring electric vehicles, up to the front. Also, as a reminder, today, we are in the middle of National Drive Electric Week, excuse me, month, which started on September, twelfth, and it's running until October 12. So visit driveelectricmonth.0rg and find event near you, so that you can meet EV owners, and some of these events even offer test driving. And so you can also talk about workplace charging as well. So, today, we will start with the benefits of workplace EV charging, and then we'll jump into our case studies. We will talk about the New York State Tourism Industry Association, Maple Hill Farm, and Inn and Conference Center. And then we'll take you through, considering the right station for your needs. We'll talk about tax credits, grants, and rebates available for your infrastructure deployment. Then we'll talk about tips and tricks, of installing EV, chargers, and and site strategies. And then we'll jump into Charge at Work, Pledge, and EVA certification, and then we'll go through questions and answers. So, our speakers are Chris Nath from Plug in America, EB consultant. Our, case studies, speakers are both provost from New York State Tourism Industry Association, Scott Cowger from Maple Hill Farm and Inn, Kate Crook from lynkwell, George Coutirates from Brown Electric, and Lisa Lee from EasyRide. So Chris Neff, EV consultant with Paget America, please take it away. Thanks, Dan. Thank you all for joining us today. My name is Chris Neff. I'm an EV consultant for Plug in America. I'll go over workplace charging as once as well as hospitality charging. So some of the benefits of workplace charging right off the bat is is your organization is focused on sustainability. This highlights that. So a charger in your parking areas tells everyone coming in there, your employees and visitors, that you are focused on sustainability. It is also helpful in as far as employee retention. It makes employees or keeps employees happy, especially those that are driving EVs, not just the ones that just look sustainable. But driving EVs, a great place for them to charge up. They basically can just stop they don't need to stop at a public charger. If they don't have access at home, they come to work, they can plug in, makes them much more happier. It is also, keeps employees a little bit more productive because they don't have to leave to go refuel their vehicles. They can basically they're charging up at the worksite. That's where they stay. Also, it keeps the workplace a little quieter. EVs are virtually silent. So there's nothing worse than when you've had a stressful day and you wanna go outside, take a walk around the building if that's, you know, on your lawn and you hear cars buzzing around, that can add more stress. With EVs, it is just a quiet workplace. There's also fewer outside emissions. When you go outside, again, you wanna relax a little bit, get out in the nature. A quiet a quiet place is great, but also one that doesn't stink of car emissions, especially when those cars are warming up to go home that evening. EVs don't have don't don't spew out any emissions, so it's a much better workplace environment overall. And in the transportation industry, transportation is one of the biggest ones of of when it comes to pollutants. So, again, most of us are commuting out there. The e v the the transportation industry is producing the most of the emissions. Makes sense to get an e v. Makes plan it makes a lot of sense to have, your employees be able to plug in at the workplace, which is reducing those emissions overall. So driving electric vehicles, it is still an upward trend. It is still growing. Regardless of what you're hearing out there on the news and the media. People are still buying EVs. They're still interested. It may not be growing as fast as it used to as far as sales, but it is still growing. People are still interested in these vehicles. Unfortunately, some of the public stations are not as reliable. This is why workplace charging or hospitality charging is very important. They and they you know, it's another it's another option for those driving EVs and also, of course, makes it feel more comfortable getting that car. They don't have to worry about it. They can plug it in. That's where it's it's there. But it also is interesting is that there are those workplace areas that have charging stations. It has been shown that there are way more charging sessions. That is the time when a car plugs in to charge up, then there are chargers available. So more and more people are plugging in at work, but there aren't enough chargers out there for that for this growth. So that needs to catch up. So great opportunities for those that want to install chargers at the workplace. Definitely, a big a big uptick in that. And so, again, the worksites provide more access for EV charging. Again, it really is just making the whole experience of having an EV that much better. People do charge at home. They can charge at the public stations, but it has been shown. There is data out there that shows that the public stations just aren't as reliable as they should be. Workplace charging is reliable. It is a viable option for those that maybe can't charge at home or just wanna have that comfortable experience of I'm going to my office. I'm gonna charge at work, without having any worries about that. And then finally, just where are people, like, how many people drive? So 70% of the Americans, they commute, they drive to work, and they park their cars all day. It's not like they're going to work and then they're going out two hours later. They mic for lunch, but they'll come back, but they're parking their cars. This is also why workplace charging or hospitality charging makes so much sense because they're there. The cars are there. They can charge up. Again, it doesn't have to be free. You can charge your employees for that. That's okay. Just like they're they're at the poker stations. They pay for that as well. There are 490,000 workplace target points that, that are needed for this growth in the EV market. So, again, that opportunity is there. It is it is growing, and, and as as you learned about today, what's going on webinar, get some options out there, and then sometimes they're still available, to install chargers at workplace areas. And with that, introduce Bob. Greetings. It my name is Bob Provost. I'm the president of the New York State Tourism Industry Association. And to better understand who we are, we're an organization that really takes a look at the long view. We are working with over 300 members across the state of New York, including the county leadership for every destination in all 62 counties. And our goal is to prepare our members for the future. And quite frankly, obviously, the future is electric. So, without any further ado, I'll talk a little bit about where we stand with things in terms of the state of, New York state as it were, relative to the ownership of EVs. As this chart indicates, you can see a dramatic growth rate. And and while we talk about growth not being as accelerated as it was, that's typical in the introduction of any new product. And if you look at the year over year growth in absolute numbers, the the the difference between 23 2024 is the third largest growth of the last, you know, fourteen years. So that's the other issue that kinda camouflages the growth in the use of EVs is as the base number gets bigger, the percentage of growth will decline even if you're getting the same absolute number of increases. New registrations in 2024 were at 91,000. That's up 14% versus 2023. And total registrations were at 271,000. That's up a 175,000 from just three years earlier in 2021. This is, you know, a very significant picture because, as the next slide will indicate, we're also looking at a situation where we have the charging stations that are needed to power these vehicles. And as you'll note, it's it's pretty much a mirror if you look at all these green dots of the population density, the Hudson Valley, the Mohawk Valley, the major urban centers downstate and Upstate. But it's important to get charging centers across the state, particularly in the hospitality industry where we're more likely to bring people to more remote, great outdoors locations in the the Adirondacks, the Catskills, the Finger Lakes, and so on. As you can see, we're currently at just under 5,000 stations. And I say currently, I'm quoting a 2024 statistic. And those 5,000 stations have just over 17,000 charging outlets available. Those numbers, again, have grown significantly. There's 63% more stations since 2021, and there's a 126% more outlets since 2021. But it's quite frankly not adequate to match the rate of growth in vehicle ownership and usage. So why do we care? Well, it's the here and now. It's gonna generate returns for the hotel or destination organization that puts the chargers in. And, essentially, for lack of a better comparison, by providing the charging station and and presuming its fee based, you're becoming the service station. I mean, think of yourself as the ability to take a museum or another attraction that's going to have people there for an extended period of time and provide another stream of net income. So that's that's important. This but it's also just a matter of will people come to your destination or your organization. One out of every 10 vehicles sold in New York State in 2024 was electric. So so if if you think about that, one out of 20 total vehicles in New York State is electric. So putting that into perspective, if your customer is the kind of person driving a new vehicle, one out of 10 of those customers is going to probably look for an alternative destination if you don't have a charging station. And and so if if you're a hotel hosting a conference, in our book, we've been working with meeting planners international to be sure that the presence of charging stations, the availability of charging stations is a part of the criteria in the RFPs that go out for major meetings, conventions, and conferences. The other issue is, you know, consumer demand. It's one thing to have regulations, and by 2235, virtually all new vehicles sold in New York are supposed to be non carbon emitting. In other words, electric or some other form of of new technology. But it's a different you know, that's kind of what in in the business world, you've got push pull. That's a that's a push, you know, from from the government saying, here's your restriction. The reality is there's also a pull. Consumers want to think of you as a sustainable sustainability oriented organization, an organization that's operating responsibly and helping prepare for a better future for our environment. So, you know, not only is it the EV traveler that you wanna worry about who's total population. So, you know, still under the heading of why do we care is, you know, it's part of a continuum of sustainability. We're working with our destinations on local sourcing, not just for food, but all kinds of products because that also contributes to sustainability. Food recycling, lowering restaurant and hotel food cost by, you know, an average of 20% when they engage in food recycling. There's an upfront investment, but in the long run, the the big guns like Marriott and and Sheridan, they've learned that this makes sense. Hospitality best practice. You know, giving people more choice and operating sustainability sustainably is is going to be more attractive to your guests, and they get it. It lowers your cost and in many cases increases their convenience. And finally, you know, New York State is a great state in terms of its history. We've been around since the early sixteen hundreds. A lot of our infrastructure is aging. We have a power grid that has insufficient capacity and has vulnerabilities. And, you know, not only is the idea of having charging available in your home attractive in your home or business, it's also, important to consider your home or business as a potential source of electricity through solar, wind, or other generation means. The other thing that we encourage is the use of the road less traveled and taking people off the highway and exploring smaller communities. Ultimately, though, I think, you know, it boils down to two things. In the big picture, we're at a historic transformation inflection point comparable to the transition from the horse to the automobile, from coal to oil, from steam to combustion engines. And and we've gotta be prepared to make that transition, and we need supply infrastructure, and that's why charging stations are so important. If there's a scarcity of charging stations, you're going to suppress demand for the product in terms of EVs. Big picture is also and we get this. We're not a lobbying organization, but we are a statewide in industry organization, and we look at the big picture. We talk with our senators and our congressional representatives. This is not a political partisan or convenience issue only. It's a matter of both consumer economics and national economic security. We all get the ecological impact and the fact that fewer, carbon emitting, vehicles is not only gonna be good for the environment, it's gonna be good for public health, but it's also good for our national security, and that is significant. So I'm going to, also just tell you, you know, again, we're the organization that works with the grassroots membership of the tourism industry to have their eye on the horizon in the future and think strategically about stewardship in our destination communities. I'll turn things over now to Scott, and, I will leave the stage. Thank you. Thanks, Bob. Thank you. Welcome, everyone. Pleased to be here as a real life example of, an EV enthusiast, and an end that tries to be as sustainable as possible. I've been an innkeeper for thirty three years, and I don't think you'll hear many people say those numbers in the same sentence or those words in the same sentence. But I've been a Tesla owner since 2016. You'll get a hope you get a kick out of my license plate and, also drive a a Cybertruck now too. So I have dual Teslas. I'm just a little nuts about it. So our our in and conference center is a little unique here. We're in the countryside, on a 150 acres in rural Maine, but just a few minutes from the State Capitol Building. We have an eight room bed and breakfast, but we also have a full service conference center. We have over a 100 people here right now having a meeting and and talking about farming and fishing and all sorts of cool stuff. So we host a lot of very interesting events. But we've always been sort of on the forefront of, being sustainable. So we put in a big solar, electric, and hot water array in 02/2006. We did get a little funding assistance for that since we were really on the cutting edge. Proud to say that was the largest array in Maine, and also proud to say that it's been far surpassed now and great to see other people, doing solar since it's so economical. But even before that, we had a wind turbine. We brought up in 02/2003. So we try to if you're plugging in here when it's either windy or sunny, you're charging up your cars with, sustainable, renewable energy. But one of the things about being sustainable is that we are recognized for that. We remain first certified environmental leader. It was a a statewide program for green hotels. Over a 100 of 100 hotels now, but we're proud to tell each guest comes in about that history. And Yankee Magazine, very popular, New England Magazine named us one of the best five green hotels in Inns in all of New England, a few years ago. So again, very proud of the recognition we get. It's kind of a nice part of the business picture. So in 2016, we installed, two EV chargers with universal connectors. This was a picture that was actually in the in the newspaper, back then. And they were free charging stations for our guests, and and happy to do so. We also installed, two Tesla stations. These are, like, all level two chargers, 30 to 40 amps per per charging station. Tesla actually paid for this installation since we were sort of the one of we were the first, destination charger and still one of the only destination charges for Teslas in the whole Greater Augusta, Maine Capital Area. And the agreement was we would pay for the electricity for these stations. But we run into a problem ran into a problem that people would just drive into our our property and pull up to these stations and settle in for the night. These were not our customers. They weren't running a room from us at our end, and they weren't coming to an event. So we decided enough was enough. We weren't we weren't in the business of subsidizing that. I wish we were, but we upgraded to pay stations in 2023. All four of these stations were upgraded to, Tesla branded stations. It's kind of interesting. They're they're all Tesla stations, but these these two have Tesla chargers on them, and the other two that we have have the generic j seventy seventy two chargers. It's very easy. People have to download the Tesla app. We set the price. Tesla takes a penny a kilowatt hour, and we get a we get a check every three months. So it it is a new revenue source. People have not been upset because we're they're they're paying for their electricity, but it's worked out very well. And these these, again, show the newer, pay stations that are Teslas, But, again, with the generic chargers, it confuses people a little bit. Sometimes we have to go out and help them say, you know, you can plug in. It's okay. You do need a reliable Wi Fi connection. That initially was challenged for us. We had to put in a little more infrastructure, but it was worth it to to see people be able to charge reliably. You know, the benefits, we we we we're promoting green travel. We get customers coming here because they have an EV for sure. And this our whole property appeal, and as I mentioned, the, the the good press we get. So it's really a benefit all all the way around. There are a few challenges. The cost, especially when we had three, two, three, or four people all plugging at the same time, the the the peak demand for electricity goes up. And, unfortunately, with our size business, we have to pay extra for that peak cost. Frankly, the the charging for the electricity will go toward that, but it really is never gonna cover it. So offering this sort of a a benefit for our guests still still has a cost to us, but we we think it's absolutely worth it. Some we still have a problem with icing, which is where somebody who's not driving an electric vehicle will park at one of these stations, even though we have very clear signage in front of them. But it's, we can ask them to move. We have plenty of other parking spaces. And then I hear from people that, you know, they they have to download yet another app. You just you have to download the Tesla app now to use these stations. So that's a little bit of a, I wouldn't say maybe a burden, but it's another task that EV owners have to do to use these stations. So that's that's can be a little bit of a challenge. But, again, our our guests that stay here have a really convenient amenity, and they really love it. Especially people coming to conferences that don't have a lot of range on their vehicles. Maine's a big state. They come here for the day. They need to charge up, so they can get home. The the guests are very very happy with everything, and it gets repeat visits here, as well. And I think that was that's the end of my presentation, so thank you. On on to Kate. Let me share my screen. Alright. Thank you, everybody. My name is Kate Crook. I wear about a million hats, but today, I am the partner and engagement director with lynkwell. I'm very fortunate to be able to educate and advocate on what electric vehicle hardware and software makes sense. I'm also a member of the New York State Tourism Industry Association, and have some great conversations and relationships with our hotel and hospitality and tourism industry. So I've gotten to learn a lot, and I'm looking forward to sharing some of the the tips and best practices. But, where my heart always lies is, first and foremost, I'm an EV driver. As of this summer, I've been driving an electric vehicle for, exactly a decade and continue to watch how the transportation industry has evolved over the that decade of driving an EV. And I see more and more people picking up the technology and learning how to use it and integrate it into their lives. What I will say is 61% of EV drivers said access to EV charging influences where they stop they shop, dine, and stay. Think of that. 61% of EV drivers figure that location and proximity to an EV charging station influences their decision. And there's not a lot in the hospitality industry that you can take away from from that kind of information and say, I could potentially be losing a customer because I don't have EV charging at my location. I can choose somewhere else to go. I think Scott mentioned that. Bob had mentioned that before, but that's the that's the stat right now, 61%. And right now too, 64% of the top travel booking platforms like booking.com and Expedia actually have a choice on your selection that says EV charging available. So having that option, someone could exclude your location by virtue of you not having that infrastructure in your location. But before I get into all of that, we've already kind of thrown out some of these terms. And in the EV world, there's a lot of them. And it's really good to know what types of vehicles match what types of infrastructure so that you can make the best selection for your location. So not all chargers and not all electric vehicles are the same. So I wanna kinda go over a couple of these. This is one of my favorite slides, especially if you are not an EV driver. So something to to understand is that when people are talking about hybrid vehicles, these are not plug in electric vehicles. Those vehicles still run on gasoline, on on regular fuel, and they don't need an EV charger. So if someone says I'm coming to your location, I'm bringing my hybrid, the infrastructure, you don't need a TV charger. However, when someone says they're driving a plug in hybrid vehicle or a PHEV, that is something that uses both fuel and a plug. Very often, those plug in hybrid vehicles have a very small battery. They can get about 30 to 40 miles of range even though that is continuing to evolve as well. But those batteries are smaller, and that's gonna go into what type of plug they're going to need to fuel that vehicle. And finally, my personal favorite is the battery electric vehicle, b h e v, EV. So this is a zero sometimes also called zEVs because we need to have more acronyms. It's a zero emissions vehicle, fully electric vehicle. This is fueled completely by a battery. So there's no fuel involved. And, again, there's pros and cons with different types of vehicles and why people choose to adopt those vehicles. But what we're talking about today in the hospitality industry, again, is how to fuel them. So you have guests that are coming in multiple different vehicles. What is the best way to use your resources to make sure that they have the fueling station that suits them? So first and foremost, when we talk about charging, there's different levels. And, of course, they have acronyms too. So, again, this slide follows up with the types of vehicles. Take a screenshot. It'll be available later. But level one charging or l one charging is just your standard outlet. So to some people, it might be amazing, but, yes, you can plug your vehicle in on a regular one ten outlet just like you charge your phone, just like you plug in your refrigerator, just like you plug in your air conditioner. No special tools, but it does take a long time because that is a smaller voltage. It's going to take a while. So if you look at that slide there, it can take days potentially to fuel a vehicle up because of the size of the battery and the type of fuel it's going to be or the electricity that's being put into that. So level one chargers, just an outlet. It's a great option if you're gonna have guests that are gonna be there for a long time at your location. In the hospitality industry. Think of something like a campsite, for example. You might be there all week. You're not moving. You're enjoying your time and your stay, so you can plug into a one ten and that might be fine for you. The second is what I like to think of in the hospitality industry specifically is kinda that sweet spot, the l two level two charger. So that is something that can go from all the way from three kilowatts right up to 19.2, give or take, few again. The it's changing the the world we live in. But that is something that could take a few hours for a vehicle to charge in. And that's what's really important when, again, in the hospitality industry, lower kilowatts, lower power output, it's a great, as someone said in the in the chat, can be a great return on investment because they're generally also lower cost to install. So that level two charger for hospitality, for folks that you wanna have hang out for a while at your location, casinos, again, conference centers, level two could be the right choice for you. And most vehicles can use that level two charger. Finally is the level three, the DC FC, the DC fast charger. And this is where it starts to get a little pricey, but you also gain speed. So, again, in the hospitality industry, you wanna think about dwell time. DC fast chargers can charge a vehicle up in fifteen minutes or less sometimes depending on the type of vehicle and the, capacity that they can accept. So if your vehicle can accept those higher kilowatts, yeah, you could be done charging in ten minutes. But is your customer only staying for ten minutes? So you wanna think about that when you put those types of charging stations in. Is that the dwell time of my customer? Are they looking for that convenience? Because if they're if they're not, if they're gonna be staying for a while, then maybe you can alternate. Or when you choose your location, and how you're gonna set up your site, you might be able to vary the types of chargers that you use. So now that you have an idea of how fast you can charge these based on the different type of equipment, some of the important things that you can do is work smarter, not harder. And I think Scott had said it, with the network's charging stations. So you can use software with your hardware to make sure that you have and give your guests the experience that they need while they're at your charging station. So Scott had mentioned that they were giving away the charger the the the fuel, essentially, for free at the first, when the first they put in their first charging stations at the location, and they realized that that wasn't working for them. They were getting additional tourists that were, you know, guests and customers of of his. So what he what you heard him say is I chose to use networked charging stations. So there now you can start to access the software that can tweak the behaviors of those who are using your charging stations. So you can use things like guest charging. I know the lynkwell team, we have created on our app because, yes, we have an app for it like a lot of other charging stations, but we have what we call guest charging. So if someone doesn't wanna completely download the whole app to use the charger, especially if they're coming from out of town, they can just do a one time payment, and guest charge use that charging station without having to put in all of their information. So that is something we heard from drivers. We made that edit. We heard from hotel and a lot of destination owners that this is what, folks are looking for, so we implemented that. So you can use that those guest charging features on our software. But if you're looking again as a first time, installation, these are things that, you want to ask and question of your hardware and software provider, partner. Can you do those kinds of features? Additionally, you can create things like driver groups. So if you are a guest at a hotel, you can have it so once you check-in, you are now a guest. You can get a code, and now you can use that charging station for free. That's something that the software allows you to do. So if you are not a customer, you might actually have to pay. You might have to pay more. You can incentivize or disincentivize, based on, again, that software solution. And the hospitality industry, I think Bob had mentioned, is a growing industry. And you are in a great spot because not only are you a workplace, but you're also a destination. And that's where, again, you can use the software features to serve both use cases. You can make it so that your employees don't have to pay to charge. You can use that as an added benefit, and then you can use that software solution to to choose, that they don't have to pay. Maybe they pay a little bit less. Maybe they pay less on the weekends. Whatever you need to do, you have the option to do it. Again, the same with your guests. If you're hosting a big conference, you can give them a special code, any of those things to give your guests, your visitors, and your employees the experience that they're looking for. You can also, as I think Scott had mentioned too, you can use software to, use energy and time limits. So you can promote their access by setting charging limits. So you can make it so after two hours, the charging station will shut off for any one user so that they have to come out and potentially move their vehicle. This offers especially in spaces that don't have a lot of actual parking spaces to give up. It keeps people moving. And there's also load management. This is something that you can use to make sure that the energy that you're putting out doesn't trip those, the features that make it so that you might have to pay overage charges or demand fees. So this is something, again, customized networks, software can help you make the connections that you need so that you can you yourself, as an owner of the charging stations, can have the experience you want while also passing along that positive experience to your guests. Finally, like any business, we're looking to figure out how we can maximize charging station savings. So EVSE, another acronym, meaning the charging station hardware. So how can you take advantage of savings? I'm not sure who said it at the very beginning that, you know, there's different funding opportunities that may be ebbing and flowing in the current administration, but there are still opportunities out there, and you shouldn't miss out on them. So there are still federal tax credits, often based on location. And you hospitality industry specifically is is still considered a target for adding infrastructure because people want that same experience. Most EV drivers, for example, they charge at home. So when they're traveling, when they're staying overnight, they want that same home experience where they can finish their day, plug in their vehicle, go to sleep, and be ready to start the next morning. Hospitality fits that mold. It's exactly what people want. So back to that, the federal tax credits, still exist for some of those opportunities. There's also state grants and utility rebates. You always wanna check with your utility company. There's opportunities for partnerships and cost sharing. So, again, more people that come in on that charging station, you might be able to work out a deal with your neighbors, with your community, especially if you have a prime location. You can use solar and energy management. I just talked about that with the software solution. You can also potentially use charging as a revenue stream. I know Scott had said that it wasn't quite working out for him in his location, when he first did it, but, again, you can use that software solution to figure out how you can actually recoup those costs. One of those ways is offering public access for after hours or pay for use. You can also add idle fees, things like that. So people leave their vehicle past their, their time that they're done charging. You can actually, incur they can incur a fee, again, to figure out and make it better for them as far as the experience goes, to drive the behavior that you're looking for when the behavior is I want you to move after you finished charging your vehicle. Now if that didn't make your head spin about all the options you have, trying to make it easy for you. So the lynkwell team actually has what we call our rebate, incentive finder, and it's right on our website. You can actually go right to that website. I think Stan's gonna put the link in the chat. So you can type in the type of charging station you're looking for, the location of your site, and it will pop up. It's updated within twenty four hours, every twenty four hours. So it's pretty current. So that rebate finder will show you what's available for your type of site, your project type, what type of charging station hardware you're considering level one, two, or three, and what's available to you. So you don't have to go and curate and go look at your individual utility, your state, your federal. It's all there in that one spot. I recommend everybody, please take a look at it and use your I'm getting the time time zone was up. Sorry, guys. But you can you can look right there. While it may not be, a 100% for this particular group, but if you are a non for profit organization, you could also take a look at cooperative purchasing agreements and find better deals on hardware and software solutions for the, for charging station infrastructure. And finally, the last piece I wanna talk about is EV charging, thinking of it as one of the highest return on investments for marketing tools and hospitality. While adding charging stations may seem like infrastructure and an infrastructure investment, this is a fabulous marketing tool. Bob already said it. If you don't have them, you are missing an opportunity, and that is marketing. So if you're looking for ways to, fund those resources, considering as a marketing expense, check out the white paper with all this information in there, and hopefully, that will help you also maybe get those charging stations in the ground at your location. And I know George from Bryan was not able to join us today. One of the things that George was going to talk about is couple of of the site strategies to con consider as you are putting charging stations in the ground or considering how to install those. So I was going to take a quick look at George's slide. The biggest thing is find the right partners. So you wanna make sure you definitely schedule a consultation and always bring in your infrastructure partners and your utility partners first. So that's what's gonna happen when you're starting that charging infrastructure. You wanna make sure you have a site visit. You wanna make sure that you can determine the possible options for new and existing infrastructure, including that cellular signal. So most of these charging units, use a signal, and you wanna make sure that you do have access to, either your charging, your Internet cables or your Internet, as well as different ways to to get that hardware connected to the cloud. You're gonna receive your estimate, then you're gonna execute on the contract, and you're gonna order those materials. The last thing is the installation. And, honestly, especially with grants and funding, all of these first several steps could take several months to complete, especially if you need upgrades within your utility. So know that that time line, is potentially long, and the easiest part is the installation. Usually, folks can be on-site for a day and a half to get infrastructure, especially those level twos installed. And then finally, the activation and commissioning is getting that okay from the utility company to flip the switch, turn them on, and get those charging stations powered up for your guests. I think at this point, I am going to turn it over to Lisa Lee from the eval team who's gonna talk a little bit more about the program. Lisa? There you are. Alright. Thank you so much, Kate. I'm just gonna go through George's slides. Alright. So, there's an opportunity to get national recognition, for your efforts at promoting sustainability, EVs, and electric vehicle charging. There are two sites, two partners that we're working with. CalSTART has a pledge, which you can, scan here in the right QR code. You could also take a look at the resources that they offer, via their project builder portal and resource center. These are all wonderful toolkits, and I highly encourage anyone who's looking into installing EV charging stations, do your homework. And like Kate said, start early with talking to your utilities and planning for your electricity needs and whether or not they need to be upgraded. So EVAL or the EVAL certification program is a national program. It's funded by the US Department of Energy. It's managed by Fourth Mobility, which is a nonprofit based out in Oregon, who is very well regarded in the industry. And the certification supports clean transportation and charging at the workplace so that employees are able to charge at work, especially if they don't have a charging station at home. So this program really supports, people who may live in multiunit dwellings such as apartments or who may not have a driveway or a garage at home. And we're talking today about hospitality, but, you know, every single industry has employees. So the great thing about, you know, Scott and Bob having EV chargers at their headquarters is that their employees may be able to charge their their workplace, and, it encourages people to adopt and, electrify their mode of transportation. It also, demonstrates that employers have a commitment to the environment and, reducing, the impacts of, fossil fuels, and greenhouse gas emissions. It's a program that's aligned with the LEED program, which we all know about, that, certifies and recognizes sustainable, building construction. It's a similar type of program offered by USDOE to, recognize workplaces that make this commitment to sustainability. And companies that have EV charging stations and employees with EVs can actually earn two additional LEED certification points. So the the website, you can access through the QR code here. And similar to the Charge at Work, website, this one also has, a wealth of wonderful resources available. And what I found, as I've assisted different companies and governmental agencies in New Jersey, as they've been doing the applications, is that it actually really helps to spur new ideas and creative ways, to demonstrate your commitment to sustainability. So who's eligible to apply for, EVAL certification? Pretty much everyone except for, businesses that only have EV chargers installed for their fleets. So, if even if you don't have EV charging stations at the moment, but you have a commitment to sustainable transportation, you can apply to get certified at a lower level. Obviously, those who have already taken the step and put in their EV chargers are going to be able to get the higher level awards. But anyone can apply, whether you're a school, a county, a municipality, a nonprofit, or a for profit business. Anyone can apply for this, as long as their focus is to help their employees and the public. There are four levels of certification, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. And as you can see, it only takes 15 points to reach the bronze level. So we have many, in organizations in New Jersey that have a commitment to sustainability. They haven't yet put in their chargers, but because they have those sustainability goals and they're working on other policies, they have been able to get a bronze national certification from, Ford Mobility for EVAL certification. And, they, the website has and lists all of the different, criteria that certification requires. So there's a questionnaire that has every single question. You know, easy ride, we have, worked to create a sheet that has the point bearing questions in one simple page, and we are available as well as several of the other partners here to, help you get certified. So it takes a look at, you know, how you've engaged with your employees. Have you surveyed them about their needs for clean transportation, do you have planning goals, do you offer any incentives, not only for EVs, but even for public transit, active transportation, micromobility, and then it basically looks at how you have, developed your site to prepare to install EV charging. EVAL certification, Stan, notes in the chat, does not ever expire. So it's a a great investment. It puts you on the national stage, where you will be recognized and provides other types of benefits such as, workshops, roundtables where you can interact with other EV leaders. And we can give you advice as to how to get the highest level. I've worked with municipalities that decided to do it on their own and apply. Even though they had charges, they got a bronze award versus I worked with other municipalities that had goals. And because we were able to partner and help them, they got silver awards. So please don't, try to do this on your own. Let let us help you so that you can get the highest, bang for your buck and the highest level award. This just lists some of the benefits. I think the most important thing is to, you know, identify yourself as a champion for, environmental sustainability. But there are many other, benefits, such as press releases, opportunities to have a spotlight case study nationally and to be in webinars like this that are national. There are discounts. It's no longer a free program. However, just by being here today, you're gonna get 20% off if you register on the EVAL certification site, within the next seven days, so before, September 30. Minority and women owned businesses are free to certify. Government entities can get a 25% off discount that's stock stacked on top of this 20%, discount you're getting today. And, we can also help to see if we can negotiate another multisite discount for you if you are so inclined. I'm gonna skip that for time. And, you know, I just hope that you can talk with your sustainability lead at your company. Reach out to us at Plug In America, at lynkwell, or here at EZRide. Make your pledge to charge at work for the future of our planet, and, we will help you to get certified. So join the leaders, and I'm gonna turn it back to Stan who might have some questions for our panel. And, panel, please join me up here on stage. Thank you, Risa, and good job to all the speakers. Now if you have any questions, this is perfect time. I was just looking. We do not have any questions in the chat, but you have lots of useful links that we have shown, to, all of our businesses as well as, how to get EVA certified. EZRide is here to get you certified at the at the highest possible level as Lisa mentioned. We have also q and a section section. I don't see any questions there. And, we have all speakers now on the stage. Hi, Stan. I just wanted to throw out because I can. That last slide here obviously talks about National Drive Electric Month. I put on the bottom of the slide, I've snuck it in last night, is if anybody who is listening today is in the New York Capital District or wants to take a ride because fall is beautiful in Upstate New York, Connectivity is going to be hosting what is currently the lead of the the largest attend in National Drive Electric Week event in the country. So, the local team and I are happy to be co hosting it with the city and the green market, as connected because that's so we would love to invite everybody to come out and see. And you can also learn about eval certification there because lynkwell is a platinum, eval winner. So we'd love to have you guys anybody's invited, so come on down. I just have a little tidbit. I I I looked online and, you know, there are a dozen or more large hotels in Augusta, Maine, and nobody, still, ten years after we put our charging stations in, has one, except recently a a a brand new, actually, level four Tesla charging station was put in right next to one of the hotels. But none of these businesses have taken the in the initiative on their own to put in these affordable level two chargers. It's it is amazing to me. And that's from the hospitality industry too. I gotta put my EV driver hat on. That eliminates so much of your competition. Again, it's if I'm choosing where I'm going to go or I'm going to spend my day. You can use booking.com. You can use all of these websites and resources to choose where you're going to to stay. And the fact that you don't have a a very, at this point, inexpensive, item in your parking lot means you don't gain a customer. And that's something that, you know, all the folks in the hospitality and tourism industry need to be thinking about because to your point, Scott, you're the you're the only game in town. And if like what Bob said, if there's an RFP that's out to do an event and that RFP says you must have access to sustainable travel infrastructure, guess who's got the job? Exactly. I just went to, up to Yale last week, to to do a presentation. And, you know, I took my EV, and I asked them if they could provide, you know, EV charging, but I wanted to make them aware. It was a sustainability environmental conference anyways, but I wanted to let them know, you know, this is something that is important to me and should be important to them as well. So we are approaching the beautiful fall season that we have here in New England. So, you know, hats off to you, Scott. You're probably gonna have a lot more, guests, you know, coming to your cute farm and conference and center. I know Kate has expressed interest, and so I'm interested also. But, you know, seasonally, people are always traveling. So I really do hope that the hospitality industry will will realize, this need, not just for their employees and their customers, but also just because it's so important. Right? The the talk the clock is ticking, everyone. Twenty thirty, the scientists have told us we really need to get our emissions down. So, yesterday was car free day, and I know we have the EV people here. But, you know, to whatever end we can, help our environment and our world, I hope that we will all take that challenge. Okay. Well said. And, again, start small. There's for some people in the hospitality industry, it might just be the option where you, yourself, as a business owner, swap out the vehicle you use for your fleet. If you're driving between different sites or if you have a security vehicle or something like that that's only making, you know, tours around your hotel site or your restaurant, make that switch. You know, it's not it's those little steps that make big wins. So, if you have questions, feel free to reach out. Anything with infrastructure, the lynkwell team and I are here to help, especially from the very beginning. We're we're happy to to do what we can to to help this you move forward. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. I'll put this back if people only want to contact us. Everybody's contact information is right there on the screen. Okay. So we're all here, and we're all advocates for EVs. Reach out. Bye. Thank you, everyone, today. Hope you enjoyed being part of that experience. Let me come off stage.