Five EV Charging Myths That Are Costing Fleets Revenue
- Stephanie McGreevy
- Aug 5
- 2 min read
Stephanie McGreevy has spent her career in alternative-fuel infrastructure, and today, as a Channel Account Manager for OptiGrid, she helps fleets and site hosts deploy EV charging that is used. From her vantage point within the industry, she sees the same costly assumptions repeatedly derail projects. Chargers installed with no plan for who will use them. Budgets blown on utility upgrades that were never necessary. Revenue lost to delays no one saw coming.
Here are the five myths she says cost site hosts and fleets the most.
Myth 1. Build it, and they will come
Utilization does not happen overnight; it must be planned. Before investing in chargers, site hosts need a strategy for who will charge on day one and how utilization will grow over time. Infrastructure without committed users is how stations end up sitting empty.
Myth 2. Every fast charger needs a utility upgrade
The biggest misconception in EV charging is that a DC fast charger automatically requires a utility service upgrade. Projects routinely spend hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, on transformers, switchgear, and service upgrades before a charger is ever installed, and most delays happen before construction begins. Customers think they are buying a charger, only to unknowingly start a multi-year utility infrastructure project.
It doesn’t have to work that way. One customer was told they needed a new transformer, a 400A service, and nearly two years of utility work. After evaluating the site, OptiGrid found that their existing 208V service with a 100A breaker was sufficient to deploy the OptiGrid Reservoir 200kW, as the integrated battery does the heavy lifting. They skipped the utility process entirely, went straight to permitting, and kept years of charging revenue they would have otherwise lost.
Myth 3. The charger is the most expensive part of the project
The charger is often one of the least expensive parts. Electrical infrastructure, engineering, utility coordination, and construction delays can cost hundreds of thousands more than the hardware. The cost almost everyone overlooks is lost revenue while the project is delayed.
Myth 4. Incentives guarantee a successful project
Every month of delay costs money in multiple ways. Delayed charging revenue, delayed carbon credit revenue, delayed fleet savings, and in some cases a missed incentive deadline that changes the entire economics of the project.
Myth 5. Once the charger is installed, the hard part is over
More than 25 percent of public chargers are out of service at any given time. Cut cables, damaged displays, and no budget for long-term maintenance all lead to the same outcome. A charger that is not online is not generating revenue.
The takeaway
After two decades in alternative-fuel infrastructure, McGreevy’s advice comes down to one lesson: assumptions are expensive. Before spending a dollar, answer three questions: Who will charge? How much power do you actually need? Can your existing electrical infrastructure support your business case? And don’t assume the first answer you get is the only one.
Ready to find out what your site can support without a utility upgrade?
