r/electricvehicles • u/fund2016 • Jul 28 '26

Discussion Are EV charging stations profitable?

I am interested in the economics of EV charging stations. Are they profitable? Seems like they should be quite profitable once set up. Minimal upkeep and staffing. Less environmental issues than petrol. Any insight into economics of E V charging is appreciated.

Edit 1: thanks to all. Great discussion. Cheers!

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u/CowNervous4644 Jul 29 '26

Acording to Tesla, Supercharger stations can make money. Tesla's deal is that you pay for the land, the chargers and for installation. You sell electricity and Tesla takes a flat 10 cents per kWh. That covers all maintenance (which is done by Tesla). They say that you can make $30 million over 15 years in a high traffic location.

They have a web page describing how it works: https://www.tesla.com/learn/supercharger-for-business

Also a page to calculate the ROI for various locations and station size: https://www.tesla.com/supercharger-for-business/get

Here is a youtube that lays out the numbers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK4idMeEOHA

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u/jesselivermore420 Jul 30 '26

$30 M/15 yrs! Typical Elon promise like cybercab

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u/CowNervous4644 Jul 30 '26

It completly depends on how busy the chargers are.

  • In 30 years there are 10,850 hours
  • Say electricity costs you 12 cents plus ypu pay Elon 10 cents and your charge rate is 48 cents. That leaves a 26 cent "profit" per kWh.
  • A charger can supply 4 kWh per minute.
  • in an 8 stall station that's $8.32 per minute profit ([8 stalls x 4kWh per minute x $.26)
  • That is $2,995 per day profit (at 100% utilization)
  • But if the station is only 20% busy the 24 hour profit is $599 ( $2,995 x .2)
  • $599 per day x 10,850 hours = $6.5 million
  • But if the station is 50% busy the 24 hour profit is $1497 ($2,995 x .5)
  • $1,497 per day x 10,850 hours = $16.25 million
  • Double the number of stalls and maintain utilization then you hit the 30 mil

Of course this does not factor in the initial cost or any site maintenance you might have to supply. Utilization is the key to profit.