Case Study: How Phased EV Charger Deployment Saved an HOA 40%

Riverbend Commons (a composite case drawn from common multifamily EV projects) is a 120-unit garden-style condo community in the Pacific Northwest, built in the late 1990s. The property sits on roughly seven acres with surface parking, two carports, and a small clubhouse. In late 2023, the board began receiving steady requests from residents who had purchased plug-in vehicles. Three early adopters had already strung extension cords from their patios, which the property manager flagged as a fire and liability concern.

The board's first instinct was to move quickly and install chargers at every parking space. This is a common reaction when boards feel pressure from residents, but it almost always produces the highest possible price tag. Before signing any contract, the board engaged an independent consultant to scope the project and pulled three competing bids. What they learned would reshape the entire approach.

The first installer's proposal recommended 120 networked Level 2 chargers, one for every parking space, with a brand-new 1,200-amp service entrance and trenching across most of the property. The total bid landed at $612,000, or just over $5,100 per space. Even after the federal 30C tax credit and a state utility rebate, the net cost would have exceeded $400,000 — an amount that would have required a special assessment of roughly $3,300 per owner.

When the consultant reviewed parking-survey data, the picture changed. Out of 120 units, only 11 households owned a plug-in vehicle. Adoption forecasts from the U.S. Department of Energy and Edison Electric Institute suggested the community might reach 25 to 35 EVs within five years and perhaps 60 within a decade. Installing 120 chargers in year one meant paying today's prices for capacity that would sit idle for years. It also meant locking the project into one vendor and one technology generation.

The board voted to pause the original contract and rebid the project around a phased plan that would scale with actual resident demand.

Working with the consultant, the board designed a three-phase rollout tied to demand triggers rather than the calendar. Each stage added capacity only when utilization data justified the next round of spending.

Phase one delivered 12 Level 2 ports in the closest carport bay, supported by a load-managed circuit that drew from existing service capacity. The board sized this phase to cover current EV owners plus three spares for new arrivals during the first 18 months. Installation finished in nine weeks at a cost of $48,000 before incentives.

Phase two, triggered when 9 of the 12 stalls were assigned, added 18 more ports along a second carport row. Because the underground conduit installed in phase one already extended past this location, trenching was minimal. Phase two also added a 600-amp subpanel, sized to support phases two and three without further service upgrades. This stage cost $66,000. Phase three, planned but not yet built, will add 30 more ports on the surface lot using EV-ready conduit stubbed in during phase two. The reserve study projects this phase for 2028 or whenever utilization hits the trigger.

The total cost to reach 30 working ports under the phased plan came to $114,000, compared with an estimated $190,000 the original installer would have charged for the same 30-port equivalent (one-quarter of the original 120-port bid). That is a 40% reduction on a like-for-like basis, before incentives. The savings came from four sources.

Riverbend's experience points to a few practical takeaways that apply to most multifamily communities considering EV charging. The principles are not specific to garden-style condos and translate to high-rise, townhome, and mixed-use properties as well.

The board at Riverbend is now treated as an in-house reference by their consultant and their property management firm. More importantly, residents who joined the EV waitlist saw chargers installed within 30 days of requesting one, and the community avoided a special assessment that would have strained homeowner budgets and likely sparked a contentious annual meeting.

Phased deployment is not always the right answer. A small property with high EV adoption may genuinely need full coverage on day one. But for the typical mid-sized community with single-digit EV ownership today, building in stages preserves cash, captures future incentives, and avoids stranding equipment that may be obsolete before it is ever used.