How to Fund Your EV Charging Project: Grants and Utility Rebates Across the South and Midwest

It’s no secret that one of the biggest hurdles for companies that want to install electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure anywhere in the United States is cost. This is especially true if your site requires electrical upgrades to host the charging stations you want. To help alleviate costs associated with EV charging infrastructure installation, property owners can utilize the numerous funding opportunities available in all states. 

In this paper, we will look at how you can take advantage of EV charging grants and utility rebates to reduce project costs and accelerate deployment specifically in the U.S. Midwest and in the South. 

We will discuss:

• How grants and rebates work

• What funding agencies look for in a strong applications

• Funding application best practices

• Differences between grants and utility rebates

• Where to find funding opportunities and how Blink can help you pursue the right programs

• Turnkey EV solutions from Blink

• EV charging funding opportunities in:

  • Illinois

  • Indiana

  • Iowa

  • Michigan

  • Minnesota

  • Alabama

  • Florida

  • Georgia

  • South Carolina

How grants and rebates work

Third-party EV charging infrastructure funding mainly comes from state grants and utility rebates. (This does not count loans from banks or other financial institutions that you may require to get your project started.)

The funding is usually paid directly to the owner of the site where the EV charging infrastructure will be installed. What exactly the funding can be used for depends on the program. Sometimes it’s only meant for purchasing the EV charging equipment itself, sometimes it’s only meant to be used to pay for electrical infrastructure, sometimes it’s to be used for electrical upgrades a site needs, and sometimes it can be used for any and all purchases related to EV charging installation. 

State administration

Even if available grant money is federal in nature, it will still be administered and distributed by the individual states. 

Reimbursement-based

Funding structures vary by program. Some grants and rebates reimburse eligible costs after expenses are incurred, while others provide fixed incentives, make-ready support, or other forms of financial assistance. Award amounts and eligible costs can also vary significantly.

Before incorporating anticipated funding into your project budget, review the program's eligibility requirements, eligible expenses, cost-share requirements, payment schedule, and application deadlines.

If you are working with a bank or other financial institution to fund your project upfront, be sure to inform them that you are seeking reimbursement funding and then inform them if your project is accepted for that funding. This will help you secure that initial funding from the financial institution to start your project. 

Most grants are reimbursement-based. This means that you will have to pay for the project upfront and then collect the reimbursement afterwards, which will be for a percentage of the total cost. Each grant and rebate is different, but 80% is a common average for the amount the grant provider will cover. 

Funding windows

Funding windows are often one to three months. Decisions about who receives funding often take three to six months after the closing date. And many programs require post-installation reporting for three to seven years. 

The amount of time a funding window is open is often dependent on demand. If a program that is supposed to be open for one to three months has all its available money earmarked after just one month, it may close the window early. And if it does not distribute all its available money by the three-month mark, it may extend deadlines. 

Project readiness

Strong applications usually show project readiness, which means the project can move rapidly after funds are released to you.

You have to have the specific site picked out for where you are planning to install EV charging infrastructure. This means you have to know the exact location on the property where chargers are going to be placed. In addition to that, you need a plan that shows what the site is going to look like and how you are going to make it ready. For example, if your site requires paving, you need a plan in place to have the site paved. If you’re going to have amenities, you have to have that plan in place, as well. 

Amenities

To turn your charging site into a fully-fledged revenue generator, it is recommended to have some amenities in place, like a store or a restaurant or at least some public restrooms for drivers to use. Having these amenities will not just attract drivers and give them something to do while their vehicles charge, they also promote safety for drivers. A charging hub with nothing around it may be seen as unsafe by some drivers. You have to have the plans for any of these amenities in place before you seek funding so you can include them in the specifications for your project. 

Obviously, if your EV charging project is not open to the public (like a fleet situation, for example) then you don’t have to worry about amenities. 

A clear budget

Funding agencies want to know that you have calculated the cost of your project to the best of your ability. Grant funding providers will also likely want documentation to back up your calculations, like specification sheets and letters of support from the vendors you’ve decided to work with. The more detailed your budget, the better. 

A deployment plan

You’ll need to show funding agencies where your EV chargers are going to be placed in relation to their surroundings and how the electrical infrastructure is going to be connected. Again, just like with the budget, details are your friends. You want to show the funding agency that you will be able to hit the ground running as soon as you are approved. 

Location details

This is highly important for publicly available chargers, and it gives you an opportunity to highlight the amenities yours will be providing, if any. For public chargers, funding agencies may be looking for ease of access and how much of a need there is for charging in that specific area. 

Expected usage

This will take a bit of extrapolation, but you should be able to get a pretty decent idea of how many EVs your chargers will serve by looking at current EV registrations and potential sales growth in your region. 

Charging equipment specifications

Whether you are planning to deploy Level 2 chargers or Direct Current Fast Chargers (DCFCs), you’ll be able to get specifications for them from your EV charging installation partner. Blink Charging makes uor spec sheets available on our website for ease of access. 

Matching funds

Since you will need to pay for the project upfront anyway, this shouldn’t be an issue. You will need to show that you either have enough cash reserves to pay for the project or that you have procured a loan to pay for it. 

A clear project need

One of the most important sections of a funding application is the project need. You will have to demonstrate to the funding agency why this project should go forward. This is where you can tell the agency about the dearth of EV charging in your region, or the environmental and economic benefits of switching your fleet to electric.

Why you are the right organization to be undertaking this project

Funding agencies want to know that they are entrusting the right organizations to help expand the country’s EV charging network. This is where you can showcase any expertise and passion you have pertaining to the project. 

Starting early

Don’t procrastinate when it comes to getting started on your funding applications. They are often quite long and the information they require can take weeks to gather. The sooner you can start, the better. You don’t want to be rushed when you are filling them out. 

Coordinating with your utility provider

Regardless of the size of your project, your electrical utility provider will have to be involved in some capacity. This is especially true if you are installing DCFCs, which are more likely to require electrical upgrades to a site. Your utility provider can confirm your site’s electrical capacity and inform you of any upgrades it may require.

Electrical upgrades can take months to coordinate, so you will want to engage with your utility provider as soon as you start thinking about an EV charging project to ensure any upgrades will be done in a timely manner. 

Grant applications may also require a letter of support from your utility provider, so you may as well engage them early on in the process. 

In addition to coordinating with your utility provider, you should also be coordinating with an electrician who is certified to install EV charging infrastructure. If you need one, Blink Charging can recommend one who we work with. We have a roster of electricians throughout the country we work with and can recommend to clients. 

Keeping documentation for records and future reuse

You will want to keep all your documents not only for your own records, but to potentially reuse them for future funding opportunities that arise. Having these documents in place means future grant applications will be much quicker to pull together. 

Stacking funding opportunities

Funding “stacking” refers to combining multiple eligible incentives or funding sources for the same project when program rules allow it. Before combining funding sources, confirm that the programs permit stacking. For example, your project might be eligible for both a state grant and a utility rebate, so you can apply for both unless there is a specific rule against doing that from either funding provider. 

Grants vs utility rebates

Grant programs usually require a highly detailed application accompanied by supporting documents. The applications will be reviewed and given a score. The ones with the highest score are the most likely to be awarded funds. 

Grants are typically better for larger, competitive projects. If you’re installing a bank of DCFCs to try and become a charging hub for your region, for example, a grant would suit that project well. 

Utility rebates tend to be a bit simpler than grants, with less paperwork. Like grants, they are reimbursement-based for eligible project spending. 

It should be noted that “simpler” doesn’t mean they are simple, though. Often utilities want to be kept abreast of the project’s progress, meaning you have to give them regular updates. Failure to do this can cause your project to “expire” in their system and you may have to start the entire funding process over.

Rebates tend to be easier to access for straightforward projects. If you own a business and simply want to install a few EV chargers for customers and the general public on your site, a utility rebate would be a good fit for funding this project. (But, you may also be eligible for grant funding, which you should apply for.)

For both grants and rebates, the funding is tied to the site owner, or the person/organization who the electricity meter is associated with. Therefore, the site owners will need to be the ones to oversee and submit the applications. 

On that note, make sure you either own the property you are planning to install EV charging on, or that ownership is imminent. If you do not own the property, confirm whether the funding program allows tenants, lessees, or other authorized parties to apply and whether property-owner authorization is required.

Our regional sales representatives are also helpful for finding funding within the regions they oversee. Paul Pirhofer is our Territory Sales Manager for the Midwest, serving Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota and Trey Wilcox is our Territory Sales Manager for the South, serving Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The property owner will have to be the one to fill out the application. Blink Charging can help you with best practices and guides that we have written about procuring funding, but we cannot fill out the application on behalf of a client. We can answer questions and look at your site plans for you to suggest potential improvements. Two other items we can help with are finding an electrical contractor for your project and managing the project once you are ready to start.

Turnkey EV solutions from Blink

Before we get into the funding opportunities in the U.S. Midwest and South, there is one other way you can save on installation costs for certain locations. For high-density metro locations that are publicly accessible and will have frequent use by EV drivers, Blink Charging offers the Blink Owned Turnkey Business Model.

Under this model, Blink Charging covers the cost of:

• Site preparation,

• EV charging equipment,

• EV charging installation, and

• maintenance.

The only items a host is responsible for with the Blink Owned Turnkey Business Model are electricity and a monthly network connectivity fee for connecting to the Blink Network. Network fees are deducted from charging revenue monthly. 

The Blink Network is the proprietary cloud-based software Blink Charging uses to connect and control all Blink chargers. Each host who has installed networked Blink chargers is provided with their own portal to the Blink Network where they have full control over all their chargers. 

With the Blink Owned Turnkey Business Model, we keep 95% of the EV charging revenue generated and share 5% with the host. 

Your site has to be approved for participation in the Blink Owned Turnkey Business Model. 

EV charging funding opportunities in the Midwest

This is not an exhaustive list of EV funding programs, and not all of these will be open at the moment, but this list and funding opportunities for the South listed below are meant to be jumping off points for organizations seeking funding help with their EV charging projects.