August 28, 2024 (Cape Cod, MA) – As electric vehicles continue to grow in popularity among consumers, there is a correlating demand for EV charging stations across the country. Leading the effort to navigate a complex maze of regulations, utility grid limitations, and design parameters has been a Massachusetts-based company, EVKON.
And on Friday, September 6, 7:30 to 9 am at Cape Cod Community College, the Cape Cod Technology Council will welcome one of its founders, Luther Bates of Chatham, to talk about what he’s learned since launching the company in 2022.
To register for the talk, click this link.
“I am looking forward to bringing some of the very niche awareness we have on this topic to a group of interested people on Cape Cod,” said Bates, who juggles his role as principal and CFO at EVKON with his others as the owner of The Nines Art Gallery in Harwich Port, as a commercial fisherman, a photographer, and a commercial real estate owner.
“Luther is a multitalented Cape Codder who is now at the forefront of an emerging industry to provide the infrastructure needed to power electric vehicles in our communities,” said Technology Council Executive Director Steve Smith. “In many ways, it’s an industry still in its infancy. We’re looking forward to hearing what Luther has learned and how charging station technology is being implemented in commercial applications.”
Two years ago, Bates partnered with friends Mike Gorman — retail magnate, owner of Peter Millar in Boston’s Seaport District, and founder of Mahi Gold in Chatham — and Chris Angelou — former managing director of Aetna Corp. EV Charging and corporate advisor for Nexii Building Solutions in Boston — in creating EVKON.
The firm was founded to address the need to assist corporations interested in installing EV charging stations on their properties. “The first year, I would say, was very uncertain. It was a very gray area. We knew more charging stations needed to be installed, but it was very opaque. Nobody knew what the utility side of the process was,” Bates said.
Despite the steep learning curve inherent in a nascent industry, EVKON is now in the process of supporting regional automotive dealers in the installation of EV charging stations at five dealerships. The company is also electrifying multiple commercial parking garages, including a six-story facility in downtown Boston, and is bringing 3 MW of new energy to a second garage in Hoboken, NJ.
EVKON’s current focus is commercial projects, and its clients include resorts, multi-unit housing developments, auto dealerships, commercial real estate portfolios, and large-scale parking lots in the Northeast. One client on Cape Cod, a resort, will be constructing nearly three dozen chargers on its property.
Installing EV chargers is a complicated process that not only includes working with clients, but utility companies, engineers, and designers to ensure the viability of each project. Complicating matters is that each state has its own rules; as one example, Massachusetts offers incentives and funding opportunities for these projects while some neighboring states do not.
“I get to solve problems at work that haven’t occurred before,” said Bates of what he likes about the challenges that EVKON is facing in the early adoption of EV technology. “I like solving problems, and I like solving problems you can’t just look up on YouTube. There’s no history of these types of problems. Even if you go to Europe, there’s a totally different electrical grid. You can look to California, but they have a lot of different policies in place.”
As one who embraces green technology – he has solar panels on his home in Chatham and is looking to install them on his art gallery – he also understands the importance of EVKON’s work in helping to reduce our country’s reliance on fossil fuels. “There are so many positive benefits to the environment,” he said.
To get to where we want to be as a community and a country, Bates said, will take time, especially on the Cape where many older homes were built with 100-amp circuit breakers and “people were not thinking about the electrical grid. Particularly here, the commercial installations are more critical than in other areas of the country where you have newer development and more modern housing stock.”