How Leasing EV Charging Infrastructure Can Improve Asset Value and the Bottom Line

Upgrading infrastructure at a commercial property by deploying charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) can increase the property’s value as well as provide other long-term benefits. The question is how to deploy: Do you own, or do you lease? In the early days of EV-charger deployment, many property owners chose to own and manage the hardware. Often this caused uptime and maintenance problems that were widely reported and negatively impacted revenue and brand image. Leasing at scale, by contrast, has emerged as a more reliable alternative, offering better service agreements, a fixed cost on the company’s P&L and simplicity that allows property owners to focus on their core operations.

Benefits of Upgrading EV Charging Infrastructure

1. Increases Property Value
   Installing EV chargers can increase property values by up to 15% in commercial properties, according to a report by the Urban Land Institute.
2. Attracts and Retains Tenants
   EV charging stations align with tenants’ evolving needs. Workplace EV charging, either on corporate campuses or at locally contracted public parking lots, has become a valuable amenity, with roughly 70% of prime U.S. office buildings equipped with charging ports. CBRE’s Global Office Occupier Survey reported that 52% of companies favor offices with EV chargers.
3. Supports Company Sustainability Goals
   For businesses aiming to support sustainable practices, onsite charging options are valuable assets. A 2023 CBRE study found that 40% of building tenants want green-lease clauses, and 48% see EV charging stations as an influence on location satisfaction. Providing this capability can enhance tenant satisfaction, leading to longer lease terms and reduced vacancy. Offering EV charging can differentiate a property in competitive markets, making it more attractive to prospective tenants.
4. Generates Income
   For parking lot owners, additional revenue gained from monthly and drop-in EV drivers can be material. Where lots employ valets, that number can be increased further, as cars that have been topped up can be cycled out and new EVs needing a charge rotated in, allowing for increased utilization. Commercial properties also generate income by charging EV users for access and convenience, which can be offered as an amenity to tenants as part of Common Area Maintenance (CAM) charges. Charging stations can also offer properties additional platforms for digital advertising, providing additional revenue streams.

Benefits of Leasing EV Chargers vs. Owning

1. Ease of Service
   A commercial property owner’s primary objective is to maximize the asset’s value. Owning the EV charging hardware today is a lot like owning an early office copier. When copiers first came to market, businesses needed their functionality, but ownership often meant service-related issues. The market changed, and now most businesses lease their copiers, paying a single fee for the machine and its servicing. Shifting maintenance and uptime to a lessor ensures a higher quality of service and allows tenants and asset owners to focus on their core businesses.
2. Lower Startup Costs
   Unlike lessors, owners of EV chargers face high upfront costs and substantial maintenance contracts:
   
   

   Level 2 Chargers: Costs of public-facing Level 2 EV-charging stations range from $1,500 to $6,000 for higher-end models. Furthermore, installation of a Level 2 charger may cost $5,000 to $10,000, and more than that if utility upgrades are required.

   Level 3 (DC Fast Chargers), which are typically used for on-the-go charging, as well as charging hubs for high-utilization vehicles such as ride-share: Costs range from $15,000 for basic models to over $150,000 for high-capacity units.

3. Moving Variable Costs to Fixed Costs
   Having fixed costs instead of variable costs can benefit a property’s value, primarily by improving operating leverage and cash-flow predictability, both of which investors view favorably.

These benefits to a property’s value accrue when revenue growth or capacity utilization is strong. So what kind of growth are we seeing in EV adoption across the United States?

The State of EV Adoption

While forecasts have been revised down of late, the IEA Global EV 2025 Outlook suggests that 15-20 million EVs could be on U.S. roads by 2030. Additionally, according to a June 2025 report from Edison Electric Institute, the number of EVs on U.S. roads is projected to soar to 78.5 million by 2035, an increase from 4.5 million at the end of 2023. This represents over 26% of the nearly 300 million total vehicles expected on U.S. roads in 2035.

While that number varies depending on forecaster, even the most conservative projections necessitate a substantial expansion of charging infrastructure. The EV-charging infrastructure market is expected to grow from $7 billion today to $100 billion by 2040, with a compound annual growth rate of 15%.

Case Studies

Although the approach is still new, the lease-deployment model has seen early benefits. In one mid-sized metropolitan area of roughly 500,000 residents—where EVs account for 9% of new vehicle registrations—two sites have seen material ROI within one year of deployment.

• Gated, private commercial building: 10.2% ROI
• Public parking building: 38%-42% ROI

While the gated site has a lower ROI, the property owner views EV charging as a pure amenity, with high strategic value. The parking building, with a higher ROI, is experiencing high utilization, and will be adding more chargers.

In larger areas, with valet parking, the ROI is significantly higher, as valets can rotate cars in need of a charge, keeping utilization rates high. Locations in New York City, for example, report a 75% utilization rate for a 24-hour seven-day-a-week operation, per IUC internal data.

As adoption of EVs grows, leasing on-site charging stations at scale allows for greater operating leverage, which increases the overall value of the location.

This article was developed in partnership with Invisible Urban Charging, one of CBRE's Charge Point Operator partners.