There's a new kind of charging going on at several malls in Maryland, and it has nothing to do with plastic cards, and everything to do with “green” cars.
Simon Property Group and NRG eVgo ( a subsidiary of NRG Energy) celebrated Earth Day (April 22) with an Electric Car Caravan that celebrations new charging stations at St. Charles Towne Center in Waldorf, MD, Bowie (MD) Town Center and Queenstown (MD) Premium Outlets. The caravan launched on April 22 at St. Charles with a ribbon-cutting at the mall's Freedom Station, then progressed to Bowie and Queenstown.
The Freedom Station sites feature a 480-volt direct current (DC) fast charger that enable EV drivers, who are shopping and visiting, to recharge their vehicles in 30 minutes or less, as well as a traditional 240-volt alternating current (AC) charger that can charge all electric vehicles. They're part of a growing network of such sites in metro Washington, DC.
The three new stations join some 100 EV sites at 40 Simon malls around the country. It only takes a quick visit to the ongoing New York Auto Show to see that electric vehicles are no longer just for the uber-wealthy, but are attainable by the comfortably affluent shoppers centers crave. They're becoming a growing part of our car mix, and malls now must be part of servicing them.
"Simon Property Group aspires to lead the industry in the energy management and sustainability practices in all of its mall operations," said Ron Hanson, Simon Property Group's vice president of operational efficiency in the Earth Day announcement. "Around the nation, Simon continues to install EV charging stations as part of a consumer initiative underscoring our commitment to providing sustainable amenities for our customers."
In fact, Simon and NRG eVgo installed the first public EV charging station in the United States to support all vehicles, at Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego last year. NRG eVGo is building Freedom Stations with Kimco and apartment developers, too.
And Simon, which just reported a first-quarter year-over-year FFO per share increase of 16.1 percent, an 80-basis point increase in occupancy to 95.5 percent and a 0.2 percent increase in mall store sales per square foot to $576, isn't alone.
CBL & Associates Properties formed a partnership to open Tesla Supercharging stations at several of its centers last year. GGP has charging stations at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu. Macerich also has installed some, including at Pacific View in Ventura, CA. Westfield has them at a number of projects, and in its native Australia seen traffic increase as a result. And more are likely: it's good for the planet and good for business.
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