Blue Whale EV Signs as a Reseller for SemaConnect
As technology gets more important, CRE starts to see emergence of a different kind of value add.
Blue Whale EV announced recently that it had become a reseller for SemaConnect, an electric vehicle charging system company owned by umbrella charging company Blink Charging Co.
That may sound out of the purview of commercial real estate. On one level it is. This is about technology for electric vehicles—cars, trucks, taxis, and a lot more. But it’s important for CRE in two ways.
One is that it’s impossible to separate CRE from transportation. Tenants often will need parking places, as will any sort of retail, office, or other facility that people travel to. Maybe mass transit will be a large factor, but it’s unlikely to be the only one. Especially when logistics, industrial, and trucking are involved. Anyone investing in commercial real estate is almost always investing as well in parking.
With EVs, parking also will means charging stations. Even with the most powerful charging systems, a full charge will take 10 to 20 minutes, still far slower than filling a gas tank, which makes the logistics of public charging stations tricky. Parking lots will have to become an important part of charging strategies, especially as the US pushes people out of gasoline-powered vehicles in concerns over climate change. Virtually all CRE will have to consider how to handling charging. Even now CRE giants are starting to pick their EV partners.
The other important part of the Blue Whale announcement is a purchasing and consulting dynamic that has been common in other industries for decades.
In CRE, value-add has a particular meaning, which is improving aspects of a property to push up value and rents that can be commanded. In computer technology, value-add is part of a term called VARs, or value-added resellers. Something that Blue Whale shows signs of being.
A VAR traditionally is a company that sells technology products. Typically, they don’t make the products, instead reselling offerings from major computer, networking, peripherals, and other companies. VARs also typically provide consulting, design, engineering, installation, and support services. Many have experience in a particular vertical industry and develop solutions for problems and needs in it.
CRE still has the reputation of being relatively backward in technology. Other industries long ago moved into operational software systems, complex data analysis, mobile access, and much more. Maybe it’s time for CRE firms to start welcoming VARs and getting the help they need to better implement technology for gaining competitive advantage. Before they find out their competitors already do.