Utility incentives for commercial Electric Vehicle Chargers(EVC or EVSE), are an important part of the decision criteria for purchasing and installing EVC equipment. It can be a significant contributor to the Total Cost of Ownership(TCO) calculation.
Our database of commercial EVC incentives contains over 200 electric utilities that offer Level 1, Level 2 , Level 3(DC Fast Charging) product incentives as well as incentives for Infrastructure improvements.
However, it is important to note that many utilities have adopted lists of qualified chargers by manufacturer and model that are eligible for these incentives/
These qualified product lists(QPL) breakdown into two types:
1. Energy Star QPL. Energy Star maintains two QPLs, one for AC-based Level 1 &2 chargers, the other for DC-based Level 3 chargers.
2. Utility-managed QPL. Each one of the utilities has developed their own list of qualified equipment.
How pervasive is the use of Qualified Products Lists for EV Charger incentives?
| Type | % of commercial customers in US | Utilities | Examples |
| Energy Star QPL | 18% | 20 | ComEd, PSE&G, Entergy Texas |
| Utility-managed QPL | 28% | 26 | BGE,DTE,PG&E, SoCalEd |
| No QPL | 53% | 175 |
If you are manufacturer, reseller or installer it is important to know whether a utility requires a QPL listing and if your product is on it. Energy Star has a standard approach manufacturers to register their products, but utility-managed QPLs will each have a unique registration approach.
It is unclear yet which way the use of qualified product list for EV Chargers will go. Will utilities adopt a common QPL like they did for LED in Energy Star and the Design Lights Consortium? Will they go away from requiring a QPL? Time will tell.
If you are seeking the full list of utilities that require Energy Star or Utility-managed QPLs, it is available to subscribers, so feel free to reach out.