A Real-World Warning for Commercial Property Owners to Reduce your Risk
Electric vehicle adoption is rising fast, and many commercial property owners are eager to stay ahead of the curve. Whether it’s to meet tenant demand, attract customers, service visitors, or meet sustainability benchmarks, installing EV chargers has gone from “nice to have” to “should seriously consider.”
But while the future of EVs is certain, not all EV charging companies are built to last.
Well-known EV infrastructure companies like Enel X (Parent company of JuiceBox), Proterra and Tritium have gone bankrupt, become insolvent, or lost third-party support. Zeroing out customers’ property investments overnight. Manufacturers that rushed into the EV charging space and shut down, leave behind non-functional charging networks—and property owners who are left holding the bag not just for the cost sunk into the charging equipment, but also for all the make-ready costs that typically come with EV infrastructure.
The harsh truth is that when an EV charger vendor disappears property owners lose more than their hardware investment… but often tens of thousands of dollars in property investment.
The Real Sunk Costs of a Failed Charger Deployment
The Real Sunk Costs of a Failed Charger DeploymentMany assume the biggest cost associated with EV charging is the charger itself. But that’s rarely the case. There are three layers of sunk cost and how each layer creates risk when a vendor fails:
The Hardware
The charger no longer functions, and there’s no one to call for service, replacement, or support.
Building Electrical Work
Traditional EV charging setups require pulling power from your building. That means permanent upgrades to your electrical system—like expanded electrical panels, new conduit runs, or utility coordination to increase your service capacity. This work is expensive and non-recoverable.
Construction and Site Work
To extend power from your building to the parking area, you’ll often need to trench through pavement, cut into sidewalks, or disturb finished surfaces. It’s disruptive and adds additional non-recoverable costs.
Put together, these costs can easily run into the tens of thousands.
Curbstar: Designed to Reduce Risk Where It Matters Most
Curbstar: Designed to Reduce Risk Where It Matters MostAt OmniPotential, we know you’re not just investing in a product. You’re investing in your property. Curbstar was purpose-built to avoid or reduce the most expensive and least recoverable aspects of an EV charging deployment.
While we fully intend to be here for the long haul, Curbstar was designed to protect our customers—even in a worst-case scenario. If Curbstar were ever to cease operations, property owners will have committed significantly less in infrastructure and construction sunk costs.
This is possible because our patented approach to EV charging infrastructure doesn’t require us to access or modify your building’s electrical systems at all.
Curbstar: De-risking EV charging property investment
Full Vertical Integration
Unlike many of our competitors, Curbstar is not just hardware—we own and operate nearly the entire technology stack, including the smartphone app, backend software, and billing. This means faster troubleshooting, seamless updates, and greater reliability across the customer experience. There’s no confusing web of vendors—just one company fully accountable for making the system work.
No Building Electrical Tie-In
Our chargers connect directly to nearby grid infrastructure—not your building. That means your electrical system stays untouched. No panel upgrades. No service coordination. No internal retrofits.
Less Construction, Less Disruption
Especially when deployed near roadside transformers (which are common in commercial areas), Curbstar often avoids the need to trench through parking lots or cut into sidewalks. That means faster installs, lower permitting hurdles, and less damage to your property.
Easier to Replace
Because Curbstar is modular and self-contained, it’s far easier to replace or upgrade if something changes—without repeating all the construction and electrical work.
Stand-Alone Infrastructure for Long-Term Value
Stand-Alone Infrastructure for Long-Term ValueBefore you install EV charging, ask yourself the hard questions:
- What part of this investment will still hold value five years from now?
- What happens if the charger fails—or the company does?
- What impact will this have on my building and my property?
With Curbstar, the answers are simple.
We reduce your exposure. We protect your site. And we make charging work without locking you into risk-heavy infrastructure. Before you break ground on your next EV charging site, talk to us.
Ready to talk? Email us at [email protected]
Visit www.omnipotential.com to learn more.
About the Author
I’m Cora Castle, founder and president of OmniPotential Energy Partners and the inventor of the Curbstar EV charging platform. I hold the U.S. patent on our modular, stand-alone charging system and have worked directly with municipalities, utilities, and developers to shape the permitting and policy landscape for curbside EV infrastructure. In addition to leading product development and business strategy at OmniPotential, I serve as Vice Chair of the Board of Adjustment in New Castle County, Delaware—giving me firsthand insight into how infrastructure decisions affect long-term property value, zoning, and capital planning.
This post reflects my deep belief that EV charging must be built not just to serve today’s needs—but to protect the long-term integrity of the properties that host it.