Charge Ahead Colorado: Real estate developers rethink EVs

June 30, 2020 (FORT COLLINS, Colo.)— Real estate agent Paul Schnaitter took the initiative and implemented the first level 2 electric vehicle charging stations through Charge Ahead Colorado for The Group Inc., a real estate company in Northern Colorado.

Schnaitter’s goal was to promote the use of electric vehicles at his Colorado workplace by installing a charger at one of their offices. He is excited about its potential and hopes to install chargers at the four other work office locations.

Northern Colorado Clean Cities was happy to interview a representative from The Group. The Group started in 1976 with 13 realtors. It has since greatly expanded and now has over 200 brokers, but the company’s central interests remain within Northern Colorado.

Schnaitter was inspired to get a charging station after having purchased a plug-in vehicle last year and hearing demand from other brokers. He put out a survey asking if the charger encouraged EV ownership amongst his coworkers and got an overwhelming response that it did.

When asked if he would recommend others follow in his footsteps, he said, “Of course, it’s an absolute no brainer.”

In fact, after the Charge Ahead Colorado grants and the tax incentives, The Group will end up net positive on this project. He stated that he spent between 20-30 hours on the process after looking at all the variables over several months and that the next charger will take much less time now that they know exactly how to proceed. He plans on promoting the charger on their website and other platforms and is very much looking forward to installing future stations.

Northern Colorado Clean Cities was happy to have helped through the process, and Schnaitter was very appreciative of executive director Diego Lopez’s assistance, especially throughout the application portion for Charge Ahead Colorado grants.