Power & Permitting
The Flat Circle of Power & Permitting
Unlike vendors, whose primary goal is selling solutions, utilities and authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) are bureaucratic gatekeepers that control access to infrastructure and perform regulatory approvals. Their role in fleet electrification isn’t typically about persuading customers to act—it’s about enforcing processes that dictate feasibility, costs, and timelines. Utilities determine whether a site has enough available power and how long upgrades will take (and at what cost), while AHJs regulate permitting requirements that can add months of delay if overlooked. Although they serve different functions, both operate within rigid institutional frameworks that prioritize procedure over efficiency, making early engagement essential to avoid costly setbacks.
Gridlock: Working with Utilities to Install Charging Infrastructure
It is common that power requirements for EV charging vastly exceed that of the facilities where they are domiciled, which makes it especially important to engage early with electrical utilities to define the cost and schedule requirements associated with making sufficient power available. As with client reluctance to focus on internal stakeholder engagement, I am also skeptical of clients who are reluctant to engage with their utilities early in the planning process. That said, here is a short scene of a typical early interaction between a fleet electrification project manager and a utility representative:
INTERIOR OFFICE - MORNING
A young PROJECT MANAGER sits at his workspace, phone pressed to his ear. Papers are strewn about his desk, a whiteboard behind him cluttered with diagrams of parking lots, charging stations, and wildly optimistic timelines.
PROJECT MANAGER
(professional but slightly hesitant)
I’m scoping our fleet electrification project and would like to know how much power is available from the substation feeder to our site.
UTILITY REPRESENTATIVE
(cold, bureaucratic tone)
How much power do you need?
PROJECT MANAGER
(pauses, confused)
Well…wait…no…I’m trying to figure that out, and I’d like to scope the project to avoid a large substation upgrade.
UTILITY REPRESENTATIVE
Have you submitted an application to upgrade your electrical service?
PROJECT MANAGER
(increasingly frustrated)
No. I’m still trying to scope the project and need information to do that, which is why I’d like to know what power is available at the substation.
UTILITY REPRESENTATIVE
(remains silent with the slight sound of breathing into the phone)
PROJECT MANAGER
(leans forward in chair, trying again)
Soooo…can you help me with that?
UTILITY REPRESENTATIVE
You’re going to need to submit an application.
PROJECT MANAGER
(long pause as disbelief washes over him. He slightly lowers the phone from his ear as he stares into the void.)
UTILITY REPRESENTATIVE
(deadpan, still on the line)
Is there anything else I can assist you with?
PROJECT MANAGER
(slowly brings the phone back up to his ear, eyes narrow)
No. No, that’ll be all.
Hanging up the phone, he looks around the room trying to process what has just happened. His eyes settle on his Project Manager of the Month trophy. In one swift motion, he grabs the trophy and smashes the phone with it.
He stares at the smashed phone for a moment and gradually regains his composure. He slowly stands up and walks to the white board behind him, where we see the words “Power System Upgrades: 3 months.”
Grabbing a white board eraser, he scrubs out “3 months” and pauses a moment to think about what to write in its place. He picks up a black dry erase marker and starts to write, but the black marker is out of ink. So — exasperated for a moment — he puts it down and picks up a green marker. In green, he writes: “18 months”.
FADE TO BLACK.
You might rightfully wonder why early engagement of utility companies is important if this type of conversation is what unfolds. The reason is that this might be the first conversation, but it’s likely not the last. Getting in front of the utility early helps socialize the project with them, and that often pays dividends later. Plus, a more skilled project manager might ask some helpful follow-on questions about the application process that can inform project scoping. For example, there are sometimes thresholds that trigger deeper levels of utility review. In one case, I learned that a project with a peak power requirement of 1.5 megawatts would trigger a “large load study” that would take about six months to complete. My application requested 1.4 megawatts, and the project ultimately never exceeded 1 megawatt. Had we blindly submitted an application with our initial estimate, we would have been stuck in purgatory for at least half a year.
In all honesty, my experiences with utilities have been mostly good despite the bureaucratic nature of the industry. My experiences have been mostly great when working with utilities that have programs dedicated to electric vehicles. There was one exception: I once organized a meeting between a high profile client and their utility representative for an EV charging project. Instead of talking about EV charging (as he and I had discussed repeatedly), he offered no useful information and spent several minutes awkwardly trying to sell my client on lighting system upgrades. So, uncomfortable things can happen. But there’s just no way to get a meaningful fleet electrification program off the ground in a timely manner without getting the utilities involved sooner rather than later.
Permitting Purgatory
Fleet electrification projects naturally focus on the provision of power, and limitations on the availability of charging stations is an endemic challenge in the mass adoption of electric vehicles. Yet, the less-discussed corollary to utility system upgrades is city or municipal permitting. Whereas power requirements can be modeled with analytic tools, the ultimate requirements to get a permit are often opaque.
Permitting can take a few weeks to several months to complete, depending on the project’s complexity, AHJ processes, and specific findings. There can also be significant cost risk to a project from permitting. In one case, I had to budget $2 million dollars extra onto an $8 million project to account for “civil upgrades” required by the city. To be clear, I generally appreciate the function of a thorough permitting process because I don’t like buildings falling apart around me — as literally happened to me one day walking through Mexico City.
While permitting delays are often frustrating, they do serve a purpose—ensuring infrastructure is built safely and correctly. But the unpredictability of AHJ requirements makes planning incredibly difficult, especially when jurisdictions vary wildly in their approach to EV projects. As with utilities, each AHJ has its own process and nuance that can make it difficult to manage over a portfolio of sites. Some AHJs are faster than others; some have specific EV permitting policies and others may be outright hostile to EVs. Organizational relationships with local political leaders can create sensitivities around how and when to approach AHJs on an EV charging project. Yet, there is a real need for early engagement to mitigate cost and schedule risk.
Soft Skills Reign
It may seem counterintuitive, but the most bureaucratic stages of electrification often demand the strongest interpersonal skills. Of course, documentation must be technically accurate and complete. But it is most important to lead with empathy for the people who are tasked with keeping our lights on and our communities safe. To this end, these external stakeholders — more than any other — should be engaged early and as often as appropriate. It is critical to ask questions not just about process but about the intent of the process. To the extent they are willing, it’s important to get to know these individuals as people with value beyond whatever it is that we happen to need from them. Not everyone is going to come over for Christmas dinner. But being kind is the surest way to break through bureaucracy, build trust, and help people feel good about fleet electrification work that benefits us all.
Relive the Magic
Dig into the Stakeholder Soup of Fleet Electrification:
Products & Services: What Can I Do to Put You in an EV Today?
Leased Property: The Case of Furley v. Roper (Coming Soon)
Public Policy: The 250lb Orangutan in the Room (Coming Soon)
…And the Rest: People You Don’t Know You Should Know (Coming Soon)
Or, Skip to the Punchline: