The 68 new stations are being installed under a partnership between Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Company and Powertree Services Inc and are designed to be powered by solar energy and to incorporate a battery storage component.

As well as charging vehicles, the stations will be able to provide ancillary services to support the grid, solar power to tenants and supplemental power to the buildings.

‘Owners of multi-tenant apartment and mixed use buildings face a rising demand from tenants, drivers and new regulations that combine to require them to install, manage, upgrade electric charging facilities and support electric vehicles. With Powertree Services owners can turn this potentially burdensome situation into new value and offer attractive new amenities for their tenants even in medium to small urban properties with no capital outlay by the property owner,’ said Stacey Reineccius, founder and CEO of Powertree, which is headquartered in San Francisco.

Construction has already begun on the stations, which are scheduled to be completed by Earth Day 2015.

The finished stations will result in a total installed capacity of 6.1 megawatts of power and 2.5 megawatts of EV charging capacity. Each station is configured to support up to 70 amps or 18 kilowatts – roughly equivalent to 60 to 70 miles of range for every hour of charging. The exact rate of charging depends on vehicle models. The stations will be powered by on site photovoltaic panels, and can generate clean energy for building use, or have the ability to provide backup generation, in the event of a grid outage.

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