Charge Teslas at Your Apartment? A New Fund Wants to Make That Possible.

More electric vehicles are being sold in the U.S. That means more public EV chargers will be installed at stations and homes. But what about EV owners who live in apartments? One company aims to meet that growing need.

Tuesday, privately held Amperage Capital launched an infrastructure fund that will wire up apartment buildings across the country.

“In order for electric vehicles to be widely adopted, there needs to be a solution for the 44 million Americans who live in apartment communities,” said Amperage CEO Farrukh Malik in a news release. “Currently, over 90% of electric vehicle owners charge their cars at home. However, apartment residents often have to share charging stations, which can lead to a frustrating customer experience and prevent them from fully benefiting from electric-vehicle ownership.”

The target size of the first fund is about $20 million, according to Amperage, which plans to raise money from investors, and use proceeds to install EV-charging equipment with apartment operators. Then apartment dwellers can pay for a dedicated space to charge their EVs.

Amperage expects EV owners to pay a monthly subscription-type charge that includes everything from electricity to operating costs. The cash flow from the $20 million spent will be distributed back to investors. It’s similar to how some other infrastructure projects are financed.

Malik tells Barron’s that infrastructure funds like the one envisioned can return roughly 15% to investors, but he didn’t want to disclose specific details about cash flows and returns for his new fund.

The first fund won’t use much leverage. And $20 million might wire up between 2,500 to 5,000 parking spaces, depending on the charging equipment purchased and the efficiency of installation. In that scenario, with typical electricity prices, users might be looking at a $75 to $150 a month for EV charging. That is only a rough guess, and Amperage isn’t providing its financial model.

The average American spends roughly $100 a month on gas at current prices.

There are about 50,000 public locations to charge EVs in the U.S. with about 130,000 plugs, according to the Energy Department. Lately, the U.S. has been adding 10,000 to 20,000 stations a year.

About 810,000 battery-EVs were sold in the U.S. in 2022, up about 66% compared with 2021. Penetration of new-car sales of such vehicles reached almost 6% this past year, up from about 3% in 2021.

The Amperage fund is a new idea that is starting small, but its serving a growing market and if the first fund is successful investors can be sure more will follow.

EV charging stocks are on the move Wednesday, but not because of Amperage’s new infrastructure fund. Instead, shares are rising because EV-charging-tech firm Volta (VLTA) agreed to be acquired by a subsidiary of Shell (SHEL). Volta stock is up almost 20%, while peers ChargePoint Holdings (CHPT) and EVgo (EVGO) are up about 3.4% and 2.7%, respectively. The S&P 500 is flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 0.3%.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

View the article at MarketWatch here.