Hawaiian Electric (HECO) said last week that it is accepting applications for Charge Up Commercial, a three-year pilot program aimed at reducing the upfront costs for the installation of electric vehicle charging station infrastructure.

The $5 million “make-ready” pilot program will provide up to 30 applicants as much as $90,000 each to install the infrastructure necessary for Level 2 EV charging stations. HECO will install and maintain all infrastructure up to the charging station location, while applicants are responsible for buying, installing and maintaining the charging station itself. Applicants must also install a minimum of four and maximum of six charging ports.

The pilot program is available for non-residential locations such as stores, office buildings and fleet facilities, as well as apartments and condominiums, on all the islands except for Kauai.

The charging stations will dovetail with HECO’s commercial EV charging rates, which apply a time-of-use rate to reduce energy costs during the midday hours when there is an abundance of solar energy on the grid.

Charge Up Commercial is also compatible with HECO’s EV Charging Station Rebate program, which offsets some of the cost of installing an EV charging station for commercial and multi-unit dwellings.

In the Charge Up Commercial handbook, HECO CEO Shelee Kimura said part of the pilot program’s value is to provide charging ability to EV owners who live in apartment buildings or condominiums, where it is generally more difficult to charge EVs in than a house. Kimura noted that apartments and condominiums “make up a full 37% of Hawaii’s housing stock.”

HECO will accept additional applications on a rolling basis if there are leftover funds after the first 30 applicants.