~24 kWh per session
Telematics across four metros: the average rideshare public-charging session adds about 24 kWh. Over 65% of sessions run under an hour; more than a third finish inside 15 minutes. Drivers top up — they don’t fill.
Airports · Rideshare · DCFC
Rideshare drivers queue there for 30–90 minutes, all day, every day — and almost every airport built the wrong charger in the wrong lot. Faith Energy designs, builds, and can fund, own, and operate the DC fast charging (DCFC) that airport and airport-adjacent sites actually need — at zero capital cost to the property.
The Dwell-Time Truth
The common pitch — “they’re sitting there anyway, Level 2 is fine” — is wrong, and the driver data shows why.
Telematics across four metros: the average rideshare public-charging session adds about 24 kWh. Over 65% of sessions run under an hour; more than a third finish inside 15 minutes. Drivers top up — they don’t fill.
A driver earns only with a passenger aboard. Charging that costs queue position costs money — drivers at one major airport report multi-hour waits for too-few free chargers, and some have traded their EVs back for gas cars.
150 kW is the credible minimum for a staging lot; 350–400 kW-class future-proofs it. Port count derives from queue throughput — drivers per hour and minutes per session — not from how many painted stalls the lot has.
Size It Live
The calculator the industry hasn’t published: ports from queue throughput, not stall counts. Move the sliders — the engineering updates live.
Planning-level model: ports = drivers/hour × session minutes ÷ 60, rounded up with one spare; managed peak assumes rate-aware load control at ~70% of connected load. Real designs start from utility capacity, dwell distributions, and site geometry — that study is what we do.
The Deployment Tracker
Maintained as part of our monthly data review. The pattern is unmistakable: a few pioneers put fast charging where drivers wait; most airports put Level 2 (L2) where passengers park; the market routed around the rest with hubs just outside the fence.
| Airport | Rideshare-relevant charging | Model |
|---|---|---|
| Portland (PDX) | 5 DCFC in the ride-hail hold lot | In the staging lot — the template |
| New York (JFK) | 24-port DCFC hub in the west cell phone lot | Operator-built, in-lot |
| New York (LGA) | 12-port fast hub opened 2026; ~48 more ports adjacent | Public-authority + operator |
| Boston (BOS) | 12 DCFC dedicated to ride-for-hire + 56 public L2 | Airport capital + grants; queues persist |
| Seattle (SEA) | DCFC in the cell phone lot since 2019; contractual EV targets on rideshare operators | Port + utility + state partnership |
| Sacramento (SMF) | Cell-lot chargers with the utility + leased pads for 8 operator DCFC | The dual model for mid-size airports |
| San Francisco (SFO) | 24-port, 400 kW-class hub under lease; all-electric rideshare required by 2032 | Land lease — operator funds everything |
| Atlanta (ATL) | 275 charging spaces incl. fast charging; $11M federal grant scope names rideshare | Airport-led, grant-funded |
| Los Angeles (LAX) | ~1,300 passenger L2 ports on-airport; the rideshare answer is 48 fast bays two miles away plus a 29-port depot in Inglewood | Off-airport hubs won |
| Houston Hobby (HOU) | 40 fast bays 1.5 miles out — built for ride-hail in a no-mandate state | Off-airport hub |
| Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) | L2 only on-airport; mobile-DCFC pilot ran through the rideshare and cell lots; demand under federal study | Actively unsolved |
| Tampa (TPA) | Free L2 incl. the cell phone lot — adding more L2 there in 2026 | Right lot, wrong charger level |
| Orlando (MCO) | No on-airport DCFC; fast charging has migrated off-site | Demand leaking off-airport |
| Miami (MIA) · Sarasota (SRQ) · Austin (AUS) | Garage L2 only | Untouched opportunity |
Compiled from airport authority publications, operator announcements, and program documents; reviewed monthly. Port counts change — tell us what we’ve missed and we’ll verify and update.
The Economics Inversion
One major hub invested over $60 million in passenger-garage charging that returns roughly $230,000 a year — while a 48-bay fast-charging hub built for ride-hail drivers opened two miles away. The analytical difference: airport-adjacent fast charging is modeled profitable above roughly 10% utilization, and airports exceed it — an average gas station runs near 5%. The structural fact underneath: hardware, software, and maintenance are 10–30% of a charging project’s cost. The other 70–90% is electrical infrastructure — utility service, transformers, switchgear, distribution. That scope is our core business, which is why our cost basis as an owner-operator beats any charging network bidding the same site.
See the cost anatomyWho Pays & Who Profits
Surveyed airports show no standard model — many give electricity away in passenger garages. For commercial-driver fast charging, the comparison has a clear winner.
The airport (or adjacent landowner) leases the pad; the operator funds all electrical connection, equipment, and operations. Independent analysis found this the fastest, highest-return path for the host. This is exactly Faith Energy’s own-and-operate offer — zero capital from the property, revenue from day one.
The host funds the utility connection point; the operator installs and runs the chargers. Sensible where the airport wants more control and has capital-program access to fund the service work.
The airport owns equipment and revenue, contracts out operations. Full upside, full capital exposure — and the electrical 70–90% lands on the airport’s budget.
Maximum control, maximum obligation — including 24/7 uptime for commercial drivers who lose income when a port is down. Realistic only for airports with mature charging operations teams.
The Florida & Texas Window
Tampa is upgrading its cell phone lot right now — with more Level 2. Orlando has no on-airport fast charging at all. Miami is garage L2 only. The demand exists; the infrastructure simply hasn’t been built — on-airport or adjacent.
The federal 30C charging tax credit ended June 30, 2026, making self-funded projects harder to pencil. The land-lease path sidesteps it entirely: we fund, build, own, and operate; the property contributes parking and collects the upside.
FPL’s make-ready program covers up to $50,000 per port of electrical work; Duke Energy Florida offers up to roughly $35,600 per fast charger. As the contractor performing that scope, we capture these offsets inside the project rather than around it.
A 40-bay ride-hail fast hub near Houston Hobby opened in 2025 in a state with no EV mandate — utilization economics alone carried it. Dallas–Fort Worth is studying the same demand today. High-frequency commercial drivers make these sites pencil anywhere the queue exists.
Straight Answers
Next Step
Airports, parking operators, hotels, and landowners within minutes of a terminal: send us the parcel. We’ll return the utilization case, the utility path, and a zero-capex proposal if the site qualifies.