A big part of owning an electric vehicle (EV) is charging, and if you can charge at home, even better. Getting at-home charging can be expensive, but Mississauga, Ont.-based Clearshot Labs wants to help people get started by offering free chargers and paying EV owners to charge at home.
Clearshot’s free charger program allows eligible EV owners to get a UNR1 EV charger and eventually earn money by using it. Participants in the program will need to pay a $300 security deposit, which they can earn back after doing 1,500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of charging in 12 months.
After that, participants can continue using the charger to earn money. The financial kickback starts at $0.03 per kWh, and can increase by $0.01 per kWh per every 5,000kWh charged. Clearshot estimates an annual payout of about $75 based on a typical annual consumption of 2,500kWh.
To further break that down, most EVs have a battery in the 50 to 100kWh range. Assuming you have an EV at the lower end with a 50kWh battery, that would be 50 full charges at home in a year to hit the $75 payout.
While the payout is a nice bonus, I think the free charger is the real incentive here. Level 2 EV chargers can cost several hundred dollars — the UNR1 charger Clearshot is offering retails for $740 — so getting it for free helps cut the installation cost significantly. Depending on your home, you may still need to have some electrical work completed to use the charger, but either way, there are significant savings to be had.
To participate in the Clearshot Labs free charger program, you need to reside in Canada and be 18 or older. You must also have legal authority to install the charger in its intended location, Wi-Fi connectivity available at the install site, and participate in data sharing for the program to track your charging.
Those interested can head to the Clearshot Labs website and complete the steps, including selecting an eligible EV charger, completing registration, and paying the deposit.
Notably, Clearshot isn’t the only company offering incentives for EV charging. SWTCH Energy is also offering free home chargers with a similar $300 deposit and the ability to earn a financial kickback after 1,500kWh of use. There’s also WattsApp, a charging rewards program designed to work with Tesla vehicles. WattsApp awards users points for every kWh of charging, and participants can redeem the points for cash.
If the promise of a free EV charger and getting paid to charge at home sound too good to be true, well, I agree — it does sound too good to be true, at least until you get a better understanding of how these programs work. In short, the companies leverage Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR), which offer credits to incentivize using clean alternatives — such as EVs. Companies aggregate charging data from home charging networks to earn credits through the CFR, and pass some along to participants.
Header image credit: Clearshot Labs
