LAZ Parking, the largest privately owned parking operator in the US, is going all in on EV charging. It’s made a strategic investment in Silicon Valley–based Epic Charging, with a plan to roll out up to 50,000 Level 2 EV chargers across LAZ’s parking portfolio in the US and Canada.
It’s a big number, and it puts parking operators squarely in the middle of the EV charging buildout. LAZ operates more than 1.6 million parking spaces across over 4,000 locations in 42 states and 536 cities. The planned charger buildout would span hotels, commercial and mixed-use buildings, surface lots, airports, and municipal parking facilities – the everyday places where people already park their cars.
The investment supports LAZ’s “Charge Where You Park” approach, which focuses on converting existing parking spaces into everyday charging stations rather than forcing drivers to seek out standalone charging stations. For LAZ, it’s also about turning charging into a reliable, revenue-generating part of its parking business.
Epic will provide the software backbone through its open-protocol Charge Point Management System (CPMS). The platform handles charger monitoring, predictive maintenance, payments, and real-time analytics, while integrating with LAZ’s existing tech-enabled parking systems. Epic’s software is compatible with a wide range of OCPP-compatible charging hardware; however, neither company has specified which hardware providers they’ll be working with.
Epic says it will use LAZ’s investment to speed up development of its Charge OptimAIzer platform, an AI-powered energy management system designed to intelligently manage EV charging and protect site hosts from high energy costs. The cloud-based system pulls in real-time data from vehicle telematics, charger performance, and utility pricing signals to balance electrical loads, cut energy costs, and improve reliability across different charging sites. No timeline has been announced yet.
Electrek’s Take
Parking is becoming one of the most valuable pieces of EV charging infrastructure, and this announcement bumps it up to the next level. Level 2 chargers don’t need highway-adjacent real estate or ultra-fast power, but they do need lots of dwell time, and parking garages, hotels, and workplaces have plenty of it. For operators like LAZ, charging isn’t just an amenity anymore; it’s a way to boost utilization, create a new revenue stream, and stay relevant as more drivers plug in instead of filling up.
Read more: XCharge NA just launched New England’s fastest charging site
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