How Harbor Park Garage Turned EV Charging into a Revenue-Generating Customer Magnet
Harbor Park Garage in Baltimore faced a turning point. What began as a forward-thinking amenity—offering EV charging before most competitors—had begun to negatively impact their reputation for exceptional customer service. Aging and faulty infrastructure led to frequent breakdowns, frustrated customers, and mounting repair costs that delivered diminishing returns.
“For me, customer service is everything,” explains Andrew Sachs, Harbor Park Garage’s owner and president of Gateway Parking Services, a national consulting firm. “Most people hate parking, but I want them thinking, ‘Wow, that was a great experience. I really appreciated it.”
This commitment to service excellence pushed Harbor Park to seek a new EV charging solution that would align with its customer-first philosophy—one that could transform a growing maintenance challenge into an opportunity to strengthen Harbor Park’s reputation as Baltimore’s premier parking facility.
Early adoption of EV charging drives success
Harbor Park Garage was a fairly standard parking facility with little to differentiate it from the competition. After beginning a modernization effort inclusive of thoughtful upgrades and tactical digital marketing, the facility tripled gross revenue in just three years while dramatically improving customer experience.
In 2015-2016, when electric vehicles remained a novelty in Baltimore, Harbor Park began exploring EV charging as a way to add value to its facilities, deliberately taking a different approach from competitors.
While others hid chargers in back corners and charged premium rates, Harbor Park made charging stations highly visible, accessible, and initially free. The business potential quickly became evident. “It was costing me at most $2 for the electricity, and I could get $28 a day in parking,” Sachs explains.
Combined with ensuring the chargers were listed as being available online and thereby leading EV drivers to seek out Harbor Park as a place to plug in, demand quickly grew, leading the garage to add more chargers each year.
When innovation meets partnership limitations
As Harbor Park’s EV program expanded, equipment failures became increasingly problematic. Simple repairs transformed into months-long ordeals and costly replacements.
In one particularly frustrating instance, a small plastic clip broke on a charging connector, preventing proper connection with certain vehicles. Harbor Park’s original provider’s solution? Replace the entire $5,000 charger rather than fixing the small plastic piece.
After months of back-and-forth communication, Harbor Park finally received a replacement cable at considerable expense, plus additional installation costs. But it was just the beginning of the equipment troubles.
“One by one, everything was breaking,” Andrew recalls, creating periods where chargers were unavailable and customers were left disappointed.
Beyond reliability concerns, the existing system lacked sufficient flexibility to easily create customized offerings for different customer segments—something Harbor Park saw as key to its business. As EV adoption continued to accelerate in Baltimore, Harbor Park needed a solution that would enable it to grow the way it wanted, rather than serve as an obstacle to be overcome.
Building a better charging experience with SWTCH
After evaluating a number of charging solutions, Harbor Park selected SWTCH to replace its aging charging infrastructure. The implementation expanded their capacity to 20 SWTCH chargers before the end of Q4 of 2024.
There was an immediate improvement in reliability and functionality. “I couldn’t get rid of the old ones fast enough,” Andrew says.
And the partnership with SWTCH also garnered additional benefits to streamline the process further, with Andrew saying, “SWTCH helped me figure out the tax incentives for state and federal programs and worked with our electrician to make everything easy for us.”
This approach eliminated the need for Andrew to research equipment options, find qualified installers, and navigate complex incentive programs independently. Instead of a lengthy decision-making process, the experience was remarkably straightforward: “What do you recommend for our situation? Done.”
How Flexible Technology Creates Business Opportunities
The SWTCH system implemented at Harbor Park offers significantly more control than their previous infrastructure, enabling a clever three-tier access and pricing model:
- VIP Parker Program: Customers paying the highest premium parking rates receive complimentary EV charging as part of their package. This value-added service helps justify premium pricing while enhancing the perceived value of top-tier parking.
- Prime Parker Discount: The middle tier of monthly parkers (Prime level) receive discounted charging rates, creating an incentive for regular customers to consider upgrading from occasional to monthly status.
- Standard Visitor Rates: Occasional visitors pay the regular hourly rate, generating direct revenue while maintaining accessibility for all EV drivers.
For corporate clients with reserved spots, the system enforces strict access control: “With SWTCH, if anyone else tries to plug in a reserved spot, it won’t work. Only authorized users can use it,” Andrew explains.
This flexibility enabled a valuable arrangement where Harbor Park created a dedicated charging spot with exclusive authentication for a corporate client’s electric fleet vehicle. This single customization helped secure a 50-vehicle, five-year parking agreement—demonstrating how smart charging technology can support broader business development goals.
And, across all its chargers, the management platform’s robust monitoring capabilities allow Harbor Park to track usage patterns and make data-driven decisions about future expansions, access levels, and pricing strategies.
Beyond Charging: Measurable Business Impact
Implementing SWTCH’s solution has delivered multiple business benefits extending beyond basic charging functionality:
- Secured Long-Term Revenue: The most significant impact came from securing 50 monthly parkers on a five-year agreement, made possible by creating a dedicated charging spot with exclusive access for a corporate client’s electric vehicle.
- Enhanced Employee Benefits: Free charging has become a valuable perk for Harbor Park’s employees. When one employee was debating between ICE and EV vehicles for a new purchase, Andrew pointed out: “How much are you paying for gas every month? $100, $200? How much do we charge employees for EV charging? Nothing.” On balance, a small expense for the business, but one that can make a big difference in the lives of individual employees.
- Strategic Customer Loyalty: The tiered pricing structure has transformed charging from a basic amenity into a loyalty tool that enhances premium parking packages while generating revenue from occasional users.
- Operational Reliability: SWTCH’s dependable equipment has eliminated the frustration of extended downtimes and expensive repairs that characterized the previous system. “We just have no issues,” Andrew says when asked about performance.
- Enhanced Reputation: Perhaps most importantly, the improved charging experience aligns perfectly with Harbor Park’s customer service mission, reinforcing their reputation as Baltimore’s premier parking facility.
Smart strategy and smart tech for a winning EV charging offering
Harbor Park Garage’s EV charging journey exemplifies how exceptional service relies on the perfect combination of vision and the right tools. With 20 SWTCH chargers now operational at its facilities, EV charging has fully achieved its intended goal of being a strategic business asset that produces tangible value.
“The marketplace will tell me when we need more,” Andrew explains, highlighting his commitment to letting customer demand guide investment decisions. “With SWTCH, it’s super easy to add capacity when needed.”
This balanced, data-driven approach has positioned Harbor Park Garage at the forefront of Baltimore’s parking industry. By carefully monitoring usage patterns through the SWTCH platform, they ensure charging capacity remains optimized—never over-investing ahead of demand, yet always ready to expand when the numbers indicate it’s time.
The result is a business model where technology directly enhances customer loyalty while supporting strategic objectives. It’s a competitive differentiator that continues to generate value year after year, proof that savvy strategy and smart, reliable technology are equally important in building an EV charging offering.
Make EV Charging Your Parking Business’ New Advantage
Is your parking facility ready to turn EV charging into a strategic business asset?
Contact SWTCH today to see how our flexible, reliable solutions can help you create customized offerings that enhance customer satisfaction and drive long-term revenue growth.
Written by
Rob Côté
Marketing Communications Manager, SWTCH
