Dumb math, maybe but...
Using the 'if you build it they will come' thought process:
Drivers with EV cars aren't necessarily avoiding the park, but those that aren't local may be interested in level 2 (not super fast but not super slow) charging.
For every vehicle using a charger, let's assume that they have at least 2 people in them and that 1/2 are actively deciding to come up the park because the charging hookup is on offer - 1 less thing to be concerned with when the trip is already a few hours long and drains a good chunk of a full battery.
If the park put in let's say 20 charging stations at an average cost of $5k each (source:
https://evcharging.enelx.com/resources/federal-and-state-electric-vehicle-incentives - this site indicated it's about $1k - $10k per charger depending on various requirements, plus between Dominion and Federal incentives I'm splitting the difference), and they're powered by solar energy most of the time with an install cost around $14k per panel with enough juice to charge a car (source:
https://www.energysage.com/solar-pa...o solar panels,ranges from $12,240 to $16,560. - this is totally a made up estimate within their stated average range for Virginia), it'd take them perhaps 10-15 years to break even on power consumption if nobody was to use them.
However, per my previous assumptions, they're almost always in use during most of the operating calendar, with 50% of the spots on average bringing at least 20 non-regular guests a day that the park otherwise wouldn't have had.
Assume each new guest spends an average of $150 per visit - includes parking, admission, food/beverage, and any shopping.
Assume repeat guests spend less, an average of $40 per visit for food/beverage and any shopping - they have memberships where parking is included.
$150 per person x 20 new people per day = $3,000 in new guest revenue a day.
$40 per person x 20 repeat people a day = $800 in repeat guests revenue.
That means each operating day the park makes $3,800 from the guests using chargers.
At a glance at their calendar, there's roughly 9 months worth of open dates, but we can round down to 8 to be conservative.
($14k per solar panel + $5k per charger) x 20 chargers = $340,000 in installation costs. We can tack on another $10k per year in various related maintenance costs for the first year to be $350k.
8 months × 30 days (average) per month = 240 days of a year the charging spots are full.
$3,800 in guest spending per day x 240 operating days = $912,000 in gross revenue.
Subtracting out the estimated $350,000 installation and maintenance cost, year one will have them at a net revenue of $562,000 with the following year at $902,000 assuming there isn't any new installations or large replacements needed.
Obviously, these are all estimates based on assumptions - change the assumption and the numbers will possibly tell a different story.
But based on that kind of math, even if you increased installation and maintenance costs within the ranges from my sources and decreased the usage, the math generally has the park at a positive net revenue after paying off their costs within the first year and not changing pricing anywhere.
So if that's even somewhat close to reality, why shouldn't they do it if it gives them extra revenue they can theoretically sink into park improvements (more realistically will go to investors or debt payments, but that's a whole other conversation on park finances few if any of us are all that familiar with)?
