How an EV Charging Company Found Sites Near Power and Highways
Head of business operations and strategy, EV charging developer based in North Carolina · Ten metro counties, Los Angeles to Washington, DC · September 8, 2026
What they knew
An EV charging developer based in North Carolina builds fast-charging sites and fleet depots where the grid already has capacity, on industrial lots of half an acre to three acres. Its head of business operations and strategy had one job on the land side: turn the site team's know-how into a screen that runs the same way in any market. Before MAIA that meant listings and brokers, 100 to 200 addresses per market checked on a map, 20 driven, five into diligence. Seven separate checks stood between an address and a yes.
What they asked
Which industrial parcels over half an acre in this county sit within a quarter mile of a highway, have heavy power nearby, no homes next door, and no history as a gas station, dry cleaner, or auto shop?
What MAIA did
Screened every industrial parcel near a highway
Parcel records and the road network pulled every industrial lot over half an acre within a quarter mile of a highway, with acreage, zoning, and building coverage on each row.
Checked the power and the history
Substations and transmission lines were measured from each parcel, and a prior manufacturing use flagged heavy power on site. Gas stations, dry cleaners, oil tanks, and homes next door dropped a site before the drive.
Resolved the owner and the path
For the shortlist, MAIA researched the utility, the permitting authority, and listing status, then pierced the LLC to the operating owner and a direct contact.
What came back
- 657 parcels to 15 viable sites within half a mile of two target substations in one market, screened in one pass
- 3 hours to 15 minutes for the substation and parcel screen the team used to run by hand in each new market
- 10 metros from one saved buy box: Los Angeles, Seattle, Sacramento, Denver, San Antonio, New Orleans, Tampa, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC, each returning its 15 to 20 sites for the site team's review
What they did next
A new county takes one push: the buy box lives in a MAIA skill, and a second skill chains the smaller ones. The site selection lead gets 15 to 20 sites back instead of 200 addresses, and the team is calling the owners on the Washington, DC list to check the machine's work. What the grid specialist wants folded in next is the rest of his checklist, for-sale status, owner distress, and power capacity, so a market comes back diligence-ready.
I love this tool already. It's freaking insane. This used to take me three hours to run.
