NY Toyota Dealer Slashes Energy Bills 55% With Smart Tech

Sunrise Toyota on Long Island found a clever way to add electric car chargers without watching their energy costs explode.

The dealership cut its electricity bills by 55% in just three months by installing solar panels, battery storage, and AI software that works like a smart traffic controller for energy. Instead of just adding fast chargers and hoping for the best, they built a system that actually thinks about when to use power and when to store it.

Here's why that matters. Commercial customers like car dealerships don't just pay for electricity the way homes do. They also get hit with extra charges when they suddenly use a lot of power at once. A single electric car charging session can create that kind of spike and inflate the entire month's bill.

Sprocket Power designed a system for Sunrise Toyota's two locations in Oakdale and Medford, New York. The setup includes rooftop solar, EVO Power batteries, Kempower fast chargers, and Ranial Systems software that coordinates everything.

The AI software decides when to store sunshine for later and when to pull from the batteries instead of the grid. It can even slow down charging slightly during peak hours or sell stored energy back to the utility when demand is high. Those grid programs bring in credits and revenue that cover about half the system's financial benefits.

During the first three months, the batteries stayed online 99% of the time and reduced the dealership's peak power draw by up to 101 kilowatts. Sprocket Power estimates the dealerships will eventually cut their net utility costs by 90% and pay off the whole system in five years.

"We have experienced rising utility costs for years," said Jimmy Berg, dealer principal at Sunrise Toyota. "This investment in our facility and business creates a strong investment case by controlling these costs."

The Ripple Effect

EVO Power USA and Ranial Systems just announced they're taking this exact model nationwide. EVO has already completed more than 125 battery installations worldwide, with many running smoothly for over five years.

The partnership shows how businesses can tackle two challenges at once: meeting customer demand for electric vehicle charging while keeping their own operating costs under control. What worked for a car dealership could work for shopping centers, apartment buildings, or any business facing the same squeeze between rising electricity costs and the need to add charging stations.

The sunny part? Making money and helping the planet don't have to be separate goals anymore.