Methodology & data sources
Every rule, rate, and reference the engine applies. Each line cites the source and the effective date.
PG&E BEV-2-S commercial DCFC tariff
Pacific Gas & Electric, BEV-2-S schedule — CPUC Advice Letter filing
Effective: Filed 2024-12, current revision applies through 2026 review
Energy charge by TOU period + monthly subscription block (50 kW blocks). Demand charges waived under BEV-2-S.
SCE TOU-EV-9 commercial DCFC tariff
Southern California Edison, Schedule TOU-EV-9 — rate fact sheet (TOU-EV-7/8/9)
Effective: Effective 2026-06-01
Secondary voltage, bundled delivery + generation. Energy charge by TOU period only — no demand subscription under the current tariff; demand charges have been suspended since 2019 and reinstatement requires CPUC authorization.
SDG&E EV-HP commercial DCFC tariff
San Diego Gas & Electric, Schedule EV-HP — filed summary table (medium commercial)
Effective: Effective 2026-06-01
Secondary voltage, >150 kW max-demand tier. Energy charge by TOU period + monthly demand blocks (25 kW blocks).
Utility tariffs beyond California (48 additional states plus DC)
Georgia Power TOU-EVC-2; Duke Energy Carolinas & Progress LGS (NC); FPL GSLD-1EV and Duke Energy FL GSD-1 (FL); APS Rider DCFC on E-32 TOU L and TEP DCFCX (AZ); Austin Energy GS ≥300 kW (TX); Dominion GS-3 EV (VA); ComEd Watt-Hour EV class (IL); DTE D3 and Consumers Energy GP (MI); Nashville Electric EVC and MLGW GSA Part 3 (TN); Portland General Schedule 38 (OR); PPL GS-3 and PECO GS (PA); NorthWestern GSEDS-1 (MT); Idaho Power Sch 19 and RMP Sch 6 (ID); Evergy Central & Metro BEVCS (KS); OPPD 231 and LES LLP (NE); Xcel D16 (ND) and E15 (SD); RMP Sch 46 (WY); PNM Rate 3F (NM); PSO PEVC and OG&E PL-TOU (OK); Alabama Power BEVT and Huntsville EVC (AL); Ameren 3(M) and Evergy Metro & West BEVCS (MO); We Energies Cg 3 and MGE Cg-2 (WI); MidAmerican LS and Alliant IPL LGS (IA); AES Indiana SL (IN); Entergy LA GS-G & LGS-L and Entergy New Orleans LE-25 (LA); NV Energy LGS-3 & GS-3 (NV); Puget Sound Energy Sch 26 and Tacoma Power Sch G (WA); AEP Ohio Schedule PEV (OH); Rocky Mountain Power Sch 8 (UT); Eversource NH Rate GV (NH); LG&E and KU TODS (KY); Duke Energy Carolinas & Progress LGS and Dominion Rate 24 (SC); National Grid EV Pricing and Eversource EV-2 (MA); Xcel A90 EV Charging (MN); PSE&G LPL DCFC and JCP&L GST (NJ); Xcel S-EV (CO); BGE GL + SOS (MD); Entergy Arkansas LPS (AR); Entergy C-29 and Mississippi Power LGS (MS); Appalachian and Wheeling Power LCP (WV); Chugach EV LGS, GVEA DCFC, and MEA Three-Phase (AK); HECO and MECO Schedule P (HI); Pepco GT/MGT + SOS (DC); Versant BHD M-2 and CMP LGS-S-TOU (ME); Delmarva LGS-S + SOS and Delaware Co-op LC (DE); GMP 63/65 TOU and BED LG (VT); Rhode Island Energy G-32 (RI); National Grid SC-3 upstate (NY)
Effective: Each rate digit-verified against the utility's own filed sheets; effective dates range 2023-01 through 2026-07 per row
Every derivation — rider folding, month-weighting, demand-charge mapping, and each row's staleness/re-derive gate — is documented per utility in the project's utility-tariff-sources reference. Outside these territories the engine does not estimate a rate.
Per-state tax profiles
State and county filings per state — business entity costs, sales-tax treatment of hardware, business personal property assessment, and clean-fuels credit program (where one exists)
Effective: Read per state at ship date; editable per site in wizard Step 3
Applied automatically when an address resolves to a covered state. California is the calibration baseline; each additional state patches the defaults with its own values.
Clean-fuels credit prices (California LCFS, Oregon CFP)
CARB LCFS Data Dashboard; Oregon DEQ Clean Fuels Program credit-transfer report — public postings
Effective: California snapshot 2025-Q4; Oregon trailing-calendar-year average
Used as the default clean-fuels revenue line where a state program exists. User can override. States without a program carry a $0 line.
IRS bonus depreciation
IRC §168(k); IRS Pub 946; TCJA phase-down schedule
Effective: Y1 = 60% in 2024, 40% in 2025, 20% in 2026, 0% from 2027
User-adjustable in wizard Step 4.
Federal 30C ITC (alternative fuel vehicle refueling property)
IRC §30C; Inflation Reduction Act §13404
Effective: Up to 30% with prevailing-wage uplift; sunset 2026-06-30 unless extended
Santa Clara County Business Personal Property (BPP) tax
Santa Clara County Assessor's Office BPP rate schedule
Effective: FY 2024–25, 1.0% of assessed value; 7-yr declining schedule
Income tax on operating profit — not modeled
Model design decision; see report Section 4 tax note
Effective: All cash flows are pre-income-tax. The engine values depreciation + the 30C ITC as tax-shield inflows at the user's marginal rate; it computes no federal or CA income tax on the project's profit. LLC franchise tax + gross-receipts fee are modeled as operating costs.
Address geocoding
Mapbox Geocoding API
Effective: Live lookup, cached per session
Used only to resolve county / utility territory / nearest supercharger distance.
Updates to underlying tariffs, LCFS prices, or IRS rules are reflected in the engine within two weeks of publication.
Location-derived utilization estimate
The wizard's “Location-derived” site-type option computes a starting utilization ramp from public location data: the distance, stall count, and site type of the nearest existing Superchargers (DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center); DC-fast charging stalls of every network within 10 miles, weighted by distance (same source); and county battery-electric vehicle registrations per 1,000 residents (CA DMV fuel-type dataset joined to state population estimates). Each factor maps to a score through a published breakpoint table, and the combined score selects a weighted blend of the three preset demand curves — so the estimate always falls inside the range the presets already span.
Every factor, score, weight, and data vintage behind an estimate is shown with it in the wizard. The estimate is directional: it is computed from public data about the area, not measured at the site, and it has not been validated against observed station throughput. It pre-fills the same editable fields the presets fill; every monthly value and growth rate remains yours to change. The P10–P90 range shown with an estimate is carried onto the report's Year-1 utilization sweep as shaded rows — the sweep itself is computed by the engine at every level regardless.
Coverage ratios
Alongside the headline metrics (payback period, 15-yr IRR, NPV, cumulative cash), the engine computes lender-grade coverage ratios for each year: FCCR (Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio — covers rent, insurance, taxes, AND loan service) and DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio — loan service only, undefined for all-cash operators). Engine math is identical for every user.
For reference, SBA-504 / small commercial real estate conventions treat FCCR ≥ 1.25 and DSCR ≥ 1.20 as comfortable, 1.10–1.25 / 1.10–1.20 as marginal, and below 1.10 as distressed. These are widely cited banking reference bands, not thresholds the model imposes.
The coverage metrics (DSCR, FCCR) and financial figures (NPV, IRR, payback, cumulative cash) are descriptive model outputs. How they weigh against your own risk tolerance is your call.