ForgeAsset / Supercharger ROI / Ohio
Tesla Supercharger ROI in Ohio
Ohio pairs a filed EV-specific pilot rate with the lightest entity-tax stack in the covered set. AEP Ohio's Schedule PEV public-charging pilot bills separately metered fast-charging sites entirely per kilowatt-hour — no demand charge at all — with the auction-set standard supply and the state's per-kWh electricity excise folded into the rates shown in the table. Against that, Ohio abolished its business tangible-personal-property tax years ago and charges no LLC annual fee, so two lines that run into the tens of thousands elsewhere are structural zeros. The one place Ohio adds cost is installation labor, which its business-fixture doctrine pulls into the sales-tax base.
What makes Ohio economics distinct
A filed public-charging pilot with no demand charge
AEP Ohio files an EV-specific rate: Schedule PEV's public-charging section serves separately metered public DC fast chargers with no demand charge — distribution, transmission, and the auction-set standard supply all bill per kilowatt-hour, with the supply capacity price applying only in an on-peak window of weekday mornings in winter and weekday afternoons in summer. The pilot is limited to the first 500 enrolled customers and to sites on circuits designated for the company's gridSMART program with an AMI meter; a site that does not qualify or enroll takes the standard Schedule GS, which carries a per-kilowatt demand charge on the monthly peak. The supply component resets at the next annual auction, expected around mid-2027.
The lightest entity stack in the covered set
Ohio abolished its general business tangible-personal-property tax, so the model carries $0 for business personal property — a line that runs $30,000–$56,000 a year in the heaviest states. Ohio also charges no LLC annual report or fee, and the Commercial Activity Tax exempts the first $6 million of gross receipts, which a single site never reaches. Three cost lines that exist elsewhere are simply absent.
Installation labor is taxable
Under Ohio's business-fixture doctrine, the sale-and-install of a charger is taxed on the total price including installation labor. At Columbus's 8% rate that roughly doubles the sales-tax line versus a hardware-only base. Make-ready civil work — trenching, foundations, service upgrades — can be certified as a real-property contract and kept out of the base; the model carries the full base by default and discloses the carve-out.
A rate case phasing in through 2028
AEP Ohio's rate case settled in 2026 with base rates and percentage riders stepping through 2027 and 2028. The model carries the current book and re-derives at each month-stamped edition. Municipal net-profits taxes — Columbus at 2.5% — reach the business but are owner-level items the engine does not model, disclosed rather than folded.
Utilities and tariffs modeled in Ohio
| Utility & tariff | Energy | Demand |
|---|---|---|
| AEP Ohio Schedule PEV (Public Charging) | 15.3¢/kWh–25.0¢/kWh by time of day | none (energy-only) |
Rates are digit-verified against each utility's own filed sheets and update within two weeks of any revision. Full derivations are on the methodology page.
See Ohio in the US Supercharger Economics Map — every US Supercharger over utility territories colored by the derived effective electricity cost per dispensed kWh.
Ohio tax profile
- Sales tax on hardware: 8%
- Business personal property tax: none
- Clean-fuels credit: no program
- Per-kWh charging excise: none
Ohio tax defaults applied: no clean-fuels credit program exists in Ohio (the LCFS revenue line is $0), and LLC costs are $0 — Ohio has no annual report or fee. Sales tax uses Columbus's 8.00% and, under Ohio's business-fixture doctrine, applies to installation labor as well as hardware; make-ready civil work certified as a real-property contract stays outside the base. Business personal property is not taxed in Ohio. Ohio's per-kWh electricity excise is already inside the modeled utility rate. The Commercial Activity Tax exempts the first $6 million of gross receipts, so a single site owes none; Ohio's state and municipal net-profits taxes (Columbus 2.5%) reach the business but are owner-level items the engine does not model.
Ohio programs and incentives
AEP Ohio commercial charger programs
Utility make-ready and rebate offerings for commercial charging vary by program cycle; a specific award enters the model through the grant inputs. AEP's Schedule PEV public-charging pilot — capped at 500 customers and restricted to gridSMART-designated circuits — is the modeled rate; the rate table carries its figures.
NEVI (federal, ODOT-administered)
Federal corridor DC fast-charging funding along I-70, I-71, I-75, and I-90, administered in award rounds.
Ohio charging market
Ohio carries roughly 58 Supercharger stations along I-70, I-71, and I-75. AEP Ohio (Ohio Power Company) serves the Columbus metro. Cleveland is served by the Illuminating Company, Cincinnati by Duke Energy Ohio, Dayton by AES Ohio, and Akron and Toledo by other FirstEnergy operating companies — none of which the model covers yet; addresses there see a named-utility notice rather than a wrong auto-selection.
Ohio Supercharger ROI — questions
- Does Ohio charge a demand charge on EV charging?
- Not under the modeled rate — AEP Ohio's Schedule PEV public-charging pilot bills separately metered fast-charging sites entirely per kilowatt-hour, with no demand charge. The pilot is limited to the first 500 enrolled customers on gridSMART-designated circuits; a site that does not qualify or enroll takes the standard Schedule GS, which bills a per-kilowatt demand charge on the monthly peak after percentage riders.
- Is there a per-kWh charging tax in Ohio?
- Ohio's per-kWh electricity excise applies to the utility bill and is already folded into the modeled energy rate, not carried separately. There is no charging-specific tax on top of it. Installation labor, however, is taxable under Ohio's business-fixture doctrine and is carried in the sales-tax base.
- What does Ohio not tax that other states do?
- Ohio abolished its business tangible-personal-property tax, so business personal property is $0, and there is no LLC annual report or fee. The Commercial Activity Tax exempts the first $6 million of gross receipts, so a single site owes none. Municipal net-profits taxes reach the business but are owner-level items the engine does not model.
Sources
Model a Tesla V4 Supercharger site in Ohio — payback, NPV, IRR, and a 15-year cash flow from your own inputs.
Run a Ohio scenarioOther states: California, North Carolina, Georgia, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Montana, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Washington, Utah, New Hampshire, Kentucky, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Colorado, Maryland, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, DC, Maine, Delaware, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York. Coverage spans forty-nine states and the District of Columbia in total — see the full list.
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