Could a home electric vehicle charger be the latest add-on product at auto dealerships? Charger startup Treehouse and its backer Assurant see potential there, and some lenders have already been willing to bundle the cost of the hardware and installation into an auto loan.
Tenet Energy Inc., which serves as a depreciation-calculating, automated loan application review intermediary for lenders seeking to offer EV loans to consumers, announced a partnership in July to add Treehouse chargers into the auto loans it manages.
"We see some very early consumer demand suggesting that this is the right thing," Treehouse CEO Eric Owski said. He said his company plans to partner this year with a second business on EV chargers integrated into vehicle deals.