South Brunswick BOE Awards EV Charging Station Contract Amid Push For Details

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — The South Brunswick Board of Education awarded a contract for the installation and operation of electric vehicle charging stations at district properties during its Aug. 20 meeting, though board members pressed district administrators for more clarity on the plan before signing off.

The board approved RFP No. 2026-04, Electric Vehicle Charging Station Installation, Operation, and Revenue Sharing Services, awarding the contract to EVNRG Providers LLC of Lakewood. Under the agreement, EVNRG will be responsible for the design, engineering, permitting, installation, ownership, operation, maintenance, and eventual removal of the charging stations at its own cost. The district will receive 20% of gross revenue generated by the stations, minus approved utility costs.

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The initial contract term is five years, beginning Sept. 1.

During discussion, board member Rajesh Soni questioned whether the vote was formally awarding the contract or simply an exploratory step, saying he was unclear on details including how many stations would be installed and where.

"I get the intention, but I feel like a lot of information is missing," Soni said. "I still don't know. Can we award the RFP and still act out, or what are the exact wording?"

Assistant School Business Administrator Steven Corso said the contract was intentionally written to leave station locations undetermined so the district could evaluate where they made the most sense.

"We can award the RFP, and the contract has purposely been kept a little bit open-ended so that we can make some determinations as to where exactly we'd like the charging stations to go, where it makes the most sense," Corso said. He added that the specifications in the RFP and contract were written to protect the board's interests: "Should we have any issues, you know, if people are misbehaving or anything like that during school hours, we can cancel the contract pretty much at any time... so that the expense is on the contractor, not on the board of ed."

Corso said the district had conducted a pre-proposal walkthrough with EVNRG at several district sites, which produced a preliminary map, but that final siting decisions were intentionally left for after the contract award: "The intention of not making that decision tonight is so that we can keep that open-ended, and then ultimately make that decision as to where we feel those charging stations are best suited."

Board President Laura Hernandez asked whether the board would get another opportunity to vote once specific details — including station locations and quantities — were finalized.

"Right now we're blindly voting on those things, which are pretty major things," Hernandez said, adding that she supported the concept but wanted to review the specifics once available: "We want you to do it. We think this is a great idea. We want it to come, but when it comes down to the specifics, would it come to us again so we can then vote?"

Superintendent Bernard Bragen said that while the board's vote formally approved the agreement, the contract would not take effect until it is signed by the business administrator.

"Nothing is signed, and nothing becomes official until the business administrator signs the contract and puts it into effect," Bragen said. He recommended the district share the specific logistics with the full board before finalizing the signature: "Why don't we get that for all of you? Share with the parameters of those specifics. If there's an objection, we'll talk about it. But if there's not, then... if it's okay with the board, we'll approve it before we sign any contract, all the logistics, and if there's a concern, then we won't sign the contract."

Bragen said the plan involved a minimal number of charging stations — two or three, by his recollection — rather than a large-scale rollout: "There's no way there's 10 put in place anywhere. That was never part of the conversation." He said Monmouth Junction School likely would not be a site: "Land is so scarce there, especially for parking."

Bragen and Corso both emphasized that the initiative was intended primarily as a service and renewable-energy benefit for staff, students, and the community rather than a significant revenue source for the district. "The idea is not really to generate a lot of revenue," Bragen said. "It's to be renewable. It's to do all that and offer a service for our staff... However, we don't want to lose any money, and I think that's important too."

Corso also noted that moving forward with the award at the Aug. 20 meeting was necessary to take advantage of a grant opportunity that could allow the district to implement the program at no cost: "If we wait on it, the grant opportunity might go away, and then we wouldn't have this opportunity to do it at no cost."

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