LMU's Green Leap: Smart EV Charging to Power a Sustainable Campus

CAMPBELL, CA – December 19, 2025 – By Christine Carter

Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is taking a significant step forward in its commitment to campus sustainability, announcing a major expansion of its electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure through a deepened partnership with ChargePoint. The initiative involves deploying additional chargers, upgrading to a next-generation software platform, and adopting a new proactive maintenance service, creating a comprehensive ecosystem designed to meet the burgeoning demand for EVs within its community.

This move positions LMU at the forefront of higher education institutions that are transitioning from viewing EV charging as a perk to treating it as essential infrastructure. The collaboration aims to not only increase the number of available chargers but also to introduce a new layer of intelligence and reliability to the network, ensuring students, faculty, and staff have consistent access to power for their vehicles.

Powering a Decades-Long Sustainability Mission

For LMU, this expansion is not a new direction but an acceleration of a long-held commitment to environmental stewardship. The university's sustainability office, Green LMU, has been driving environmental initiatives for decades, embedding green practices into the campus's operational DNA. Prior to this expansion, the university already hosted approximately 30 charging stations across its parking structures, which have collectively helped avoid nearly 800,000 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions—equivalent to the carbon sequestered by over 20,000 trees grown for a decade.

However, with EV adoption growing faster at educational institutions than in the general public, the existing infrastructure has been strained, with community members often finding it difficult to secure a charging spot during peak hours. This expansion directly addresses that challenge, aligning with LMU's broader goals that include a 73% recycling rate, a reclaimed water system saving 57 million gallons annually, and an extensive fleet where over 85% of vehicles are electric or hybrid.

“As EV utilization increases and transportation rapidly evolves, so does our campus. As we usher in a new era of EVs, it’s essential that our charging network is reliable, data-driven, and accessible,” said Ian McKeown, Campus Sustainability Officer at Loyola Marymount University. “ChargePoint’s new software platform best enables LMU to serve its growing community of EV drivers, including students, faculty, staff, and more, through efficient monitoring, improved reporting for data-driven business decisions, and greater overall efficiency in maintaining a reliable EV charging network.”

Beyond the Plug: A New Era of Smart Charging

At the heart of LMU's upgrade is the adoption of the new ChargePoint Platform, a recently re-engineered, cloud-native software solution that moves far beyond simple energy delivery. This next-generation platform leverages artificial intelligence to optimize the entire charging ecosystem. By continuously analyzing usage patterns, station health, and energy supply, the system can enable dynamic pricing, predict maintenance needs, and enhance the overall driver experience.

For the LMU community, this translates into tangible benefits. A key feature is an automated waitlist, which notifies drivers when a station becomes free, mitigating queues and maximizing charger utilization. The platform's redesigned, mobile-first interface provides real-time insights into charger status and energy usage, simplifying the process for both drivers and administrators.

Operationally, the platform provides LMU's facilities and sustainability teams with powerful tools for dynamic energy management. It can perform real-time load balancing, ensuring the campus electrical grid is not overwhelmed, and can integrate with utility pricing signals to reduce energy costs. This data-driven approach allows the university to make informed decisions about future expansion and energy consumption, transforming the charging network from a static utility into a responsive, intelligent asset. A crucial feature for institutional flexibility is the platform's compliance with the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP), meaning LMU can manage any OCPP-compliant hardware, avoiding vendor lock-in for future hardware purchases.

Ensuring Reliability with Proactive Maintenance

A common frustration for EV drivers everywhere is arriving at a charging station only to find it out of service. To combat this, LMU is among the first institutions to adopt ChargePoint's Safeguard Care, a new service launched in mid-2025 designed to ensure maximum uptime through proactive, physical maintenance.

Safeguard Care complements the software's remote monitoring by dispatching trained technicians for regular on-site inspections. During these visits, technicians conduct a full diagnostic, clean the stations, perform minor repairs, and validate functionality with a test charge. Any complex issues that cannot be resolved on-site are immediately escalated to a dedicated support team, creating a closed-loop system for reliability.

This service is particularly vital in a high-traffic environment like a university campus, where chargers see constant use. By identifying and fixing minor issues before they lead to station failure, LMU can minimize downtime and reduce its reliance on user-submitted trouble tickets. This proactive approach ensures the charging network remains a dependable resource, building driver confidence and encouraging further EV adoption within the campus community.

A Blueprint for Higher Education

The LMU-ChargePoint partnership serves as a compelling model for other universities navigating the transition to electric mobility. Higher education institutions are becoming hotspots for EV adoption, driven by a younger, environmentally conscious student body and faculty who are early adopters of new technology. For these "small cities," providing reliable charging is becoming a competitive necessity to attract and retain top students and staff.

ChargePoint's strategy reflects this market shift, moving beyond hardware sales to offer an integrated package of hardware, intelligent software, and hands-on services. This holistic approach allows large institutions to manage the complexity of scaling their EV infrastructure efficiently.

“ChargePoint delivers solutions that scale to meet the needs of any customer,” said Rick Wilmer, CEO at ChargePoint. “Our industry-leading hardware, software, and services seamlessly enable customers like LMU to deliver a world-class charging experiences to their community.”

By investing in a smart, reliable, and scalable charging network, Loyola Marymount University is not only enhancing its campus experience but also creating a living laboratory for sustainable transportation. This forward-thinking initiative reinforces its reputation as a leader in environmental stewardship and provides a clear blueprint for how other institutions can power the future of campus mobility.