California’s recently announced ban on the sale of new gas-powered vehicles starting in 2035—and New York’s recent decision to follow suit—are putting pressure on multifamily property owners to install charging stations for tenants.
Owners have numerous business models and potential partners that offer multiple types of incentives, making the formation of a strategy a complex undertaking. They must consider the costs for chargers and the potential need to install additional electrical capacity costing up to six figures per apartment building.
One option is to outsource chargers to third-party vendors, but vendors may be cool to the idea because of the current lack of a critical mass of users. Even if this option is available to them, owners could still be on the hook for installing electric infrastructure to support charging stations.
Some programs have been created to address that need. Southern California Edison, for example, earmarked $436 million to install 35,000 charge ports. The program focused on disadvantaged communities with 30% of funds dedicated for multifamily homes.
While that program has proven to be popular, attracting twice as many applicants as it can serve, the utility expects to run out of these funds by the end of the year. It’s important that landlords find solutions to the charger challenge soon, with demand from renters predicted to grow significantly in coming years as declining sticker prices of some EV models make them more attractive to a wider swath of the population.
Related Stories
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Arup, Day & Zimmermann top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Perkins+Will, NBBJ top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
2014 Giants 300 Report
Building Design+Construction magazine's annual ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.
| Jul 17, 2014
A harmful trade-off many U.S. green buildings make
The Urban Green Council addresses a concern that many "green" buildings in the U.S. have: poor insulation.
| Jul 17, 2014
A high-rise with outdoor, vertical community space? It's possible! [slideshow]
Danish design firm C.F. Møller has developed a novel way to increase community space without compromising privacy or indoor space.
| Jul 11, 2014
First look: Jeanne Gang reinterprets San Francisco Bay windows in new skyscraper scheme
Chicago architect Jeanne Gang has designed a 40-story residential building in San Francisco that is inspired by the city's omnipresent bay windows.
| Jul 10, 2014
Unique design of Toronto's townhome The Tree House
Plans for a new Toronto townhome brings cutting-edge design.
| Jul 7, 2014
7 emerging design trends in brick buildings
From wild architectural shapes to unique color blends and pattern arrangements, these projects demonstrate the design possibilities of brick.
| Jul 7, 2014
A climate-controlled city is Dubai's newest colossal project
To add to Dubai's already impressive portfolio of world's tallest tower and world's largest natural flower garden, Dubai Holding has plans to build the world's largest climate-controlled city.
| Jul 3, 2014
Gehry edits Canadian skyscraper plan to be 'more Toronto'
After being criticized for the original tower complex, architect Frank Gehry unveils a new design that is more subtle, and "more Toronto."
