EV Price Discussion

[Snax]

Don't let a lack of home charging options for renters skew predicted sales. It will soon come down to renters demanding them when they move. Granted, it won't be many to start, but if a property owner can get an extra $50/month for providing a simple plugin, that is pretty cheap money up front to make happen.

EV owners have their own chargers, so all they really need is an outlet. For many apartment owners, the power panels are right out front already.

I barely spent over $50 doing it myself for a 240V 14-50p. An electrician contracted to do a bunch of them could probably bang one out for well under $400 each under favorable circumstances. Worst case, they'd need additional subpanels and conduit runs, but even that is peanuts for the premium in rents a property owner might try to charge.

As a property owner, which would you prefer to having renting from you, environmentalist types with quiet cars, or noisy, coal-rolling, diesel pickup drivers who think it's cool to park on the lawn?

[oil pan 4]

I wired in multiple outdoor 240v receptacles. At my rental house, before I realized that it was going to be a rental.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Definitely. Once you see your car propel itself without using gas you want more of that.

Yes and no. I’m increasingly unlikely to replace my Spark EV with another EV. It comes down to money. There is nothing in the used market that competes with ICE cars and there aren’t any deals on EV leases.

[redpoint5]

Yeah, it seems EVs are getting more expensive, not less. There will be some renters demanding EV charging, but not for a while, and for now only in certain metropolises. I expect all apartments will one day offer charging, but that's a long ways off. The apartment I'm in was built last year, and there's not even a 120v outlet anywhere near.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

The apartment I'm in was built last year, and there's not even a 120v outlet anywhere near.

1 year old appartment building with a planned life cycle of 100? years that has no thought of ev charging. Does it have ground source heat pumps for heat and cooling?

[JSH]

Originally Posted by sendler

1 year old appartment building with a planned life cycle of 100? years that has no thought of ev charging. Does it have ground source heat pumps for heat and cooling?

There is no incentive for an apartment owner to install ground source heat pumps. Renters pay utility bills not owners so apartment owners usually put in the least expensive HVAC possible.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by JSH

There is no incentive for an apartment owner to install ground source heat pumps. Renters pay utility bills not owners so apartment owners usually put in the least expensive HVAC possible.

This is our problem in trying to push efficiency forward and reduce natural gas consumption.

[Vman455]

My building has heat pumps for heating and cooling, double-insulated walls and no gas lines (all electric). But, it only has enough parking spaces for 1/4 of the residents in the garage, with the rest in the surface lot across the street, and no thought of charging infrastructure.

There's a brand new building going up next door opening later this year that has no provisions for its residents' parking at all, and thus no charging. This is typical of Champaign, where apartment high-rises are going up right and left because of the university. As far as public chargers, for 140,000 people there are a grand total of three ChargePoint stations, two Tesla Destination chargers (whatever those are), one Supercharger, and one unaffiliated free charging station in the downtown parking garage. Apartment dwellers get the shaft when it comes to charging; in fact, that's the only thing stopping me from getting an electric car. Until I decide to buy a house, I have nowhere to charge.

[Snax]

I think college towns have their own unique housing issues. Few landlords near campus or on convenient commute routes are going to give a rip about whether students can charge an electric car. I see a lot of that here with similar new buildings going up. Some of them could provide it, but most certainly do not.

I think where a lot of opportunity exists for landlords however is in smaller rental houses, duplexes, triplexes, etc. Anything that has a garage or carport with electrical service nearby is an easy amenity opportunity. But I am also looking at this from the perspective of usually seeing at least one other EV on the road on any given day, usually many more. Model 3s and Leafs are everywhere. I can't imagine that many would-be used Leaf owners are exclusively home-owners.

[sendler]

Ride sharing in college towns will replace car ownership for students anyway.