A "symbiotic" relationship has emerged between retailers, landlords and charging providers as the race among automakers to electrify their fleets, coupled with strong regulatory interest and investment at the state and local level, push more drivers to electric vehicles. 

An estimated 630,000 new EVs were sold last year alone in the United States, and two of the five top-selling cars in California are Teslas (the Model 3 and the Model Y), according to Jaryd Paul Meenach of Quantum Real Estate Advisors.  And at a discussion this week at ICSC Western States in San Diego, a panel of CRE and EV industry experts moderated by Meenach agreed that electric vehicle charging stations are no longer a "nice to have" in areas with high EV utilization rates.

Mike Battaglia, Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Blink Charging, said he spent a good portion of his career at JD Power, where he frequently met with automakers who "within five minutes" would steer the conversation to electric vehicles.