Check the Stats Before Making Your EV Charger Plans

Electric vehicles have seen a lot of promotion. CRE owners — whether of multifamily, retail, office, industrial, or any other variety — should consider the potential impact on tenant or customer demand. The more EVs that come to a location, the greater a need there eventually will be to provide the ability to charge them.

The reason is that there isn’t an infrastructure of charging systems that can get a vehicle in and out as fast as a gas station with the typical transfer rate of an electric pump. But that view levels everything into a national “here’s the trend for everyone” view. Averages are deceptive in doing data analysis and understanding what customers might want or need.

LendingTree had an interesting piece that looked at some of the numbers behind EV use and distribution. States differ by such considerations as the incentives they offer to buyers, number of charging ports per driver, and EV adoption rate. Put together, they create what the company referred to as EV infrastructure — which are more welcoming to potential buyers, have more adopters, and can offer a greater number of chargers for the vehicles.

Take the highest rate of EV charging ports per driver. Top of the list is the District of Columbia with 338 charging station locations (not counting personal ones), 1,059 charging ports, and 33.2 public charging ports per 10,000 drivers. Next, Vermont: 338 locations, 942 ports, 15.8 ports per 10,000 drivers. Third was Massachusetts with 2,876 locations and 6,915 ports, but only 12.8 ports per 10,000 drivers. California was the only other state with more than 10 (12.1) public charging ports per 10,000 (15,663 locations, 43,766 ports).

“Comparatively, Mississippi has just 1.5 charging outlets per 10,000 drivers — the lowest across the U.S. Louisiana follows it at 1.7, the only other state below 2.0,” they wrote.

You could make an argument that a low number of outlets per driver would make the outlets a property owner might offer could make it more popular. But the overall low number still makes it less likely that drivers will adopt the new vehicles.

As far as adoption rates, District of Columbia is again top with 8.2%. Then come California (7.7%), Washington (6.0%), Oregon (5.5%), and Hawaii (5.4%).

They ranked Colorado as best infrastructure, being second in car laws and incentives (102), sixth in charging ports (9.4 public ports per 10,000), ninth in adoption rate (4.0%), and 14th in the percentage change of adoption rate from 2021 to 2022 (27.0%).

The relative numbers show how in so many states there is little support for EVs and relatively low adoption. Not all places will provide the environment in which EV chargers will provide a competitive advantage.