Sept. 13, 2021
Don Wilson, the president of Blue Woods Property Management, believes the coming shift to electric vehicles will create a demand for an allied amenity in co-op and condo buildings. “I think apartment buyers are going to start looking for charging stations and asking about them,” Woods predicts. “I think it’s going to be the next question on the co-op questionnaires that we get every day. That one hasn’t showed up yet, but I think it will in the near future.”
His prediction moved a step closer to reality last week when New York City announced that it will create one of the country’s largest electric vehicle charging networks in an effort to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, The Staten Island Advance reports.
“With the climate crisis upon us, it’s time to plan bigger about how New York City can dramatically accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles,” Hank Gutman, commissioner of the Department of Transportation, said while releasing the new plan, Electrifying New York: An Electric Vehicle Vision Plan for New York City. “With major federal investments in EV charging on the horizon, our plan lays the groundwork for a network of tens of thousands of public EV chargers equitably distributed across the city, enabling many more car owners to go electric.”
In order to reach New York City’s ambitious goals, which include full carbon neutrality by 2050, officials say that at least 400,000 vehicle owners will need to switch to electric vehicles by 2030. To that end, the city’s new plan calls for the installation of 40,000 public Level 2 (L2) chargers and 6,000 Direct Current (DC) fast chargers citywide by 2030.
The city’s release of its Electrify New York plan came on the same day that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation that will require that all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state be zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
The latest expansion of charging stations comes three years after New York State unveiled the $5 million Charge Ready NY initiative, which provides a $4,000 rebate per charging port for public or private employers, municipalities, non-profit organizations and building owners – including co-op and condo boards – to install Level 2 charging stations, which provide up to 25 miles of electric range to cars for each hour they are charging. Depending on installation costs and the model/make of the charging station, it’s possible to save up to 80% of a typical installation’s total cost.
If Don Wilson’s prediction is accurate, now is the time for co-op and condo boards to start thinking about adding vehicle charging stations to their amenity offerings.