A significant transportation shift toward electric vehicles (EVs) is underway, along with the promise of a wide range of societal benefits. While the potential is real—and may soon be accelerated due to interest from the Biden administration—the United States as a whole is only at the beginning stages of this transition, and the ramifications for commercial real estate continue to shift.
Even as EVs increase in popularity, the infrastructure to support them—primarily in the form of charging stations—barely exists in many parts of the U.S., and the availability of the electricity to run them remains an open question. A push to install charging stations has not always been carefully considered, and the benefits and consequences are often uncertain. While commercial real estate can and will be part of a successful transition to electric vehicles, there needs to be careful discussion about short- and long-term consequences to ensure that decisions don’t create more harm than good.
Read BOMA International’s July 2021 policy brief, Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations: Considerations for CRE, for a detailed exploration of this topic.