The Rise of Electric Vehicles and The Impact on Multifamily Development

On a recent trip to California for an apartment marketing conference, the talk of the entire conference was the rise of electric cars and how it will impact apartment living now and in the future.

At the conference we learned some interesting statistics about electric vehicles:

Stat One

The Tesla Model 3 took 400,000 reservations inside of a month when the company announced the affordable electric sports sedan version earlier this spring. Before this event, there were only a total of around 400,000 electric vehicles ever sold.

How this impacts the multifamily industry:

There are a few buildings in the Chicago market currently offering electric charging stations in their onsite parking garages, but it will become a must-have feature for this type of future renter. Adding more charging stations now for this growing segment is important.

Stat Two

The number one reason consumers are buying electric vehicles is to save on fuel costs. The second most popular reason for purchasing an electric car is to be more environmentally friendly.

How this impacts the multifamily industry:

Since cost and environment are so important to people buying electric cars, renters who own electric cars will choose to rent in multifamily properties that support these ideals. Being able to handle the unique demands required for accommodating electric vehicles, such as providing enough charging stations, limiting any additional costs/charges for having these types of cars and offering other services catering to electric car owners will win over this renter segment.

Stat Three

Research shows if you look at the number of hybrid cars on the road, or in parking garages, this is the number of electric vehicles we will see on the road by the end of 2018. In fact, Volkswagen plans to be selling a million battery-electric vehicles a year by 2025, plus Audi and Porsche have been showing concept versions of upcoming battery-electric models.

How this impacts the multifamily industry:

Multifamily developers need to start incorporating electric vehicles into their development plans now for buildings delivering over the next few years.

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