What if I can’t charge my car at home?
For California to succeed, electric cars must be practical for everyone — not just people who can install a garage charger.
Currently, apartment dwellers and renters often don’t have access to a charger at home.
Even when there is a charger, EV owners in these homes face obstacles. Garas said she’s heard about apartment shipping rates suddenly rising — an unexpected expense that can be especially challenging on an already tight budget.
Relying on public chargers isn’t a great alternative either. A public electric vehicle charger tends to cost more than a home charge, which means renters will likely pay more for it than homeowners. “People who live in apartments, who probably have lower incomes than people who live in single-family homes, are also now getting the most expensive charging solution,” Jarras said.
To solve these problems, researchers and policymakers will need to consider the needs of people in the car buyer market. There are federal and state incentives available to install chargers in multifamily housing, and new developments are needed to include chargers. However, it’s often not as simple as hiring an electrician, because EV owners will use more energy and charger operators need to recoup those costs. For example, one system that calculates energy use is differential parking pricing. At UC Davis, drivers who park in a lot with a charger pay a higher rate per day, which accounts for the cost of electricity. It may be easy to apply in other settings as well.
Meanwhile, another option for people living in multifamily housing or rural areas with limited access to charging is hybrid vehicles. These vehicles can be run solely on battery power, like electric cars, but can also be run on gasoline when they run out of charge.
