Most EV charging happens at home, and most EV owners have single family homes where they have their own chargers. Of course, some EV owners live in condo and apartment complexes where there typically are not enough EV chargers onsite yet. Fortunately, for EV adoption, there are plenty of single-family home owners who have purchased EVs and enjoy the benefit of home charging when they choose to charge, so they can get charges when the rates are lowest, and some homeowners have their own solar power, or solar power plus energy storage, or solar power plus micro wind power, or solar power plus wind power plus energy storage. There are also community energy aggregators that deliver partially or completely clean, renewable electricity so that EV owners can use that. The estimated numbers are as follows: “Plug In America’s recent EV owners survey found that 85% of EV owners and 84% of EV intenders are single-family home residents. Notably, the survey identified access to low-cost, convenient home charging as the most significant economic factor for EV adoption.” Some apartment and condo dwellers do have onsite EV chargers, but they are in the minority. The good news, for now, is that the EV charging company ChargePoint has a plan to install 2,500 new EV chargers at multi-family dwellings. “ChargePoint (NYSE: CHPT), a global leader in electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions, today announced a partnership with OBE Power, a charge point owner focused on deploying and operating EV charging infrastructure at scale. Under the partnership OBE Power will utilize ChargePoint EV charging solutions at multifamily residences, with plans to deploy approximately 2,500 charging ports starting in 2026.” While some readers might not be impressed with the installation and operation of 2,500 new EV chargers, the value is for the people who will use them at multi-family dwellings, not for online haters and trolls to try to criticize or belittle them. “After more than a decade of collaboration with ChargePoint to deploy EV charging where people live, work, and stay, we have built a strong track record of delivering the reliability and performance EV drivers expect. By combining ChargePoint’s technology with OBE Power’s owned-and-operated model, we deliver EV charging solutions purpose-built for multifamily communities,” said Alejandro Burgana, Cofounder and Managing Director of OBE Power. There are some other key facts to highlight here. One is that the new EV chargers are coming from a private sector collaboration, not only from government funding. If private sector companies see opportunities, they may be right in their decision and will provide value to customers and receive value in the form of payments for the EV charging sessions. They see opportunities, not only problems to complain about. The apartment and condo complexes may retain their renters and owners longer because they are forward-thinking and open-minded enough to support EV owners. Another key point is that installing EV chargers, in some cases but not all, can be done fairly quickly. Another is this: though EV sales may wax and wane at times, the steady growth of public EV charging infrastructure supports EV adoption and it continues on. Apartment buildings and condo complexes can also get their own rooftop and ground-mounted solar power, so a portion of it could be used to charge EVs.
