in five census tracts around one proposed car-free Boston building didn’t even own cars, so a possible “no cars” covenant could be part of a lease. According to the Smart Growth America
report Empty Spaces, most TOD develop- ments build reduced parking lots, yet even those turned out to be too big; on average, its study of five such developments shows they were 58 to 84 percent occupied.
It’s super-important to prewire for EVs. New buildings will last for 50 to 100 years, and in that time, EVs will become a much bigger slice of our transportation future than they are now.
Wiring for EVs: It’s the Law It can be expensive to retrofit buildings with wiring for electric cars, because “trenching” under existing pavement is usually required. A California Air Resources Board report in 2015 put these costs per building at between $3,750 and $6,975, and that’s just for the wiring. Costs are reduced 64 to 75 percent if the buildings are wired when they’re built, according to an Energy Solutions/Pacific Gas and Electric report. California has become the leader in requiring EV prewiring
in new construction of multifamily dwellings and nonresidential developments. Te state began requiring wiring for Level 2 (240- volt) EV charging in 2015. Chelsea Sexton, a Los Angeles-based electric car advocate and advisor, backs the state law, with caveats. “Where there is
~Tom Saxton, Plug In America
parking included,” she says, “most buildings and public lots should be pre-wired for EV charging—while it is the most cost effective to do so and preserves the most flexibility for that property going forward.” It’s not just California. Atlanta passed
a city ordinance in 2017 that will require all new residential homes and public park- ing areas to accommodate EVs. Some 20 percent of the spaces have to be ready to be connected. In Washington state, 5 percent of parking spaces in new construction have to be wired for EVs. In Colorado, which has
the goal of nearly a million EVs on state roads by 2030, the cities of Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder and Aspen all require new one- and two-family residential construction to be EV-ready. Tere are also EV-friendly laws in New York City, Hawaii, Oregon and Montgomery County, Maryland. Tom Saxton, the chief science officer of the Plug In America
advocacy group, based in Los Angeles, says, “It’s super-important to prewire for EVs. New buildings will last for 50 to 100 years, and in that time, EVs will become a much bigger slice of our transportation future than they are now.”
Jim Motavalli, of Fairfield, CT, is an author and freelance journal- ist. Connect at
JimMotavalli.com.
June 2019 29
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