Bay Area leads country in EV-friendly home listings
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As San Francisco works toward becoming a zero-emissions city by 2040, home electric vehicle chargers are becoming hot commodities.
Why it matters: Homes with electric vehicle chargers could hold greater resale value as more car buyers make the switch, Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale says.
- Meanwhile, two years ago, California's Air Resources Board set a mandate that by 2035, 100% of new cars and light trucks sold in California must be zero-emission vehicles.
- Fossil fuels from the transportation sector are some of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the city, San Francisco's environment department director Tyrone Jue previously told Axios.
Driving the news: Among metro areas with the highest share of EV-friendly home listings last year, San Jose topped the list, at 4.9%, followed by San Francisco, with 3.8%, according to Realtor.com and Cox Automotive's report.
- Nationwide, 0.9% of U.S. homes listed on Realtor.com in 2023 were described as EV-friendly, up from 0.1% five years earlier.
The big picture: Home chargers, which are often more convenient than public ones, and faster than charging cables that come with most EVs, are more common in areas with high EV ownership rates.
- In San Francisco, EV vehicles made up 37% of all new vehicle sales last year, the San Francisco Examiner reports, citing data from the city's environment department.
Zoom in: The typical installation in San Francisco costs between $524 and $1,197, according to HomeAdvisor, but there are some incentives to help homeowners.
- PG&E's Empower EV program offers eligible households a $500 charger and up to $2,000 in incentives to help cover the cost of electrical panel upgrades, if needed.
- The utility provider also offers $700 rebates to eligible households.
Yes, but: Home-charging stations, while desirable to some, are not a guaranteed way to increase a home's value, Realtor.com economist Jiayi Xu said.
- Home chargers should, however, "help [sellers] to reach more buyers," she said.
What to watch: The city wants at least 25% of all vehicle registrations to be electric by 2030 but officials have said they recognize that access to charging infrastructure can be a barrier to EV adoption.
- In March, city supervisor Rafael Mandelman and officials from the city's environment department announced plans to pursue a curbside EV charging project to increase access to EV charging and spur greater EV adoption.
Note: Cox Automotive's parent company, Cox Enterprises, also owns Axios.