The Landlord Lens - EVs Are Taking Over! Should You Install Chargers at Your Rentals?

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

In this episode of Be A Better Landlord, we're tackling the booming electric vehicle market and what it means for you as a landlord. With a staggering one million EVs sold in the US last year, the future of transportation looks electric. But does that mean you should invest in chargers for your rental properties?We'll break down everything you need to know:▸  Unplug the Myths: We'll debunk the hype and reveal the undeniable truth about EVs: they're here to stay. Learn about different charger types and why having one at your rental could be a game-changer.▸  Boost Your Rental Value: Get ahead of the curve! Investing in EV chargers now positions your property for a future dominated by electric cars, enhancing its value and marketability.▸  Tap into Hidden Opportunities: Rebates abound! We'll guide you through finding financial incentives to help offset the cost of installation.▸  Plug and Play with Ease: Hardwired or plug-in? We'll explore both options and explain the pros and cons of each, so you can choose the perfect setup for your rentals.▸  Safety First: Relax, the fire fears are just hot air! We'll debunk misconceptions about EV dangers and offer practical safety tips for peace of mind.▸  Charge Up Your Lease Agreement: Utilities, tidiness, charging schedules, and more - we'll show you how to navigate these topics in your lease for a smooth EV experience.Don't get left behind in the electric revolution! Join Jonathan and Krista in this eye-opening episode of Be A Better Landlord and discover how EV chargers can be your key to attracting reliable tenants, boosting property value, and staying ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving rental landscape.

I'm Krista, this is Jonathan, and we're here to help you be a better landlord. So, Jonathan, something that I know you're very passionate about, are electric vehicles. Yes. And there's an interesting intersection between electric vehicles and what landlords might expect from their tenants in years coming. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Sure. So electric vehicles have been gaining popularity. In 2023, they sold about a million electric vehicles in America. That's the first time they've hit that benchmark. Now, a million new cars.

It's a drop in the bucket for how many cars are sold in America every year, but that's still a lot. That's a lot of cars. And if you're somewhere like here in Denver, you see a lot of electric vehicles. We have a lot of them in Colorado. So it's possible that you may have tenants moving into your rental who have an electric vehicle, and they may start asking some questions. So that's why we're here to help you answer those questions. I am so excited.

You might say it's electrifying. Oh, you could say that, yeah. I will. Okay, so with electric vehicles, of course, comes some specific needs that your tenant might have. Could you talk us through what that might be? Like, what does the average person need in order to have an electric vehicle? Sure. So with your typical gas car, it's not feasible to put a gas station in at your rental.

It would be great if everyone had their own private gas pump that they could just put in their garage. but you can't do that. The cool thing with electric vehicles is you actually can. So that comes in the form of a charger. You have an EV charger that you could install. They take different shapes. A lot of people may have seen, you know, Tesla chargers where there's just a bank of them or Electrify America is another popular one.

Those are the ones that glow green, typically like a Walmart or a grocery store parking lot. And so landlords putting in electric vehicle chargers could be a really nice amenity to provide. for their tenants. I love that. It sounds like something that you might find more often at a multifamily than a single-family rental. Does that feel about Ray?

It depends. I think that it would look different at a multifamily. And in fact, Colorado has a lot of new laws pertaining to EVs. One of them is that new multifamily housing actually has to have some form of EV charger in or around the facility. And again, that can take a lot of different forms. But, yeah, you can do it at a single family as well. And so that would typically be a charger installed in your garage or near a parking place or carports or kind of whatever the setup is like. Interesting.

Is it safe? Yes. Yes, they are. There has been some bad press about electric vehicles in general bursting into flames, which obviously you never want to happen. You may remember there have also been stories of smartphones bursting into flames based on their charger or the battery involved. And thankfully, we've kind of moved past that. You don't really hear about iPhones bursting into flames anymore. So I think it's a matter of time until EVs can overcome that bad press.

But in general, they are safer than gas cars. According to Drive Electric Colorado, there's actually five EV fires per billion miles driven. Wow. Versus gas cars 55 fires per billion miles driven. So looking at that, they're quite a bit safer. Now, yes, there are some, I guess, things to point out with that. stat, which is there's a lot more gas cars on the road. They drive a lot more miles. But at the end of the day, gas is flammable, and that's what's powering your gas car versus electric vehicles. You know,

it's a battery that you're charging. Okay. So is it a one-size-fits-all situation, or are there different types of chargers? There are lots of different types. And this is where it gets a little confusing. So I will simplify it. So we have level one chargers. Those are ones that can be plugged into your normal wall outlet, the one that you have in your house. So it's a 120-volt outlet. Those can be used to charge an electric vehicle. They take a very long time. We're talking like upwards of, you know, 12 hours. But if you're charging overnight, that's a pretty good solution for giving you a full charge, or at least most of a full charge. And then there are level two chargers which work off of a 240-volt outlet. So those, you know, if you already have a 240-volt

outlet, that would be the sort of weird looking one that you plug like your dryer into or your oven. Yeah. So if you already have one of those in your garage or around the parking area, then you're good to go. Because what tenants can do is they can buy their own charger. There's not really a reason for you to supply this. They can buy their own charger, install it there, plug it into that. And then the fastest chargers available right now are DC fast chargers. Those are what you see with like Tesla or Electrify America, as I mentioned. Those will give you a full charge in about 30 to 50 minutes, depending on your car. And those are great, but those are also not what landlords are going to be putting in.

Those require their own, it's a much heavier install. Sure. Sure. That makes sense. Okay. So if I'm a landlord and a tenant approaches me saying, hey, I have an electric car. I'd really like to have a charging station. How should I handle that situation?

Yeah. I think first talking with them about what their expectations are, how they intend to use it. You know, if they are just looking for, can I plug something in and charge my car overnight, or if it's sitting idle for like a full day or something, then your level one charger, which probably they got one of those chargers when they bought that car, that will be fine. They can run it on an extension cord. They could use a normal outlet. If they're looking for a level two charge, which is that sort of middle ground,

then they're probably asking for like a 240-volt plug. You can also hardwire these chargers if you so desire. I would say in most cases that probably doesn't make sense for the landlord unless they just really want to project a very, you know, EV positive vibe for their rental. Yeah. And the hard wire would work essentially the same way as installing a 240-bolt. Okay.

That sounds pretty doable, all things considered. Is this something that you think a landlord can, handle on their own if it is a 240 fault or is it a situation where you'd want to bring someone into hardwire it? You could do it on your own. I mean, it's, it is, you know, installing a new breaker into your electrical panel. So if that scares you, don't do it. I installed one.

It wasn't terribly difficult, you know, you just put it in. You run your cable. Make sure you have the right cable. Make sure all the plugging plug in everything is up to code, obviously. If that does scare you, though, you can hire. electricians. This is becoming a very common thing for electricians to handle. And actually, if you do hire somebody to install it, you should look into rebates in your area because there's a lot of state or a city or county or even your electric utility company may offer a rebate that goes towards this

install. Wow, that's really good advice. Okay, so we've handled it from an installation perspective. What would you advise landlords maybe add to their lease in order to really protect themselves in this kind of situation. Yeah, so there's a number of things. If your tenant is charging regularly at the rental, the electricity bill will go up. Yeah. So how much it goes up? That depends on a lot of factors.

Obviously, the cost of electricity in your area, how often they're charging, all of these things, right? But on average, it might be about $60 a month that it's going up by. So not an insignificant amount. The thing that EV drivers like to point out is that. that's still less than you would probably pay for gas. So that's nice. But for the landlord themselves, it's not something they should necessarily be paying.

Sure. So if the tenant covers electricity and they're the one that's going to be charging the car there, then great. They know they have an added expense. They're doing something to, you know, lead to that expense and they've got the bill covered. If they're not paying the utility, then that could be a conversation you could have with your tenant on like, maybe we switch the utility over to your name since you're going to be, you know, making it spike potentially. Yeah.

Or maybe just adjusting rent at that point to sort of offset that. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. I might also suggest putting in some rules about usage, especially if it is a situation where there's a multifamily property. Do you have any thoughts about what those rules could be or have you seen anything about that kind of going haywire? Yeah.

If you go to any of these public EV chargers, you'll notice signs that say, well, first of all, I say EV charging only. If another car parks there, then an EV can't use it. That's annoying. But the other thing is that they have laws around how long you can sit there idle. So Electrify America, for example, if you charge and you have a full charge, they give you a 10-minute grace period before they start charging you for just sitting there. And the point is that somebody else needs to pull in to be able to use it.

So if you're not using it, get out of here. So that's something that you could put into place is maybe if it's, especially if it's a multifamily, if there's a really busy parking situation to make sure it's only EVs that are parking wherever the charger is. And then having some kind of agreed upon understanding of, you know, you can't sit here all day, especially if you're not charging. Like some people will treat it as just an EV dedicated parking place, whether they're charging or not. And so you want to make sure you don't have anybody doing that. Something else to consider is putting in your lease how they should clean up the charger when they leave it.

Because some of these cables, they can be as long as like 24 feet. And they're big cables. They're large. They're definitely a tripping hazard if they're just kind of left all over the place. Not to mention, you know, if there's some kind of flooding or heavy rain and this thing's on the ground, it could be damaged. So you want to put some rules in place that everyone agrees to that when not in use, you're going to put it back. on the handle, you're going to tidy things up, so people aren't tripping all over the place. I mean, all very important things. If someone has an active lease that they do not have

EV information in, how would you recommend that they add it? Yeah, you could put that in as a lease addendum. And, you know, some people are doing this proactively, whether their tenant has an EV or not, just to kind of future proof it. It's another nice amenity to include where if somebody is looking for a rental and they have an EV. knowing that the place they're going to be living has an EV charger on site, that's a pretty big perk. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, throw that in your marketing, throw it in your listing. People will be excited about it, especially if they are in this electric vehicle cohort as you are. Yeah. Is there anything that people should know about buying the safest charger possible or a way to feel a lot of peace of mind when they plug everything in? Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of EV chargers out there. A lot of them are made by companies you may have never heard of. So it's kind of hard to shop for.

My suggestion would be to look for one that is UL certified. So UL certification, that applies to most electronics, if not all. It's basically just, it means that it's been tested by people who know a lot more about electronics than I do. So they've tested these things, they've made sure that from normal use of this thing being plugged in and used in its intended way, that it's not going to burst into flames. That's a plus. That's a plus. Always a plus.

And then there's something else that people can install. people can install near wherever the car is being charged, is they can put in a heat detector. So this, it kind of looks like a smoke alarm. It sort of works like a smoke alarm. But basically, it just tests the ambient temperature. And if it detects that there's a rapid rise in temperature, like from a fire, then it will go off.

So that's a nice kind of added safety feature. Obviously, it will only go off when there is a fire. But at least you would know. and be able to react. Wonderful. OK, so there are plenty of ways to make this as safe as possible and as accessible as possible. And it opens up a nice opportunity

to market your rental in a new way with a new amenity. So thank you for sharing all this information today, Jonathan. It has been electrifying. If you have any fun electric puns, or if you have an electric vehicle charging station at your rental, please tell us about it in the comments below. Don't forget to subscribe. TurboTenant is the all-in-one platform for landlords to manage their rental properties.

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