Apartment communities try to appeal to eco-conscious residents by installing electric-car charging stations.
While it is rare to spot an electric car at most apartment communities, some management companies are unveiling (and marketing) charging stations in anticipation of these vehicles’ potential growing popularity.
Broadstone Grand Avenue, a 280-unit gated community in Austin, Texas, managed by Alliance Residential Company, installed an electric-vehicle charging station in March. The first of its kind at an Austin apartment community, the ChargePoint station is available at no charge (for the time being) to residents 24/7 and to the public during leasing office hours.
Broadstone Grand Avenue’s complimentary use of the station to both residents and the public is part of the introductory phase of its marketing campaign. Once that ends, Alliance Regional Manager Joanna Hackney says the company will decide on an appropriate pricing structure.
The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf are two of the most popular versions of electric cars on U.S. roads. Each uses a distinct charging system based on voltage. Both systems are incorporated in Broadstone Grand Avenue’s station, manufactured by Coulomb Technologies.
Broadstone Grand Avenue uses the Coulomb system to monitor energy consumption, helping to gauge the popularity of this new amenity. Once Broadstone Grand Avenue begins to charge its renters and the general public for using the system, drivers must sign up for a ChargePass card, which is connected to a credit card and is swiped at stations.
Hackney, who oversees five communities in Austin, including Broadstone Grand Avenue, says an estimated 40 million plug-in electric vehicles will be on the road by 2030. “With the recent release of the Leaf and Volt, we anticipate that many of these vehicle owners will also be apartment renters,” Hackney says. “By installing the station, we’re catering to residents who aren’t able to charge their cars at home unless they buy and install their own station.”
Prospective residents who own electric cars might find renting at a community with a charging station more financially attractive than buying a home and paying approximately $2,000 to install a charging station in a home garage.
Electric car owners who don’t have a charging station in their home garage must rely on stations installed by local businesses. Power supplier NRG Energy Inc., for example, plans to install 70 stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area and an additional 50 in Houston by the end of next year. Car owners must pay to use them.
Hackney is working on several cross-marketing opportunities with local Chevrolet and Nissan dealerships to publicize the recent release of the Volt and Leaf and promote Broadstone Grand Avenue’s new charging station.
She says the company also has begun scheduling appointments to meet with local employers, businesses and retailers to introduce the community’s car charge station and provide literature on electric vehicle ownership to local employees and customers. “The green movement in Austin grows stronger every day, and we plan to participate in future sustainability-minded community events to promote the station even more,” Hackney adds.
Equity Residential installed an electric-car charging station this year on the first level of the parking garage at 425 Mass, which opened in April 2010 and is one of its newest Washington, D.C., communities. Residents and local media were invited to an introductory event that featured a free test drive of a Tesla Roadster electric car.
“Turnout for the event exceeded our expectations and created a great buzz around our green initiatives,” says General Manager Adam Schultz. “We had members of the press present and the story was picked up by a few local stations.”
Though none of 425 Mass’s residents currently own an electric car, Schultz says his residents expressed excitement about the availability and convenience of having such stations at the apartment community.
Equity recently unveiled charging stations at communities in Cambridge, Mass., and Seattle, Shultz says, and plans to install stations in four other markets sometime this year.
The car-charging stations are particularly attractive for Equity because they are made available to the communities at no expense. The stations are installed, managed and maintained by Car Charging Inc., which collects usage fees directly from the residents through a membership account card or any credit card with a chip in it. Equity is reimbursed for the station’s electricity cost and receives a portion of the revenue from the station.
Lauren Boston is NAA’s Staff Writer. She can be reached at lauren@naahq.org or 703/797-0678.