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"Never" is a strong word. There's no fundamental reason why most or even all parking spaces couldn't be electrified even with today's technology, let alone in

"Never" is a strong word. There's no fundamental reason why most or even all parking spaces couldn't be electrified even with today's technology, let alone in the next decade or so.

dmix 4y ago
Good luck getting apartment buildings built >10yrs ago to invest in a major project like that. Which means most of them. Or do you mean your local/federal government is going to give massive subsidies to one of the largest infrastructure projects on private property in history? And get this done in a decade? My building was made in 2012 and I walked around counting the number of A/C outlets, there was about one for every 25-30 cars. And those are standard outlets.
- ulfw 4y ago
  Apartment owners will have no choice but to invest if they don't want apartment values to drop in the future. Time will solve those issues.
  - MrFoof 4y ago
    I think you vastly underestimate the number of small landlords, as well as smaller local PMCs -- particularly for older duplexes, triples, and tenements -- which will never spend the money. Go to places like Boston, where you will find plenty of apartments where your unit still might only have 60A electric service -- if not 40A (I've seen plenty)! You'll find complexes built of multiple 4-6 unit buildings, built 70+ years ago (if not 100+), with dozens of units like that. We're talking places with natural gas hotbox clothes dryers that were installed 30 years ago! Places still with lead paint. So long as someone is still renting them, they won't do anything.
  - MisterSandman 4y ago
    A friend is currently paying $1000/month for a single room in a 4bed2bath apartment with no parking and terribly maintained kitchens. In many places, landlords have no incentives to push for better QoL - electric charging is a pipe dream. This is in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, which is currently undergoing a severe housing crisis.
    - yellowapple 4y ago
      That in and of itself is a problem worth solving.
- yellowapple 4y ago
  > Good luck getting apartment buildings built >10yrs ago to invest in a major project like that. They seem to have little issue justifying major upgrades inside the apartments themselves. > Or do you mean your local/federal government is going to give massive subsidies to one of the largest infrastructure projects on private property in history? 1. Hyperbole much? There have surely been more expensive such projects, even before factoring in the resulting economies of scale. 2. I can think of far worse things on which we blow our tax dollars. > And those are standard outlets. If you're plugged in for 8+ hours a day, standard outlets are likely all you really need - especially if your destination also has electrified outlets.
toast0 4y ago
I mean, there's not really a reason it couldn't be done. But there are plenty of reasons it's unlikely to be done. Mostly cost of materials and cost of labor, but also difficulty of apportioning costs, lack of demand, and prioritizing other things. If I were a car company, I'd certainly make some EV only cars, Tesla showed there's a premium market there, and government policy is clearly focused. But I'd also be focused on making a lot of plug-in hybrids, they can fill a lot of niches and help pull up the cafe averages which provides design flexibility. Speaking of design flexibility, I'd have a team looking into popular vehicle shapes from 30 years ago that vanished to find out which ones fuel efficiency standards killed (small pickups for one, maybe others?) and see if EV or PHEV can move the numbers enough to bring those back. Certainly, some old shapes are dead because people don't want them anymore, but others died of unnatural causes.
- viraptor 4y ago
  > Mostly cost of materials and cost of labor, but also difficulty of apportioning costs, lack of demand, and prioritizing other things. I don't see those as issues. Cost - charge for energy + x% to cover costs. Apportioning costs - usage solves this. Lack of demand - do N spaces at a time leaving space for expansion depending on usage. Prioritising - if they want tenants in 20 years, it will become a natural priority.

"Never" is a strong word. There's no fundamental reason why most or even all parking spaces couldn't be electrified even with today's technology, let alone in the next decade or so.

dmix 4y ago

Good luck getting apartment buildings built >10yrs ago to invest in a major project like that. Which means most of them. Or do you mean your local/federal government is going to give massive subsidies to one of the largest infrastructure projects on private property in history? And get this done in a decade? My building was made in 2012 and I walked around counting the number of A/C outlets, there was about one for every 25-30 cars. And those are standard outlets.

ulfw 4y ago
Apartment owners will have no choice but to invest if they don't want apartment values to drop in the future. Time will solve those issues.
- MrFoof 4y ago
  I think you vastly underestimate the number of small landlords, as well as smaller local PMCs -- particularly for older duplexes, triples, and tenements -- which will never spend the money. Go to places like Boston, where you will find plenty of apartments where your unit still might only have 60A electric service -- if not 40A (I've seen plenty)! You'll find complexes built of multiple 4-6 unit buildings, built 70+ years ago (if not 100+), with dozens of units like that. We're talking places with natural gas hotbox clothes dryers that were installed 30 years ago! Places still with lead paint. So long as someone is still renting them, they won't do anything.
- MisterSandman 4y ago
  A friend is currently paying $1000/month for a single room in a 4bed2bath apartment with no parking and terribly maintained kitchens. In many places, landlords have no incentives to push for better QoL - electric charging is a pipe dream. This is in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, which is currently undergoing a severe housing crisis.
  - yellowapple 4y ago
    That in and of itself is a problem worth solving.
yellowapple 4y ago
> Good luck getting apartment buildings built >10yrs ago to invest in a major project like that. They seem to have little issue justifying major upgrades inside the apartments themselves. > Or do you mean your local/federal government is going to give massive subsidies to one of the largest infrastructure projects on private property in history? 1. Hyperbole much? There have surely been more expensive such projects, even before factoring in the resulting economies of scale. 2. I can think of far worse things on which we blow our tax dollars. > And those are standard outlets. If you're plugged in for 8+ hours a day, standard outlets are likely all you really need - especially if your destination also has electrified outlets.

toast0 4y ago

I mean, there's not really a reason it couldn't be done. But there are plenty of reasons it's unlikely to be done. Mostly cost of materials and cost of labor, but also difficulty of apportioning costs, lack of demand, and prioritizing other things. If I were a car company, I'd certainly make some EV only cars, Tesla showed there's a premium market there, and government policy is clearly focused. But I'd also be focused on making a lot of plug-in hybrids, they can fill a lot of niches and help pull up the cafe averages which provides design flexibility. Speaking of design flexibility, I'd have a team looking into popular vehicle shapes from 30 years ago that vanished to find out which ones fuel efficiency standards killed (small pickups for one, maybe others?) and see if EV or PHEV can move the numbers enough to bring those back. Certainly, some old shapes are dead because people don't want them anymore, but others died of unnatural causes.

viraptor 4y ago
> Mostly cost of materials and cost of labor, but also difficulty of apportioning costs, lack of demand, and prioritizing other things. I don't see those as issues. Cost - charge for energy + x% to cover costs. Apportioning costs - usage solves this. Lack of demand - do N spaces at a time leaving space for expansion depending on usage. Prioritising - if they want tenants in 20 years, it will become a natural priority.