For three years, I owned a Rivian R1T. For two, an Audi e-tron GT. Every night I'd plug them in, and by morning both were fully charged. It was one of the genuine pleasures of EV ownership: waking up to a full tank every day, without ever stopping at a station. I've since sold both and moved to Italy. But I owned them while living in a house. And that changes everything.

About 80% of all EV charging in the United States happens at home, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Now consider that roughly 44 million American households are renters, many living in multi-unit buildings where a personal charger simply isn't an option. You don't own the electrical panel. You don't own the parking lot. For years this has been framed as a dealbreaker for mainstream EV adoption. I'd argue the opposite. It's one of the most solvable problems in the energy transition, and a growing number of states are already proving it.

The Real Barrier Isn't Technology. It's Access.

A standard Level 2 charger typically costs $500 to $1,500 installed. For a building owner with 50 parking spaces, that's a significant upfront investment where the financial benefit flows largely to tenants rather than the landlord. That misalignment of incentives has kept millions of parking spaces charger-free, especially in older urban buildings where electrical upgrades can be complex. It's not malice. It's math, and the math is starting to change.

States That Are Getting It Right

California has been the most aggressive. Under its "Right to Charge" law, tenants in most multi-unit dwellings can install EV charging equipment at their own expense, and landlords cannot unreasonably deny that request. The California Energy Commission has also made tens of millions in grants available targeting multi-unit and disadvantaged communities. (Source: California Energy Commission, Clean Transportation Program.)

Colorado passed similar Right to Charge protections in 2021, and went further by launching the EVCO program, which channels funding directly to charging infrastructure in underserved communities. The state's Public Utilities Commission has also pushed utilities to create rate structures that make building-owner-operated charging a revenue-generating amenity rather than a cost. (Source: Colorado Energy Office, EV Infrastructure Programs.)

New York offers up to $500 on home charger purchases through its Drive Clean Rebate, while the Charge Ready NY initiative funds Level 2 charging in multi-unit buildings. New York City has also begun requiring new construction to wire for future charging even if equipment isn't installed on day one. That "EV-ready" approach is increasingly recognized as the most cost-effective path forward. (Source: NYSERDA, Charge Ready NY Program.)

Washington State has required a meaningful share of parking spaces in new multi-family construction to be EV-ready since 2021. The logic is simple: wiring during construction costs a fraction of retrofitting later. (Source: Washington State Department of Commerce, Clean Energy Fund.)

The Federal Layer

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $7.5 billion for EV charging infrastructure, with provisions for urban and community charging through the NEVI program. (Source: Federal Highway Administration, NEVI Program.)

The IRS currently offers a tax credit of up to 30% on EV charger installation costs under the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit, which applies to apartment building owners. This credit is now set to expire on June 30, 2026, following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so building owners have a shrinking window to act. (Source: IRS Form 8911; One Big Beautiful Bill Act, P.L. 119-21.) State-level incentives remain unaffected, which is exactly why the state-driven approaches above matter so much.

The Outlook Is Genuinely Optimistic

A 2022 study in Nature Energy found EV adoption rates are significantly lower among renters than homeowners, even after controlling for income. The barrier isn't desire. It's access to charging. Fix the access, and you remove one of the most stubborn obstacles to mainstream adoption.

The economics are already shifting. Charging is increasingly a selling point for apartment buildings in competitive rental markets. Battery costs have fallen more than 90% over the past decade, according to BloombergNEF. The question for apartment dwellers is no longer if this technology will reach them. It's how quickly the infrastructure can be built to serve them.

The states leading on this are showing the answer can be: sooner than you think.