The Expert Podcast

Electric vehicles are coming on strong. New data from the automotive industry shows that 10 percent of new vehicles sold in 2022 were EVs. It's a big deal. It's getting to be more of a critical mass. When it's one or two percent, that's kind of a very slim margin—almost a rounding error for the car market. Now that you're at 10 percent—and presumably 2023 will be higher—electric vehicles are a significant portion of the new cars sold.

What does that mean for you, even if you don't have an electric vehicle? It's going to change some of the automotive driving experiences and resources in the marketplace. For example, you might see more charging stations at gas stations. Shell Oil has bought up an EV charging company for $169 million. What does that tell you? They may be putting some of these charging stations at gas stations.

Another thing you might want to do is, anytime you're upgrading something at your house that requires electrical work, go ahead and put a charger in your garage—even if you don't have an electric vehicle. Many times, the cost of adding an EV charging circuit (a 220 circuit) is the labor. If you already have an electrician there, or if you're already moving something around in your garage, adding that charging port—it's really just a plug—is very minor. The cost of the hardware is very minimal. You can buy five or six feet of number two wire, the 220 plug, and a bracket for less than $100. The hard part is the labor of hooking it up to your breaker box or service box.

If you have an electrician out already and have all the parts, you can even mount it on the wall, run the wire, and just leave it dangling. You might be able to have that done cheaply. At some point, you're going to need it, right? At some point, you'll have an electric vehicle—or even if you sell your house before you buy one, the next buyer is going to have one. Having that charger there might be an advantage.

The other thing you can do is start to look at your usage and your trips. Where are the charging stations? How many miles are you driving? What range do you need? Electric vehicles are increasing dramatically—look, 10 percent of the market is a big deal. If you have gasoline vehicles, or both of your vehicles are gasoline, starting to anticipate how electric vehicles are going to impact your life is an important thing to do.

It might help you decide where you're going to live, what activities you're going to partake in, and even your employment to make sure that it matches the EV future, where gasoline vehicles are less common and even in the minority.