Electric vehicles are coming to a charging point near you, and they are coming sooner than you think thanks to government, which says fossil fuel car sales will be phased out by 2035, and to consumer pressure.

Knight Frank have looked at what this means for UK real estate. These are the three key takeaways.

1. Workplaces: Your Tenants Will Like You

Charge points will be vital to encouraging tenants to renew leases and attract new occupiers, Knight Frank said. This matters a lot to business parks where commuter accessibility by car is vital to their survival. “Responding to occupiers’ needs demonstrates a receptive and committed landlord; improving tenant-landlord relationships and therefore the customer experience,” the Knight Frank report said. This probably means they are more likely to pay the rent.

2. Retail: EV Charging Could Help To Rescue Your Shopping Centre

EV charging is slow: BMW and Porsche, have created a 450 kilowatt prototype charger that can deliver a charge of up to 60 miles in only three minutes, but today few can do the job in less than 20 minutes. This means increased dwell-time of up to 50% at retail sites, which in turn means average increased spending of £80. As well as helping shopping centres, this could mean more spending opportunities at expanded motorway service stations.

In real-world trials in the U.S., ChargePoint partnered with RetailCo, and after nine months of the trial project, dwell times had increased to 72 minutes on average, 50 minutes greater than the previous average, and additional retail revenue at the trial site amounted to $56K per annum.

3. City Residential: You Can Taste The Difference

Thanks to innovations like an online tool launched by COPI in September 2019, air pollution disclosure is having an increasing impact on residential property desirability, and therefore, in time, will impact value. As buyers are able to see the comparative air quality of the location where they are considering buying a property, this will inform buyer decision-making and drive them away from areas with poor air quality. This behaviour will in turn push residential developers to invest more heavily in EV infrastructure within new developments. In short, it will smell sweeter in the neighbourhood of EV chargers.