Retailers Are Building EV Charging Networks on Their Own Parking Lots — And It's Reshaping Commercial Property Value

Ons siening

This is a US-market story, but South African commercial landlords, retail property managers, and shopping centre developers should pay close attention — because the underlying logic translates directly. SA's EV adoption is still early-stage, but it is moving. Municipalities like Cape Town and Johannesburg are expanding public charging infrastructure, and brands like Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, and Volvo are growing their local EV footprints. The question for SA property owners is not "if" but "when" to treat EV charging as standard amenity infrastructure — much like fibre connectivity or backup power became non-negotiable after load-shedding. For commercial landlords and retail property developers, the key takeaways are: first, charging infrastructure can be financed over time rather than as heavy upfront capex — a model that could work well in SA's current high-interest-rate environment. Second, owning the charging experience (rather than leasing space to a third party like GridCars or Charge.Cars) gives landlords direct access to tenant and shopper behaviour data — valuable under POPIA-compliant frameworks. Third, EV-ready parking is increasingly a lease negotiation point for premium retail and office tenants. Buyers and tenants evaluating commercial or mixed-use properties should start asking: does this building have EV charging, and who controls it?