Hong Kong’s commercial developers must step up to charge up as city’s growing EV fleet leaves a shortfall in charging stations, CBRE says

Hong Kong is likely to face a severe shortage of electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities in the next 15 years or so, according to a study by CBRE. And with many residential buildings unfit to house their own chargers, commercial real estate in the city will need to step up and cover the deficit.

Given that electric cars are an essential component of Hong Kong’s efforts to be carbon-neutral by 2050, the property consultancy said an estimated shortage of about 100,000 charging points in 2035 and 170,000 by 2040 presents opportunities for shopping malls and office buildings to install chargers on their premises.

As of September, there were an estimated 40,000 EV facilities in the city – equivalent to 6 per cent of parking spaces, according to CBRE. Only a fifth of them are accessible to the public.

Major business clusters such as Central, Western and Yau Tsim Mong account for less than 10 per cent of public chargers, while Kowloon East has about 20 per cent, the most across the city.

“The coming years will see commercial buildings with EV chargers become increasingly sought-after by occupiers and attract high visitor footfall,” said CBRE. “Office car parks are suitable for slow charging as white-collar workers leave their cars for the duration of the day. Shopping malls, on the other hand, are recommended to install both medium and fast chargers, balancing shoppers’ time management needs.