Broader U.S. electric vehicle (EV) adoption will demand significantly upgraded home-charging capacity, as about 80% of EV charging is done at home. Many older, non-renovated American homes, however, lack the capacity to accommodate Level 2 charging and other electrification technologies, and will need to have their electrical panels upgraded or implement load-shedding technology to do so, according to a customer survey from Qmerit.

Qmerit says such older homes are more concentrated in the Northeast, Midwest and West. The Northeast leads the pack with the highest concentration of older homes. Conversely, newer homes – those more ready to accommodate faster chargers – tend to be in the South.

In the Northeast, 69% of homes were built before 2000, 60% in the Midwest, and about 59% in the West. Just 40% of homes in the South were built before 2000.

The data was derived from the Qmerit EV Home Charging Assessment, surveying over 60,000 customers in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Qmerit’s newly established Electrification Institute released the data.