Amenities
The $1,500 EV-charger arbitrage
One amenity almost nobody has installed pays 25%.
+25% revenue
Based on
32,237 US 2BR listings
Key finding: Across 32,237 US two-bedroom listings, the small share of homes with an EV charger earned about 25% more revenue than those without one.
The short version
Almost nobody has installed an EV charger. Only 2.7% of active listings have one. The ones that do earn roughly 25% more, and the hardware runs about $1,500. That combination is rare: a cheap, addable amenity that still has almost no competition, because so few hosts have moved on it.
The data
The numbers here are simple, so we will keep them simple.
Only 2.7% of active listings have an EV charger.
Listings with a charger earn about 25% more revenue.
A typical installation costs around $1,500.
The finding comes from 32,237 US two-bedroom listings.
That is the whole picture. One amenity, one revenue gap, one install cost. We are not going to dress it up with breakdowns we did not measure.
Why it works
Guests who drive electric vehicles plan trips around charging. A listing with a charger is not just a nicer stay for them, it is a requirement met. That turns a filter checkbox into a booking. Because so few listings offer it, an EV driver searching your market often has very few options, and yours stands out. Scarcity is doing real work here. When an amenity is everywhere, it stops being a reason to book. When it is on 2.7% of listings, it still is.
What to actually do
Check whether your property has, or can easily get, a 240V circuit near a parking spot. That is what keeps installation near the $1,500 range.
Get a quote from a licensed electrician for a Level 2 charger, and confirm any permit or HOA requirements before you commit.
Once it is installed, add “EV charger” to your amenities on every channel and mention it in your listing photos and description so the filter and the search both pick it up.
The honest caveats
This is a correlation, not a proven cause. Listings that already have an EV charger may differ in other ways, such as newer construction, higher-end owners, or better locations, and some of the revenue gap could come from those factors rather than the charger itself. The study covers US two-bedroom listings only, so the exact number may look different for studios, large homes, or rural markets with few EV drivers. What the data shows clearly is a large revenue gap paired with very low adoption. What it does not do is guarantee that adding a charger will lift your specific property by exactly 25%.
Methodology
The finding is drawn from 32,237 US two-bedroom listings, using IntelliHost and Key Data sources in 2026. We compared revenue for listings that report an EV charger against those that do not, holding the property type to two-bedroom homes so the comparison stays like-for-like. Adoption was measured as the share of active listings reporting the amenity. The 25% figure is the observed revenue difference between the two groups, not an adjusted or modeled estimate.
Frequently asked questions
Does adding an EV charger actually increase rental revenue?
In this study, two-bedroom listings with an EV charger earned about 25% more than those without one. That is a correlation, so treat it as a strong signal rather than a promise, but the size of the gap is hard to ignore.
How much does it cost to install an EV charger for a short-term rental?
A typical installation runs around $1,500. The cost stays near that range when there is an accessible 240V circuit close to parking, and it can climb if new wiring or a panel upgrade is needed.
Why do so few rentals have an EV charger?
Only 2.7% of active listings have one. Most hosts simply have not moved on it yet, which is exactly why the amenity still stands out and why the opportunity is open right now.