Formerly “Green Vehicles” in LEED v4, this credit now encourages electric vehicles exclusively—no more hybrids or other efficient cars that burn conventional fuels. To earn this point, project teams need to install either electric-vehicle-charging stations in 5% of all spaces or electric-vehicle-charging infrastructure in 10% of all spaces.

For projects that provide lots of parking, this credit should be straightforward to implement. It may be more difficult for projects with limited parking to carve out space for charging stations.

What’s New in LEED v4.1

• The green vehicles credit in v4 is replaced with a new electric vehicles credit in 4.1.
• You can no longer earn credit for designating spots for green vehicles (i.e., no more complying via parking spaces for hybrids).
• Option 1: EV Chargers (Level 2 chargers) offers credit for 5% of parking spaces.
• Option 2: EV Ready: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (Raceway / Conduit) offers credit for 10% of parking spaces.

Should I upgrade?

It depends. If you were already planning to achieve credit for preferred parking under v4, you should probably stick with that plan. However, v4.1 encourages a practice that is more and more in demand—and will produce huge environmental benefits over the lifetime of your project—so it’s probably worth investing in. It’s even possible to achieve the credit just by adding the infrastructure for stations without necessarily installing them right now.