Albuquerque wrote EV charging into its parking rules — and it lands on new condo and townhouse projects
Albuquerque wrote EV charging into its parking rules — and it lands on new condo and townhouse projects
2026-09-15 · New Mexico · Regulation
Albuquerque's zoning code now requires electric vehicle infrastructure in new residential development, and the resulting equipment becomes a common element the association has to meter, maintain and fund.1
What the ordinance requires
Section 14-16-5-5(C)(9) of the Integrated Development Ordinance, as adopted in the 2025 Update effective April 20, 2026:
“(a) When more than 200 off-street parking spaces are constructed, at least 5 percent of the vehicle parking spaces shall include electric vehicle charging stations installed with a rating of 240 volts or higher.”
“(b) All new townhouse developments containing more than 6 dwelling units shall provide at least 1 parking space that is EV capable per dwelling unit.”
“(c) All new multi-family residential developments or new mixed-use developments containing more than 100 dwelling units shall meet both of the following requirements. 1. At least 1 electric vehicle (EV) charging station installed with a rating of 240 volts or higher shall be provided for every 20 dwelling units. 2. At least 1 EV capable parking space shall be provided for every 4 dwelling units.”
Two different obligations
“EV capable” and “charging station installed” are not the same requirement and they produce different costs. EV-capable means the conduit, panel capacity and raceway are there for a future installation. An installed 240-volt station is operating equipment.
A townhouse development of more than six units gets capability per dwelling. A multi-family development of more than 100 units gets both — installed stations at one per twenty units, and capability at one per four.
Why this is an association problem from day one
The equipment sits in parking areas that are almost always common elements. That produces four questions a declaration drafted before this requirement existed does not answer.
Who pays for the electricity? A charging station on a common-area meter draws power the whole membership funds, for the benefit of the owners who use it. Unless the station is separately metered or the association bills usage, charging is being cross-subsidised by owners who do not drive electric cars.
Who maintains it? Charging equipment has a service life materially shorter than the parking structure around it. It is a reserve component, and a reserve study prepared without it will understate the funding requirement.
Who allocates access? One station per twenty units is a scarce resource. Whether it is first-come, time-limited, assigned or reservable is a rules question the board will face, and the fairest time to answer it is before anyone has established a habit.
What happens when an owner wants their own? Capability at one space per four dwelling units means three-quarters of owners in a new multi-family project do not have a capable space. An owner in that position will ask the association to let them install charging in a common-element space, and the declaration is where the answer has to come from.
Where this belongs in the budget
In the reserve study, as a component with its own replacement cycle and cost. That matters more this year than last: from January 4, 2027 a conventional lender applying a Full Review needs to see a replacement reserve allocation of at least 15 percent of annual budgeted assessment income, or a reserve study — not funded on the baseline method — whose highest recommended allocation the budget carries.
An association with charging infrastructure it has never put in the study has understated its reserve requirement in the same year the standard for that requirement rose.
The developer's choices become the association's obligations
This is the general pattern worth recognising. A declarant designs to the code in force at build-out, the declaration memorialises what was built, and the association inherits the maintenance obligation permanently. EV infrastructure is simply the newest instance.
For a board reviewing a declaration at turnover, the questions are: which common elements exist because the ordinance required them, what do they cost to run and replace, and does the budget the developer handed over reflect that?
The related solar point
The same code contains a provision that cuts the other way and is worth knowing alongside this one. Section 14-16-1-9(C) bars the City from approving “any subdivision application for property on which there are any deed restrictions, covenants, or binding agreements prohibiting solar collectors from being installed on buildings or erected on the project site.”
Albuquerque separately maintains a solar-rights permit mechanism under which an owner may record protected solar rights with the county clerk — a recorded interest that an architectural committee cannot approve away afterwards.
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