Should All New Homes Be Pre-Wired to Charge Electric Vehicles?

The city council in Palo Alto, California, unanimously voted Monday night to make a small change to the city's building code that signals a big shift in the future of private transportation. Now, every new home constructed in town will have to come pre-wired with the ability to charge electric vehicles, a move designed to ensure the city that's home to cutting-edge car-maker Tesla will also be home to the EV industry's early-adopting consumers.

Charging infrastructure currently poses one of the biggest obstacles to broad EV use (besides, you know, designing the cars themselves). If you're the first tech-savvy guy in town with Google Glass, then you get to glimpse the future before all your friends, and they're probably jealous. If you're the first guy in town with an electric car – well, you likely can't drive it that far.