In Southern California, homebuilder City Ventures is building a total of 190 Green Key homes designed to LEED-Gold standards, with solar arrays and complete with wiring for electric vehicle car chargers. The new homes, which include town homes and single-family detached homes, are running from the high $200,000s to about $500,000.

City Venture held an event at its 55-home development at Signal Hill, Calif., on Nov. 17 to show off the townhouses as well as their features.

“They’ve done really well. Of the 18 homes completed on Signal Hill, 13 are sold,” said Steve Fisher, a spokesperson for City Ventures.

The all-electric homes are designed to offset most of their energy costs with their solar arrays. Each homeowner’s individual solar arrays is incorporated into the home’s initial cost.

The homeowner’s energy bill is expected to range from $40 to $60 a month, according to Fisher. That’s considerably less than the up-to-$400 per month homeowners in California could spend on electricity on a 1,500- to 2,000-square-foot home.

When it’s rolled into a $1,800-a-month lease, it produces significant overall savings right away, he said.

The homes are also pre-wired with for EV chargers.

During the press conference, City Ventures hosted Nissan, which brought along a LEAF and an EV charger for demonstrations and test drives.

But, since there are a variety of EVs out that require different types of chargers, the homes are just prepared for the chargers.

“One of the cool things about buying one of these homes is it’s pretty well set up for EV,” Fisher said. “City ventures made it a standard feature.”

He likened EV chargers in homes to microwaves and electric garage door openers.

“Nobody thought they would be a standard feature. It’s the same way for an EV [charger],” he said.

The company is building a total of 190 homes in five locations in Southern California, and is focused on urban infill environments.

“City Ventures believes in urban infill. A lot of these are in neighborhoods going up in smaller cities near their downtown areas,” Fisher said.

Many of the home developments are being built in light industrial areas that previously housed warehouses.