ARE ELECTRIC CAR GARAGES THE WAY OF THE FUTURE?

With the ever-rising costs of fuel prices, the thought of trading in your powerful gas-gussler for an eco-friendly electric car is becoming all the more enticing – and property developers are beginning to make this decision even more of a no-brainer.

As popularity and demand for electric vehicles in South Africa rise, so too will the demand for properties with built-in charging facilities for vehicles. In Amsterdam, almost every homeowner parks their cars at an electric parking spot. At Ikea in Vienna, the parking lot has plug points for electric cars, so you can park and charge your car while shopping. We are not quite there yet since only a few electric cars are currently on our roads. For now, the trend is likely to be adopted only by the wealthier or more environmentally conscious who live in upmarket developments and can afford to purchase the often more much more expensive electric-powered vehicles.

However, Grid Cars (an electric vehicle company leading South Africa’s Green Mobility Revolution) have already started discussions with some developers and many property management groups about including charge points in upmarket homes and at public facilities in the near future.

Depending on the brand and capabilities of the chargers (the chargers voltage normally range from around 16A - 32A dependant on the power capacity of the home), home installations can cost anything between R9,000 - R25,000. The actual electrical installation costs anything between R4,000 - R8,000. The variation in cost usually depends on the distance to the DB board and the extent of any civil work needed. Finding a home that already has built-in chargers will save homeowners a sizable amount of cash and will increase the value of a home once the demand for these vehicles aligns with global trends. That’s why many of the more upmarket housing developments are already beginning to construct homes with built-in charge stations in the garages.

As difficult as it is to imagine a day when our roads will be filled with electric vehicles, global trends forecast that this will one day be the way of the future. We predict that as this trend picks up locally, more and more houses will have built-in charging stations for electric vehicles.

* Advice sourced from Gerlinde Moser, Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Living operating within the Cape’s Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl.