Homeowners worried that no EV chargepoint could hit house prices
Homeowners without electric vehicle (EV) charge points attached to their property are worried that the value of their home will fall, according to a survey by Co-op Insurance.
The company asked their customers a range of questions related to EVs, which revealed that only 11% of households have a charge point but 31% of motorists expect they will purchase an EV within the next five years, which Co-op Insurance says suggests that it will be an increasingly desirable feature in property in the coming years.
39% said that properties without a chargepoint will be less valuable in the future.
Nick Ansley, head of Motor Insurance at Co-op said: ‘We can see that more and more of our policyholders are opting for an electric vehicle and so going forward a chargepoint will be a necessity that house buyers will be looking for when looking to buy a new home.
‘Installing a chargepoint at a property with a garage or a drive is fairly straightforward but it is not so easy for people living in an apartment or a terrace.’
In July, the Department for Transport (DfT) began consulting on plans that could make it law for EV charge points to be installed on every new UK home or office with a car parking space.
The UK would be the first government in the world to introduce the legislation, which it said will make charging easier, cheaper and more convenient for drivers.
Currently, the government provides a grant of £500 towards the cost of installing a charge point at home which they claim has seen over 100,000 domestic charge points installed to date.
They also say that to mitigate any negative impact on housing supply due to the cost of creating a new connection to the grid, they are proposing an exemption of £3600 per charging point, which is more than three times the average cost of an electrical capacity connection required for one charge point.
Earlier this month, a Welsh Assembly committee said all new social housing estates in Wales should be built with EV charge points.