WITH fuel prices rising in South Africa, and across the world, motoring performance and value for money are being re-evaluated.
In the electric car market, AutoTrader, South Africa’s largest online automotive marketplace, is seeing a startling shift in the car-buying mindset.
A new poll conducted by the company shows the desire for electric is rising, and so too is the need for a new kind of home.
“We conducted a poll in September this year, which showed that a surprising 55% of South African motorists would like to buy an electric car,” said to George Mienie, AutoTrader CEO.
“This is a massive shift, which has implications for all sorts of connected industries, including the property market.”
“It’s encouraging to note that relatively little in the home would need to change,” points out Mienie.
“Electric cars already have built-in converters, meaning they can be re-charged by simply plugging into a home plug point”.
One useful addition to a garage charging point would be a DC converter, which would allow more rapid charging.
“We have definitely felt echoes of the desire for ‘electric’ in the architectural world,” says Tracy Levinson, founder of LevEco Architects, who specialise in eco-friendly home design.
“For an existing home, all that may be required is to move your plug points to the side of the garage walls from the traditional back, for easy plug in. And if you’re doing a new build, you might like to allocate additional space for a DC charger.”
African motorists are seeing that it’s becoming far easier to own and run an electric vehicle and this is part of the shift, says Mienie.
“Today there is an expanding charging network at dealers, shopping centres and office blocks.
“BMW and Nissan are working together and I’m sure that other car companies, once they have brought in their own models, will make charging stations more widely available. Easy charging access will be key to a successful electric vehicle roll out.”
It seems an electric vehicle future, and with it an electric vehicle home, could be just around the corner. – PROPERTY24
