Gone are the days when shopping for — or selling — a home included just seeing if there was a place to park, be it a garage, driveway or owner parking in an apartment building.
Now that equation includes electrical outlets.
This is especially true if you’re looking to live in a condo or apartment that’s part of a complex. Perhaps when the complex was built there were no electric cars on the street and it didn’t really matter whether there was a place to plug in or not.
With the B.C. government’s extension of its electric vehicle program, there’s an increased incentive for drivers to go electric and be more environmentally correct. But the subsidies are only for vehicles that can be plugged into an outlet or charging station. If you are moving into a detached house or duplex, that’s almost certainly not a problem. If you’re planning to move into a townhouse or apartment, it probably is a problem.
Over the next two decades, B.C. expects all light-duty cars and trucks to have zero emissions. Conventional hybrid vehicles don’t meet that standard and electric vehicles do.
It is possible to keep your vehicle charged when you’re not at home, but is it desirable? Home charging is likely to become more important than ever, so home shopping will take on a different twist as the years go by, and buildings will be more appealing if they have a charging infrastructure.