The popularity of electric vehicles changes the demand for home purchases: community charging facilities become a new indicator for house inspections

As electric vehicles become more and more popular, the ability to charge them in the community has become a new need for many home buyers.

In August this year, Taiwan's new car market was affected by the Folklore Month. The overall number of listings dropped to 29,222, a decrease of 24.4% from July and a year-on-year decrease of 0.8%. However, the electric car market remains hot. As electric cars gradually enter ordinary households, "can the home be charged" has begun to extend from a car use issue to a new indicator for home buyers to evaluate housing conditions.

21st Century Real Estate Observation found that in the past, home buyers mostly prioritized location, square footage, lighting, management quality, and parking spaces when choosing a home. Now, for consumers who already own electric vehicles, are waiting for delivery, or even expect to switch their next vehicle to an electric vehicle, whether the parking space has charging conditions has gradually become a factor that cannot be ignored when viewing a house.

However, "there is a parking space" does not mean "there must be a charging pile". Charging equipment also involves conditions such as community power supply capacity, line and pipe trough configuration, meter location, construction routes, as well as the use of public space and management committee regulations. In particular, most medieval communities were built in an era when electric vehicles were not yet popular. Even if residents have installation needs, they may face problems such as insufficient power capacity, difficulties in piping configuration, or the community has not yet established relevant management systems.

21st Century Real Estate recommends that homebuyers who are in need of electric vehicles or plan to replace their vehicles in the future can include charging conditions in their assessment in advance when viewing the house, instead of asking whether construction can be done after moving in. In addition to confirming the parking space location, rights type and cable routing, you can also learn more about whether residents in the community have installed charging equipment, whether the management committee has established application procedures and construction specifications, and whether the existing power capacity of the community can accommodate more residents.

In recent years, in the planning of new residences, it is increasingly common to reserve space for pipelines and equipment required for electric vehicle charging. Some communities have also introduced EMS smart power management systems, hoping to improve overall power consumption efficiency through power dispatch and load management. However, 21st Century Real Estate reminds that "reservation" does not mean that the installation will be successful after moving in. The actual situation still depends on the community's power conditions, management regulations and the consensus of residents.

For medieval communities that did not reserve complete charging equipment in the early days, it may not be possible to completely redo the power system. Sun Ruifan, a franchisee of 21st Century Real Estate Taoyuan Literature Store, shared that when some medieval buildings have limited budgets and cannot carry out large-scale power equipment upgrades at one time, slow charging equipment can be used with the EMS smart power management system through discussions at separate owner meetings, and load management can be carried out according to the power capacity available to the community as a more flexible compromise.

Sun Ruifan said that in practical cases, the cost of slow charging equipment and basic installation may start from tens of thousands of yuan, and charging rates vary according to each community's EMS plan, management method and related costs; what really needs to be dealt with is often not just the equipment cost, but whether the community has a set of management rules that can be implemented in the long term. For example, if the equipment and construction costs are borne by individual residents, they should still first confirm whether the pipeline needs to pass through the community's shared space; if it involves the use of public space, equipment management or additional charges, it is necessary to further confirm the community's regulations and distinguish the resolution methods of the owners' meeting.

In other words, when electric vehicles enter collective housing, charging is no longer just a device issue for a single household, but has gradually become a new issue for the community to jointly manage.

In addition to hardware, community consensus may also be the key to whether charging equipment can be implemented. Sun Ruifan pointed out that even if some new communities already have EMS, reserved pipe troughs and related charging conditions, in practice there may still be different opinions due to residents' concerns about the safety of electric vehicles.

Especially when news about electric vehicle accidents or fires attracts attention, some residents may even oppose basement charging and further advocate restricting electric vehicles from entering underground parking lots, turning the original equipment issue into an issue for community communication and consensus formation.

Dong Jialing, deputy manager of the 21st Century Real Estate Planning and Research Office, believes that when home buyers evaluate so-called "electric vehicle-friendly housing" in the future, they should not just look at whether the project is marked with "reserved charging piles" or "introduction of EMS." They should also understand whether the management committee has clear management methods, whether the community has actual installation cases, and whether there is a clear power distribution, cost burden, and equipment management mechanism when charging demand increases.

Dong Jialing pointed out that for home buyers, the real value is not necessarily a charging pile that has been installed, but a community with reasonable power planning, clear management systems, and the ability to continue to expand as the needs of residents increase. Even if you are not currently driving an electric car, your home will often be owned and used for more than ten years, but your family's means of transportation may change rapidly the next time you change your car. Therefore, from the perspective of long-term living, charging infrastructure and energy flexibility are worthy of being included in the performance evaluation of your home, just like lighting, storage, network pipelines, and parking space.

In the past, homebuyers focused on "whether there is a parking space", but today they are starting to ask "whether the parking space can be charged." The transformation of transportation energy is gradually changing the definition of residential conditions. For consumers looking at houses, instead of just asking "whether there are charging piles here," they should further understand whether the community has the corresponding power configuration, management system, and consensus among residents. These conditions will also become important indicators for measuring electric vehicle-friendly housing and living quality in the future.