Vauxhall and Zoopla help drivers find homes with EV charging access

Vauxhall has teamed up with property website Zoopla to help drivers find electric vehicle (EV) charging close to homes on the market. 

Visitors to the Zoopla website and app can now filter property listings to only show those with a home EV charger. They can also locate the closest public charging point to an individual property using map and location data provided by Octopus Electroverse.

Zoopla will also display information on the distance between a home and nearest public charging point across property listings on its website and app – similar to how  it currently displays information regarding the closest schools and train stations. 

This comes following new Vauxhall research which reveals 40% of UK drivers said proximity to EV charging will be an influential factor for them when they next move house. One-third (33%) said that a lack of accessible EV charging would actually deter them from moving into a specific property – a figure that rises to 84% of electric vehicle drivers. 

More than half of respondents (54%) to Vauxhall’s research said they would find it useful if property websites showed the proximity of the nearest on-street EV charging points for individual listings. Average UK homeowners stay in their property for around 17 years, so the homes being purchased today will take buyers well beyond the introduction of the forthcoming ban of new petrol and diesel car sales in 2030 for the vast majority of movers.

The partnership between Vauxhall and Zoopla is part of Vauxhall’s Electric Streets of Britain campaign, which was first introduced in 2023. It has seen Vauxhall work with leading charging operators char.gy, Connected Kerb and SureCharge, to accelerate on-street charging infrastructure for EV drivers across the country. For the 40% of UK households without a driveway,3 access to public charging infrastructure is critical for them to join the UK’s electrification journey.

Through Electric Streets of Britain, a national database has been established so UK motorists who want to have on-street residential EV chargers installed near them can register their need. This information is then passed on to local authorities in order to help inform decisions of where to allocate resources to install new chargers. So far, over 12,000 streets nationwide have been identified as needing on-street charging at electricstreets.co.uk.

Steve Catlin, Managing Director, Vauxhall, said: “Moving house is one of the biggest decisions most of us make in our lifetime, and anyone who’s done it knows how much effort can go into finding the perfect home. As EVs become an even more common sight on our roads, more and more people will be prioritising charging access when thinking about where to live. 

“Vauxhall is absolutely committed to electrifying Britain, so, as a leader in the property industry, Zoopla was the perfect partner to help drivers find a new home that will allow them to charge EVs with ease. Whether charging at home or on-street, we hope the features we have worked with Zoopla to introduce go some way to make decisions around buying and renting a new home that little bit easier for millions across the country.”