New vs Existing Buildings: Which Societies Must Comply With the EV Mandate

The Mandate Reaches Both — Differently

Haryana's amendment applies to new and renovated buildings and extends to existing residential complexes. So in scope terms, both new launches and established societies are covered.

But scope and reality are different things. A new building can incorporate charging infrastructure into its design at low marginal cost, especially with the FAR exemption removing the saleable-area penalty. An existing building has to retrofit charging into a structure that was never designed for it, which is a fundamentally harder and more expensive undertaking.

So while the mandate reaches both, what it can realistically deliver differs sharply. A new project can be genuinely, comprehensively EV-ready. An existing society is on a retrofitting journey whose pace depends on its physical constraints, its finances and its management.

For a buyer, this means the same word, compliance — means very different things depending on which you are looking at. The diligence has to be tailored to each.

Buying New: Verify the Implementation

For a new launch or an under-construction project sanctioned under the mandate, EV readiness should be built in. Your task is to verify how well.

The questions are the ones set out across this series. Does the project meet or exceed the one-per-five ratio? Is it conduit-ready throughout. A charger can be added at an individual slot without a major retrofit? Is charging shared or can it be dedicated per slot? Has the electrical load been planned for real, growing demand, with provision for EV sub-metering? And where is the charging located, given the unresolved fire-safety position on enclosed basements?

A developer building to the mandate should answer these clearly. A good one will have exceeded the minimum because the FAR exemption made doing so nearly costless.

The failure mode to watch for in a new project is token compliance — the ratio met with a few visible chargers, the readiness thin, the load unplanned. That is a project that satisfied the code without solving the problem, and in a new build there is no excuse for it.

Buying Resale: Verify the Society's Approach

For a resale purchase in an existing society, the questions change from what was built to what the society is doing.

Established societies sit at very different points on the retrofitting journey. Some have installed charging, adopted a clear policy on resident installations, and planned for load. Others have done little. Some are caught in the fire-safety dispute that affected basement chargers across Gurgaon.

So ask the RWA directly: what EV charging does the society currently provide? What is its policy if a resident wants to install a charger at their own slot? Has the building's fire NOC been affected by the basement-charging dispute? What is the plan and timeline for meeting the mandate. How will the cost be allocated?

The answers vary enormously and they are entirely knowable before you buy. A society that has engaged constructively is a different proposition from one that is resisting or paralysed — and for an EV owner, that difference is central rather than peripheral.

Why Retrofitting Is Hard

It is worth understanding why existing societies struggle, because it explains the variation you will encounter and helps you judge whether a society's slow progress is negligence or genuine difficulty.

Load is the first constraint. A building's electrical infrastructure was sized for the demand of its era, and widespread EV charging can exceed it. Enhancing the supply is possible but costly. It involves the distribution utility as well as the society.

Cost allocation is the second. Who pays for shared retrofitting — all residents, only EV owners, the sinking fund — is a genuinely contentious question in a mixed community where many residents do not own EVs and resent subsidising those who do. This is a live source of dispute in Gurgaon societies.

Physical constraints are the third. Running new conduit through a finished building, finding space for equipment, and working within existing parking layouts are all harder than designing from scratch.

And fire safety is the fourth, sharpest constraint, because the basement and stilt parking where retrofitting is most natural is exactly where the unresolved fire question bites.

Matching Your Diligence to the Situation

The practical guidance follows directly from the difference between the two situations.

If EV charging matters to you and you are buying new, insist on genuine readiness and use it as a real differentiator, because a well-built new project can deliver it fully and a good developer has every incentive to. Reject token compliance. The environment makes it inexcusable.

If you are buying resale and EV charging matters to you, treat the society's current approach and trajectory as central diligence. A society that has engaged well is a strong choice. One that is resisting or stuck may never resolve it comfortably within your ownership. That is worth knowing before you commit rather than after.

In both cases, keep the fire-safety caveat in view, because it cuts across new and existing alike wherever charging is in an enclosed basement.

And in both cases, remember that this is one factor among many. EV readiness is a rising and durable consideration. It sits alongside location, build quality, the community and the fundamentals, informing the decision without overriding it.

Treat this as general background rather than the last word — the rules were still settling as of mid-2026, so confirm the current specifics with the developer, the RWA and the relevant office before deciding.