Charging electric vehicles in apartments: five things to consider

In Australia, the vast majority of early adopters of electric vehicles live in detached homes with off-street parking. Being able to plug into a power outlet in your garage or spending a few thousand dollars for a 7kW charger makes charging pretty simple.

But it’s not a luxury that everyone has: more than 2.5 million Australians live in apartments, and as adoption of electric vehicles continues to accelerate, many landlords’ committees are will find themselves faced with the task of retrofitting apartment buildings with electric vehicle chargers.

Apartment buildings face a range of unique challenges when installing electric vehicle chargers, from limited electrical capacity to recovering electricity costs to gaining the support of enough owners to approve a project.

The good news is that there is plenty of help available from experts, and new hardware and software solutions are coming onto the market every few months to make the task easier.

Here are five things to consider when exploring electric vehicle charging in your building:

Number 1: Sustain your building

Unlike installing a 7kW charger on the side of a detached house, there are a range of different electric vehicle charging solutions to consider in a strata complex.

A homeowners committee should think about the charging needs of residents in 5 or 10 years, not just the three current electric vehicle owners who are campaigning for chargers to be installed in the basement car park. Existing electricity infrastructure and any new EVSE must be able to cope with the burden of charging needs in the future.

The Solar Choice team surveys all building owners as part of their feasibility study to understand electric vehicle purchasing intentions and people’s expectations for charging speed and access to electricity. ‘future. This data can help inform the decision-making process so that the legal entity can avoid unnecessary capital expenditure.

The best solution for the future is an electric backbone that makes each parking space suitable for electric vehicles by running power and data cables to each space. Such an installation will typically include a charging management system and new electric vehicle distribution boards, and the initial costs are covered by the company.

This allows individual car park owners or tenants to pay for the ‘last mile’ of installation and have a charger installed in their parking space at a time of their choosing, and is considered the fairest way to electrify a car park.

That said, a full backbone can have a high upfront cost, so other options such as shared chargers in visitor parking areas and Level 1 chargers installed throughout the parking lot should also be considered.

Number 2: Balancing supply and demand

When it comes to retrofitting residential buildings for EV charging, available electrical capacity is often the biggest unknown. Having a small amount of available capacity to allocate to chargers can influence the number and type of chargers that can be installed, and can also dictate the hardware required such as EVDBs and charge management systems.

The available capacity of your building is measured by calculating the difference between the load coming from the grid and the maximum electrification demand of the entire building – think air conditioners, stoves, washing machines and lighting throughout the complex.

The best way to measure your building’s current electricity consumption is to install an electrical data logger on the building’s incoming mains supply for at least two weeks. Most good EV charging feasibility studies will have a licensed electrician carry this out as part of their report.

Load management systems are a common feature of EV charging installations in apartment buildings. These systems continuously monitor the complex’s electrical demand and automatically reduce the power of EV chargers as usage in the rest of the building increases, then increase it again as more electricity is released. The building’s existing electrical infrastructure is protected and can eliminate the need for costly power upgrades.

Number 3: How will you charge electric vehicle owners for electricity?

Every strata building is unique, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach to EV charging retrofits. One of the big decisions to make is whether to connect to the common energy meter or individual lot meters.

Connecting EV chargers to lot meters is the simplest solution as it allows EV drivers to pay for the electricity they use as part of their regular electricity bill, but this is often not possible. Lot meters are rarely located in the same area as parking spaces, and given that a significant portion of the installation cost can be cables – especially if concrete penetrations are involved – the cost of connecting to lot meters can be prohibitive.

If EV chargers are connected to the common energy meter, a billing platform will be required to automate charging for EV owners and reimbursement to the legal entity that will initially pay for the electricity.

There are many third-party billing platforms available, with simple solutions starting at $0 but requiring some administration, up to annual subscriptions around $150 that offer a seamless user and administrative experience.

Number 4: Start the process with a feasibility study

There are so many variables to understand and consider when studying electric vehicle charging in a strata complex. The best way to start the process is to complete a comprehensive feasibility study that will evaluate the existing electrical infrastructure, physical requirements and obstacles to installation, the building’s electrical capacity and consumption data, and much more.

The report will include all types of possible charging options for your building, associated costs, and considerations that should be made by owners.

Organizations like Solar Choice partner with homeowners’ committees to advise them throughout the process, providing them with recommendations from their experience in hundreds of condo buildings and helping them find reliable installers with experience in complex condominium installations.

An electric vehicle charging feasibility study will provide a roadmap for providing the appropriate charging infrastructure to the first EV owner, as well as any required phased deployment of additional charging equipment as more owners switch from ICE to EVs.

Without a road map, CBs can easily waste money by investing in non-scalable solutions or allowing individual owners to have their own charger installed without planning for the electrical capacity needs of future installations.

Number 5: Weigh the costs and benefits

Setting up an EV charging infrastructure in an apartment complex may seem like a daunting task and require significant capital expenditure, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. The convenience for residents is enormous and the cost of charging per kWh is lower than public charging stations.

Financially, owners will benefit from multiple advantages that should help secure the necessary vote to move forward with the installation of an EVSE.

All homeowners will see their property values ​​increase as more potential buyers own electric vehicles in the coming years, and similarly, renters will increasingly seek out apartments with suitable parking spaces to electric vehicles. There are even depreciation tax deductions for chargers and basic infrastructure to sweeten the deal.

Navigating apartment building renovations can seem like a maze, and admittedly there are more decisions to make than just choosing which 7kW charger you want the electrician to install on the side of your house.

That said, starting with a feasibility study and hiring experts who have experience in condominiums and can look at all possible solutions will make the task much easier.

Many homeowners committees have put this issue in the “too hard basket” for the past 5 years, while early adopters have had to make do with public chargers, but the EV revolution is here, new hardware and software are making it easier than ever to meet the challenge, and those living in units can no longer be left behind.

Daniel Carson is responsible for electric vehicle charging partnerships at Solar Choice.