With the ever-present concerns about climate change and the increasing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the question is not “if” but “when” apartment owners will embrace EV charging. Home charging is essential in driving the uptake of EVs, and there have been significant strides made in strata residencies to help this happen.
Smarter Communities understands the need to prepare communities for EV charging, and their specialised Sustainability Team has worked hard to create a solution for all communities. They are dedicated to educating communities about their options for installing EV charging, the challenges they will face and why they need to prepare for it now.
What are the benefits of adding EV charging to your property?
Regulation is requiring Developers to include EV charging infrastructure in new buildings. Without EV charging options, existing properties will soon lose value compared with modern buildings. Including EV charging now will increase the value of your property and attract more tenants and buyers.
- EVs are a more efficient car than traditional. They are cheap to recharge and with no local pollution and engine noise, EVs are clean, green, and quiet.
- The cost difference between a new EV and other modern cars is quickly disappearing. As government initiatives encourage cheaper models to be sold in Australia, we will see a boom of electric cars in our buildings.
- When combined with solar, your EV can charge on 100% renewable energy at zero cost. Committees are urged to consider the joint benefits that come with combining solar on the roof and EV charging in the car park.
What does EV charging in apartments look like?
Almost all EV owners charge their car at home. Because of this, we need to make sure all strata residents have easy access to charging, whenever they wish.
The key problem is that EV chargers use a huge amount of power. A standard charger uses the same amount of power as 2.5 apartments. To ensure EV chargers do not push the building beyond its electrical capacity (and trip the fuse in the process), it is recommended to install a load managed system.
This modern approach involves installing a network consisting of hardware and/or software that ensures your building always remains within its maximum capacity, EV distribution boards and cable trays in the carpark. This allows residents to purchase their own charger and hook it up to the load managed system when they are ready.
It is also a completely scalable system – whether you have 1 or 100 EVs in the building, the Smarter Communities design will allow all electric cars to charge in the carpark at one time. This is a huge upgrade from systems seen previously that only allow a handful of chargers to be installed.
With a dedicated billing service that sits over the top of the system, users pay for the electricity they use. Since the electricity is coming from the common area meter, the billing provider will reimburse the owners corporation.
What is the process to install EV charging?
The owners will need to approve the installation of EV charging in the car park as it is on common property. This can be passed in an AGM, under a sustainable resolution in NSW and a normal special resolution everywhere else.
Typical costs for a load-managed system can be between $30,000 and $200,000 depending on the size of your carpark. This can either be paid for by a special levy, capital works fund, or through financing.
The Sustainability Team at Smarter Communities are dedicated to helping committees install EV charging, by helping them understand costs, providing technical designs, engaging service providers for quotes, and project coordinating the deployment of systems. They also offer a variable financing length to meet the committees’ needs and ensure the use of tier 1 installers to ensure you receive the best system available to future proof your building.
To learn more about EV charging or other sustainability and energy solutions for your property contact the Sustainability Team here. To discuss your property’s strata management needs or receive a FREE management proposal contact our friendly team. We also offer more helpful resources and community living news in our FREE newsletter.
