Question: It is only a matter of time before our strata scheme will be asked about the charging of electric cars. What should we be thinking about. Should we be implementing changes now?
It is only a matter of time before our strata scheme has residents with plug-in electric cars (PIEVs) but we have no provision for charging electric cars. Moreover, there are indications that the scheme’s electric power infrastructure may not be able to cope with charging a number of PIEVs.
The electricians who normally service the scheme’s electrics do not seem well informed on the subject of providing for PIEV charging.
Any suggestions on what to do here?
Answer: Avoid letting owners ‘do their own thing ad-hoc’.
The race to net zero by 2050 is on and with state government incentives on hand for Electric Vehicles (EV’s) in selected states and petrol prices at an all-time high, the uptake in both PHEV (Plug in hybrid) and BEV (Battery) electric vehicles is rapidly increasing year on year. The predicament outlined above is a common scenario now being confronted by many strata councils, OC’s and EV early adopters within schemes.
Specialist dedicated EV infrastructure solution companies focus on solving these challenges using the latest technology, site assessments, engineering experience and tailored design to ensure the OC and EV owners can adopt EV charging and it’s future scaling up in the most efficient, fair and safe way.
Digital tech & effective design is a key lever for mass EV charging adoption in Strata’s
Strata schemes (buildings) require strategic design of EV charging infrastructure – where electrical and digital technology converge to address unique issues – including insufficient power supply, fair charging, electrical safety of the building, scalability, along with compliant power billing for the electricity account owner (usually the OC) and consumers, in this case EV drivers.
One early trap however, is letting owners ‘do their own thing ad-hoc’. This is ripe for disaster as many schemes are already finding, where types of EV chargers are randomly being fitted on site by occupants that may end up being incompatible with other essential common building infrastructure as the EV ownership scales up – more on this later. A holistic approach across the entire site is optimal, covering both electrical upgrades necessary for the essential common building infrastructure, and that of the owner generally buying the EV charger. When considering EV charging for your scheme, consideration needs to be given around not only what the short term may look like with a handful EV chargers today, through to 15-20 years’ time where 100% of car bays may be fitted with EV chargers.
Sharing is caring
Many are opting initially to install ‘shared’ EV chargers, owned and installed by the strata scheme where there may be enough initial spare power capacity to support a handful of chargers. Often installed in a visitor’s bay or common space, these are short term measures that may placate some owners and buy some time, but will ultimately give way towards the need for all private owner bays being provisioned for EV Charging within the next 20 years.
It’s true, many buildings may require power upgrades to support a higher percentage of EV Charging – however, there is a key liberator at hand!
Artificial Intelligence to the rescue
An essential key enabler to optimising any strata site that is requiring multiple EV chargers is an EV energy management system. (EV EMS)
This piece of digital technology steps in helping to make the impossible, possible. Using algorithms and analytics it can add up to four times the amount of EV chargers to your building’s power supply might normally handle at first glance.
The EV EMS is a crucial component that is installed on premise as part of the base build or strata common electrical infrastructure and can manage potentially hundreds of connected smart EV chargers simultaneously by diversifying the EV Charging power load.
To explain further, the EV EMS is your EV Charging Traffic Cop – it ensures the power load is safely operating within it’s limits (avoiding a trip out) and importantly ‘load manages’ or juggles the chargers based on factors including, time plugged in, power consumed by the vehicle, how many are plugged in and time of day.
A fact is that EV chargers do not work at 100% output all the time, with the charge rate variable upon dealing with power availability regulated by the EV EMS and the on-board battery management system of the vehicle. Another fact is it would be rare electric vehicles parked up would be all near empty at the one time, given the ‘top up’ mentality of EV owners – so it means EV chargers often only need to run for shorter periods than one may initially think. It’s generally about adding a range of kilometers to the vehicle, as opposed to a petrol mentality of filling up from 0-100% every night.
All this juggling and cueing of charging happens automatically without intervention, and the EV EMS makes sure all users receive a fair amount of kiloWatts for their vehicle, plugged in overnight for example.
In fact, the benefits of the EV EMS are enormous with the ability to also bring extra ‘dynamic power’ from another part of the building that may be spare capacity at that time, tap into on site renewables at the right time of the day, or take advantage of off-peak electricity rates potentially saving thousands of dollars.
Fundamental too are new policies or guidelines created and adopted within the scheme around types and operations of EV chargers purchased by owners to ensure compatibility with the site EV EMS, billing platforms, and other building infrastructure. This steers the owners down the right pathway for procurement within the scheme to avoid the ad hoc approach mentioned previously.
Not all EV Chargers are equal
The most popular EV chargers for strata buildings are a Smart AC single-phase unit, up to 7.4kW output which will service most EV’s parked up overnight. They are all connected generally to common building power and are linked via a data cable back to the EV EMS.
‘Smart AC EV Chargers’ are a necessity for schemes, with features that include OCPP standard (Open Charge Point Protocol), RFID cards for security access to unlock the charger, data connectivity, dynamic management amongst minimum criteria needed for seamless integration into sites housing multiple EV Chargers under management by an EV EMS.
Billing of electricity for EV use by owners from the scheme’s common power can also be handled using the EV EMS partnered with a range of cloud or on-site platforms built specifically for the tracking electricity transactions. These provide a simple, flexible way of ensuring everyone is covered for providing or consuming electricity.
It may sound complex; however, the right advice and guidance can ensure we lower the barriers to electric vehicle adoption for Strata’s in our e-mobility revolution.
Answer: A site assessment or project review by an experienced specialist EV Charging infrastructure company is the best way to determine your available spare power capacity for EV Charging, and subsequent strategic design will outline the upgraded common electrical infrastructure required, including an EV EMS, billing software solutions, and EV Charger types best suited to your strata needs.
Did you know? An EV Charging infrastructure base build is best fitted during construction by the developer. Costs for retro fitting an EV Charging backbone in some cases can be up to 5 times higher, post construction.
This post appears in Strata News #529.
Mark Jeisman
JET Charge
E: mark@jetcharge.com.au
P: 1300 856 328
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