This article about approvals required for installing EV charges in apartment buildings has been provided by Adrian Mueller, JS Mueller & Co Lawyers.
There has been a substantial increase in the number of electric vehicles (EV) being purchased by residents of strata buildings from cars to bikes and other vehicles.
A Recent Study
A recent study of the ‘future of EV charging in Sydney apartments’ revealed that:
- 48% of respondents plan to have an electric vehicle of some kind within the next 5 years
- 78% were in favour of installing charging facilities
- 79% would like a user-pays arrangement for individual vehicle spaces
Does an EV Charger Require Owners Corporation Approval?
The fact is that electric vehicles need charging and that means installing electric vehicle chargers in your apartment block is inevitable.
Installation of electric vehicle chargers will normally involve changes to common property that require owners corporation approval through a by-law.
But what should the by-law cover?
There are two key issues that should be covered in the by-law.
First, who pays for the cost of the electricity that will be used by the EV charger?
Second, what happens if the EV chargers require the building’s electricity infrastructure to be upgraded (e.g. to 3 phase power)? Who pays for the upgrade?
Get your EV By-law from the Experts
Our specialist team of strata lawyers have drafted many by-laws permitting owners to install electric vehicle chargers in strata buildings. Our EV by-law covers all essentials including:
- Who is responsible for paying for the cost of electricity used to charge electric vehicles
- Any necessary upgrades to the electricity infrastructure in the building
Adrian Mueller
Partner + Senior Lawyer
JS Mueller & Co Lawyers
E: [email protected]
P: 02 9562 1266
This post appears in Strata News #542.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is provided for your personal information only. It is not meant to be legal or professional advice nor should it be used as a substitute for such advice. You should seek legal advice for your specific circumstances before relying on any information herein. Contact JS Mueller & Co for any required legal assistance.
JS Mueller & Co Lawyers has been servicing the strata industry across metropolitan and regional NSW for over 40 years. We are a specialist firm of strata lawyers with indepth and unmatched experience in, and comprehensive knowledge of strata law and levy collection.
Have a question about Electric Vehicles or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.
Read next:
- NSW: Q&A Installing Private Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations
- NSW: Q&A Car Park Entrance Lighting in Strata Buildings
This article has been republished with permission from the author and first appeared on the JS Mueller & Co Lawyers website.
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Have any of the ENMs stepped up to offer a “Special Purpose Vehicle” to pay the installation cost (loan) and then recover those costs and usage (c/kWh) from participating (beneficiary) EV owners? This would free the BC committee having to fund and recover costs. They will have oversight only of the process that still leaves BC the owners of the infrastructure. No long term commitment to a 3rd party.
Since EV charging has a history of causing fires that can’t be extinguished who pays for the massive fire service upgrade? Since one of these fires in a basement is capable of taking out the whole complex who pays the extra insurance premium.
10x more likely to have a fire from an ICE vehicle.
https://thedriven.io/2022/01/11/evs-have-extremely-low-chance-of-catching-fire-but-hybrids-more-risky-data-shows/#:~:text=In%20the%20middle%2C%20though%20still,Rachel%20Bodine%2C%20writing%20for%20AutoinsuranceEZ.
Both EV and ICE are most susceptible to fire during “refuelling”.
That is why ICE are refuelled in purpose built facilities with appropriate emergency response infrastructure.
EVs burn significantly hotter than ICE (PHEV get the worst of both worlds). Hot enough to destroy concrete.
The extent of the dangers of EV “refuelling” in residential building is fast becoming an issue – but not as fast as “refuelling” Light Electric Vehicles – BC really need to grip up this issue.
The problem as I understand it is not so much the likelihood of an EV catching on fire versus an ICE, but the INTENSITY of the fire that happens when EVs do. Check out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0oTHsVnIIg
In addition, an EV which has been involved in a collision is more likely to catch fire than an ICE if the (lithium ion) battery has been damaged. That was recently highlighted in a report funded by the British government titled “Impact of BEV Adoption on the Repair and Insurance Sectors”. A description can be found at:
https://www.thatcham.org/thatcham-research-innovate-uk-bev-report-2023/
and the report itself can be found at:
https://www.thatcham.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Impact-of-BEV-Adoption-on-the-Repair-and-Insurance-Sectors-report-Innovate-UK-and-Thatcham-Research-FINAL.pdf
On the fire issue: “The design of current high voltage battery packs, often located under the vehicle with mounting points under the side sills, can make them vulnerable to damage in crashes.” That in turn makes them vulnerable to fires. For that reason damaged EVs have to be isolated from neighbouring vehicles (see page 36 and following: “Damaged BEVs should be stored in an outside quarantine area, at a safe distance away from any other nearby objects”). Those storage requirements for damaged EVs are likely to have a major impact on vehicle repairers.
That in turn also raises a question: if your EV HAS been involved in a collison, even if the damage is just a ding and the car is still drivable should you keep on driving it (or even drive it home)? My guess would be probably not. It needs to be checked out by a licenced repairer for battery damage. For as the report points out: “Just like any conventional damaged ICE vehicle, damaged BEVs have the potential to reignite hours or even days after an incident, although the likelihood of this happening may be higher with a BEV.”
Some key resources for people wanting to understand EV charging requirements:
https://www.wattblock.com/ev-charging-training.html
https://www.aeva.asn.au/news/national-building-code/
Generally, so long as there are measures in place to prevent or limit charging during the evening peak demand period, buildings have ample supply capacity to charge vehicles. Charging does not need to be fast where you live. Fast charging is for en route charging on long highway trips. I have been charging electric cars for over a decade on an ordinary 10A power point and that is sufficient to add almost 200km of range overnight.
I’m staggered 21% of respondents think owners should pay for other residents’ electricity bill to re-charge their vehicles, let alone all Owners paying for installation of recharging facilities. Who do I submit my monthly fuel bill to for payment ?
Systems can be installed easily to on-charge usage to EV users so that the OC isn’t out of pocket. Thats the really easy part. The bigger issue is the underlying infrastructure, cabling, and electrical distribution boards that will need to be upgraded. They are kinda fixed costs, so who pays for that, should it be entirely shared by all owners via the OC or should the OC oncharge say an “install” cost to recover those costs to only EV users?
Need to look at the way the question was worded. The extra sub-boards and 60 AMP wiring up to each car space should be retained as part of BC network. The charger from a 32 AMP plug to the EV is at the owners expense. EV owners would pay a share of the install cost up to their car space via a levy, over a couple of years, based on usage. i.e. Install recovery charge of 10c/kWh plus consumption 18c/kWh. Arranged by the ENM to appear on the owner’s electricity bill.
My guess is EV owners are more than happy to pay for the convenience of “home” charging.
The 21% could be owners who recognise that the new infrastructure is an asset to the whole strata. More likely respondents did not appreciate the ramifications of the question.