Dozens of countries have already mandated a phase-out of fossil fuel cars with some jurisdictions banning petrol and diesel new sales as early as 2025, many others by the 2030. Most car manufacturers are well underway in their transition to EV.
Every state government in Australia have released EV implementation strategies. See Further Reading for details.
Make no mistake, EVs are coming and are already here in Breakfast Point.
Your Breakfast Point EV team has identified that there are various methods to implement EV charging using current building power capacity and not exceeding limits. Details contained in pages below.
The NSW Government has produced information and various tools to help guide owners' corporations and strata make buildings EV ready including general guidelines...
Assess the current and projected demand for EVSE facilities by surveying owners.
Consult with your electrical contractor to determine the nominal power rating of your building and the capacity of each individual phase.
Determine whether your building has access to Lot Owners metered power or requires the use of common property power. Refer to BP Case Studies for assistance. (link) In some cases the lot owner may have access to their air conditioning circuit if the condensor unit is located in the garage area.
Undertake a power survey to determine the current power usage within the building. To date power surveys within Breakfast Point confirm in all cases that there is significant surplus power available during off peak evening hours and potentially surplus at other times.
For buildings having access to Lot Owners metered power the survey of owners will assist in determining the timeframe for take up of EV vehicles.
If there is only a limited requirement over the next few years then assess the number of EVSE units per phase that can be installed and operated in overnight off peak hours with 100% of the installation costs reporting to individual lot owners. It is recommended that lot owners install equipment that incorporates active load management and for future upgrading are OCPP compliant. This is a 100% user pays option.
If the survey indicates general support for the installation of EVSE facilities then consider installing a “whole of building” dynamic load management system from day 1. This could provide an EVSE access point for each individual lot owner’s meter that can be utilised at a time of their choosing. In this case the Lot Owner will need to install EVSE with active load management that is OCPP compliant. The Strata will need to approve expenditure for the dynamic load management system and provision of access points associated with each meter. The lot owners would be responsible for the cost of the EVSE unit and the associated cost of cabling for power and communications back to the connection point. This type of system is currently being implemented in one of the larger Strata within Breakfast Point with an estimated common property cost of $500-$700 per dwelling so a shared cost with the Owners Corporation.
For those dwellings having access to the air conditioning power circuit the previous option of using an interlock has been superseded with the availability of individual EVSE units incorporating active load management. These units need to be configured so that they limit the EV charging power when the A/C is being used. This is a 100% user pays option.
For those buildings where the infrastructure dictates that common property power must be used, then expenditure can be approved under the sustainable infrastructure provisions of NSW Strata Legislation (link here). The Strata would be responsible for the installation of a dynamic load management system (see DLM) and the provision of services that would allow a Lot Owner to connect EVSE in their garage.
For this type of installation the EVSE unit must be OCPP compliant.
This will require a “whole of building” dynamic load management system. Where possible the Strata may wish to minimise the cost of routine work by using their preferred local electrician. (Installation of common property cabling, cable trays, distribution boards, enclosures etc.) Check carefully the conditions associated with any supply, install and maintain contract. The Strata may wish to retain ownership of the dynamic load management system hardware/software and have this configured so they are not locked in to a specific service provider.
For this type of installation a 3rd party billing provider will be required to bill common property power usage to individual owners. The Strata may impose a surcharge on billing as a means of cost recovery for the capital expenditure. Check whether you retain the option of changing the billing provider if this becomes necessary. The billing provider will most likely impose an annual cost for each registered user.
All electrical work should be to AS3000.
Refer Fire NSW https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/page.php?id=9391
Refer Safety-Precautions https://www.energy.nsw.gov.au/business-and-industry/programs-grants-and-schemes/electric-vehicles/electric-vehicle-ready#safety-precautions
Some building contractors have raised concerns and requirements surrounding batteries installed in buildings, citing references to building codes. NSW Government has clarified this, advising these concerns are misplaced as the building code refers to batteries hard wired into the building, and not batteries in electric vehicles.
The commentary within the Guide to Volume One of the National Construction Code (NCC) 2019 Amendment 1 may be of assistance. In relation to C2.12(a)(v) of the NCC Volume One, the Guide states ‘Reference to “installed in the building” means batteries hard wired into the building. This includes batteries used to provide power supply for fire safety equipment, lifts, pumps, energy storage from renewable energy sources and the like. It does not include batteries associated with removable data infrastructure, vehicles or batteries that can be readily removed or relocated (such as plug in UPS batteries).’ The Guide to Volume One of the NCC 2019 Amendment 1 can be accessed at https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/
* Please note external links provided are for general information and not an endorsement of any specific supplier