I was on radio the other day and someone called up and asked if there was any thought being applied to electric vehicle (EV) charging in strata schemes. I was able to say with great confidence that yes, there definitely is.

For a start, in NSW installing EV charging is considered a sustainable measure and therefore any necessary by-laws – and there will be some for fixing cabling and the charging units to common property – only need a simple majority for approval at an AGM.

And soon, we are assured, the law will change so that if you apply to install a charging unit at your parking space, and the committee or strata scheme hasn’t responded within three months, it will be considered to have been approved.

But there’s another shift underway and it’s to do with our attitude to charging our vehicles. You see, over the years we have become brainwashed by petrol pumps.

We think that to put energy into our cars, we have to roll up to a machine, stick a nozzle in a hole in the side of the car and watch the dollars fly away as the pump adds up the cost of refuelling.

That thinking has migrated to EV charging where for too long we have assumed the way to do it is to stick the charger in the car and wait impatiently for the juice to load up. Of course it takes longer than filling a petrol tank, so fast charging is what everybody wants – or they think they do.

However, it’s what hardly anybody needs. Think about how much time your car spends sitting in its parking space doing nothing. And think about the times of day when electricity is at its cheapest. Hint: For most people, apart from shift workers, Uber drivers and drug dealers, they are pretty much the same periods.

So congrats to those early adopter strata schemes who put fast chargers in their parking spaces. It’s good that you embraced the future so enthusiastically.

However, if you’d just waited a little, you’d have realised that you don’t need your car to charge up quickly when you’re not going to be driving it for eight hours.

Fast chargers are great for shared spaces. It means you won’t have to wait so long for your turn to plug in. But for individual spots, the current trend is for integrated low voltage chargers that cost about one-tenth to install and two-thirds of the cost of the electricity when they’re working.

And the good news is that there are plenty of companies out there all geared up to provide them – just Google “EV charging in strata” and see which one works best for you.

I answer strata questions on Afternoons with James O’Loghlin on ABC Radio Sydney every second Wednesday at 1.30 pm. You can listen to my most recent spot by clicking here and zooming forward by one hour.

This column originally appeared in last week’s Newsletter.  You can sign up for the weekly mail-out below.