› Flat Chat Strata Forum › By-laws and outlaws › Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging › Current Page
I think the concern should be how to manage the electrical demands in the future. It isn’t just a matter of the first “X” get to install it – you also need to consider what will happen on a really hot (or cold) day when everyone is running their air conditioners at full power. If you exceed the rating on the main switchboard the fuses/main circuit breaker to the street may blow, taking out power to the whole building.
For my work building we have a 600A/phase feed from the substation. Most of the time (eg this week) we draw about 150A/phase during the day. But a few years ago after a string of really hot week days we hit 400A/phase. Still not enough to trip out the feed fuses. A few years before I arrived they managed to blow one phase fuse – it takes a while to get fixed because Ausgrid (the distributor) had to come.
I have no idea how you deal with it though in a practical sense. Most buildings have no visibility on how much power they are using and so there is no real way to say “we’re close to the limit, don’t charge your car”. If they were restricted to charging overnight (10pm – 6am) that would probably help since most poeople would be in bed and the sun has gone down, reducing the heat load.