I write as one who has driven an electric car since 2009. Our household now has two cars, both plug-ins.
First up, I would like to caution against having one or a few relatively fast charging outlets unless that really is the only possibility. A level 3 ‘rapid’ charger that is almost fast enough to approach being used like a petrol pump, say 50kW or more, is really expensive. A slower but still fast-ish shared level 2 option could be a recipe for conflict. What do you do when you need to charge but somebody has parked in the charging spot and can’t be found, perhaps for days? Do you really want to arrange car shuffles with your neighbour at midnight so you can both get a charge?
What you really want as an EV driver is assured access to a charging spot in your own allocated parking space. It does not matter if this slow charging. Even an ordinary 10A power point is sufficient, though often the slow charging cord supplied with vehicles has a 15A plug. My vehicles routinely charge at 6 to 10A and this has been just fine for nearly a decade. Let’s say you can plug in to a 15A powerpoint and charge at 3kW. Four hours is enough top up to add 50km of range. An ordinary power point is enough to support virtually all local driving patterns using overnight or daily charging where one routinely parks. ‘Rapid’ ‘level 3 DC’ charging (such as the NRMA is installing) is for extended trips out of town. Assured access to slow level 2 charging where you routinely park is much more useful than uncertain access to a faster outlet. It is a simple change of habit to plug in and ‘top up’ routinely rather than ‘fill up’ intermittently.
As it happens, I am proposing a motion to our AGM in a few weeks time on EV charging. The motion seeks to put in place all the various permissions and so on to enable EV charging to be gradually added as required at the expense of individual unit owners. Our situation is particularly complex.
Some could charge from their own units in their own attached carports. They are ready to go with the simple addition of a power point wired back to their own meter. Plenty will have a power point in their carports already. If they think they need faster charging, they can have the required hardware installed, though I am sure they will come to realise it was a waste of money.
A further set of units could charge in their allocated spaces on common property from an outlet wired back to their own meter because their allocated parking space is sufficiently close to the unit. For this they need permission (part of my motion) to have a cable installed to traverse a few meters of common property.
Most of the remaining units have allocated spaces in shared carports on common property where the carport has an owners corporation meter cabinet adjacent with 3-phase wiring in place but only a light load actually used. The spare capacity is sufficient to allow several 15A or 20A outlets on each of the phases, enough to supply each of the 5 to 12 units that use the adjacent parking area but it is too far to run cable back to their units. For these we will need sub-metering so the OC can bill the relevant units. Another part of the motion is the OC agreeing to provide a utility service to these units.
A handful of units have allocated parking that is neither close to their unit’s meter nor an OC meter cabinet. For those we will have to work with the local network operator to find a solution. They have a service obligation to provide what is needed. They are also entitled to recoup their installation costs. They tell me that if they can reasonably expect to recoup those costs through the network component of the electricity retail sales, then the upfront cost to those unit owners could be low or nil. The motion states that the OC will co-operate with the unit owners and the network operator to find a satisfactory outcome for these few units.
A further wrinkle is that the Australian Energy Regulator regards what we are proposing for behind OC meters to be an ’embedded network’ requiring a ‘network exemption’. The network distribution and retailing of electricity is regulated by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). The AER has responded to a query and is of the view that “EV charging does not constitute the sale of energy under the National Energy Retail Law”, which “implies that no retail exemption is required …” They do not regard sales of electricity to vehicles to be retailing since the supply is to a vehicle, not premises. “… However, there would be a requirement to obtain relevant network exemptions …Independent advice should be sought on the interpretation of the Guideline to which type of exemption and exemption category may apply …” From the AER’s published guidelines, categories of network exemptions “include situations where electricity supply is incidental to the main purpose of a business, such as networks within … apartments … They are generally motivated by considerations other than profit… Situations that deemed exemptions apply to include selling or supplying electricity to … electric vehicle charging stations”. To cover what might be required, the motion includes “The OC will take advice on the category of network exemption required.”
A difficulty with retro-fitting is the chicken and egg problem. Will people want to spend money on an EV charging solution when no-one has an EV, but who will get an EV if they can’t charge it where they park?
It is worth understanding something of how an Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) outlet works. It negotiates with a vehicle to say how much current the on-board charge can take from an outlet. While ordinary ‘dumb’ power points are sufficient for now (used with a portable EVSE charge cord), an upgrade is to install ‘smart’ hard-wired EVSE outlets that communicate with each other and the vehicles. These can initially tell the attached vehicles to only charge at a low rate (as low as 6A) when many vehicles are attached and charging at the different outlets. As some vehicles finish charging or unplug, the EVSEs can tell the remaining vehicles that they may now charge at higher rates. By the time there are only a few vehicles left charging, the last will be told they can charge at some maximum rate (say 32A). Such networked EVSEs can also record what they have supplied at each outlet for electronic billing.