One of the most common questions I'm asked as a property manager is “can I install an EV charge point in the car park for my new electric car?”. Being the property manager and knowing the building I more often than not know the answer to this question as it is asked. Though the answer is not the one that the lessee want to hear… "no". So I know that my one word answer isn't going to be accepted straight away so I have to go through the obligatory 3 weeks of back and forward emails where the lessee, who already has their heart set on the new Telsa, tries to persuade me that the whole installation process is very easy and that I shouldn’t get “stuck in the past” and I have to explain the reasons why what looks like such a simple exercise will not work. And once that question has been answered the next inevitable question is "can we install communal EV charge points in the car park". Again, more often than not, I know the answer to this question as well and once again it is a very frustrating "no".
So below I'm going to tell you why the answer to these questions is almost always "no" and if I can foresee the answer changing to "yes" anytime in the near future
The biggest challenge when considering the installation of EV charge points into the car park of a block of flats is the cost of upgrading or replacing the existing electrical infrastructure. There are other challenges but this one is the prohibitive one which can rarely be circumnavigated.
Electrical infrastructure in most blocks of flats in this country do not have the capacity to support multiple EV charge points. At best most pre-existing infrastructures would have the capacity to charge two EV vehicles on a slow charge at any one time. Any additional vehicles would not be charged. So even in a small block of 12 flats it would be impossible for any more than two leaseholders to charge their car at the same time. And with a slow charge taking up to 14 hours it would mean that it would not be able to support any more than 4 cars. The costs of upgrading electrical infrastructure in a block of flats can vary considerably and it does not seem to appear that the costs of the upgrade is influenced too much by the age of the building but more so by how it was built and where the cables were run.
I've recently been quoted £45,000 to upgrade the infrastructure in a block of 18 flats in north London which is only 8 years old. This was only for the upgrade and the installation of the EV charge points and necessary software was going to cost an additional £33,000. In this instance despite the fact that seven of the leaseholders wanted to purchase electric vehicles they unanimously voted against using the service charge fund to do this work on the basis that they wouldn't receive any financial benefit for decades to come.
Another site of 10 flats in a Victorian conversion were quoted £32,000 to upgrade the infrastructure because of the necessity to install a new electrical substation at the side of the car park. So the lessees are being asked to spend upwards of £5000 each for the privilege of being able to charge their car at home.
It would appear that this government and the world's car manufacturers or continuing to head down the route of electric cars being the future of the automotive industry but for many flat owners owning an electric car will remain an aspiration until the costs of improving the infrastructure are driven down. I'm only guessing but this may be one of the reasons why huge car manufacturers such as Volvo are pushing back on their commitment to only manufacture electric vehicles from 2030 onwards and will now be producing petrol cars till 2035.
The problems with the electrical infrastructure are not limited to that which was installed in the block of flats. I've found it very common for the supply that runs from the main Road into the block of flats is also insufficient to support multiple EV charge points. This is the reason why the Victorian conversion, in the example I used above, required a new electrical sub-station to be installed in the car park. I have asked for answers and solutions to this problem from the National Grid and UK Power Networks about three years ago when considering the project for blocks of flats in Harrow on the Hill and Northwood and I've been told that the National Grid needs to be upgraded and that this is something which will be undertaken in coming years. I have not received an answer to my recent enquiries however three years have already passed and because of the sheer size of the project which UK Power Networks would have to undertake in order to upgrade areas the size of small cities I can't think that it will happen anytime soon.
This topic is obviously something that any property manager is going to have to revisit with regularity over the course of the coming years but I can't help think that the task ahead of us is so large that we could be waiting for more than a decades before we come close to solving the problem. That said if you read this and have an alternative view or have a success story that you want to share then it would be my pleasure to hear about it. E-mail me at benn@sebrightproperty.co.uk
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