Not every apartment resident has a positive answer. iEV co-founder Raymond has a friend living in a fancy apartment in Toowong, a inner-city suburb in Brisbane. She bought her Tesla more than three years ago, but is still unable to install a wall charger at her private parking spot thanks to body corporate's continuous disapproval. She has no choice but connecting her Tesla to a public socket via a portable charger, which costs her $137 per month 'electricity + admin' fee in return.
iEV has interviewed around 50 EV owners living in apartments, among them only 4 lucky owners have installed wall chargers. One upset retiree from Maroochydore of Sunshine Coast has lodged lawsuit against his body corporate who rejected his application for wall charger installation. The top three obstacles for apartment charger installations are: 1. Fire safety; 2. Power supply capacity; 3. Long distance from parking spot to main switchboard.
Don't let complicated strata rules and old wiring stop your electric vehicle purchase. One of the biggest challenges with apartment blocks, especially those of the older variety, is that their electric circuits, load management systems and main switchboards generally have to be updated to accommodate any additional drawdown requirements, often at great expense.
iEV found the LookUpStrata blog to be exceptionally helpful, as it provides comprehensive Q&A coverage on crucial aspects of apartment EV charger installation:
www.lookupstrata.com.au/qld-ev-charging-high-rise
