The Challenges of EV Charging If You Live In an Apartment or Condo

If you own an electric vehicle (EV) and you own your own home, life is pretty good. You have probably installed a home charger, which charges up your EV at night when the rates are lowest. This allows you to leave home each day with a “full tank,” letting you drive within your EV’s battery range before returning home and plugging it for the next day’s usage. No hassles.

But what if you don’t fit this profile? What if you live in an apartment or a condominium, where no chargers are installed and there may not even be assigned parking spots, or any parking at all? How can you keep your EV charged and ready to go on a daily basis? Is it even possible?

There are many obstacles facing EV ownership among the many apartment and condo dwellers in our country. Also known as multiunit housing, the CDC estimates that 80 million Americans live in this type of structure. When you consider that 85% of all EV charging is done at home, that’s a huge number of potential EV owners who will not find an easy charging solution for their living situations!

Let’s take a closer look at the basics of charging, why you should have a home charger, why it’s not easy to get a charger installed in your apartment or condo, how to get one installed, and what to do if you can’t.

Charging basics

At this point in time, there are three different ways to charge an EV:

1. With a standard 120-volt household current wall outlet. These are widely available, as they power most of the electrical items used in the US. The main downside is that it takes forever to charge an EV using 120 volts – you will get about 5 miles of range for every hour you charge. This may be acceptable if you don’t drive very far each day and use it simply to “top up” your EV’s charge. Otherwise it’s a non-starter.

2. With a 240-volt outlet, similar to what a clothes dryer uses. This is known as a Level 2 charger. It will provide a faster charge than the 120-volt option, giving your EV around 25 miles of range per hour. Most home chargers are Level 2 and can fully charge an EV overnight.

3. With a DC fast charger (DCFC). These are used at high-voltage charging stations (up to 900 volts), where you can fully recharge your EV in an hour or less. These are not typically found in residential settings, due to their extremely high power consumption. This is the best type of charger to use when time is of the essence, such as when you are on a long trip.
   
   

Why having an EV charger at your apartment or condo is a good thing

Charging your EV at home while you sleep is a great convenience. The peace of mind you get from leaving each day with a full charge is wonderful, leaving you with one less thing to worry about.

If you own a condo, having an EV charger can increase your property’s value and attract EV owners when you sell. There may also be incentives for installing an EV charger. Plus, you are doing your part to reduce air pollution and embrace cleaner energy sources.

If you live in an apartment, you will not get to share in any property appreciation or incentives that may be available. On the other hand, these benefits can make for a strong argument when trying to get the property owner to install one for you!

Why it’s not easy to get an EV charger installed at your apartment or condo

Compared to installing an EV charger in a single-family home doing it in an apartment building or a condo community is a whole other thing. You don’t get to just give the electrician a call and have it done next week. It’s going to take time, effort, and a significant amount of money, with no guarantees that you’ll make it across the finish line.

While many states and localities have regulations on the books governing EV chargers and designated parking spaces in new construction, most apartments and condos date back to the days long before EVs returned to the automotive scene in the 2010s. Attempting to install an EV charger in an older building opens up a huge can of worms, revealing some difficult-to-resolve (and expensive) issues, such as:

• Does the building have parking for the residents?
• If it has parking, are there assigned spaces?
• If there are no assigned spaces, where will the charger be located?
• Is the building’s parking run by a separate corporate entity?
• Does the neighborhood have the infrastructure to support EV charging in the building?
• Does the building’s electrical system have the electrical capacity to handle a Level 2 or a DCFC?
• If it doesn’t, who pays for the upgrade?
• How many people in the building will benefit from having an EV charger?
• If sharing an EV charger among residents is necessary, how will the sharing be managed?

Unfortunately, most property managers, condo associations, and HOAs do not have the money on hand to install EV chargers for residents and owners. This typically means that you will be on the hook for all of the costs involved. That includes the permitting, the cost of the charger, any electrical upgrades, the installation (which can involve digging a trench in the parking lot to bury the high-voltage wiring plus anything else required to conform to building codes), maintenance, repairs, and the liability insurance to protect the owners from any issues that may arise from its use. And let’s not forget about the electric bill every month!

How to get an EV charger installed at your apartment or condo

If you still want to try having an EV charger installed at your apartment or condo, good luck. It won’t be easy, it won’t be quick, and it won’t be inexpensive. You will need to get very friendly with your property management company or condo association to get its approval. You will also have to make a very good case to them and be willing to put your money where your mouth is. You will need to research all of the federal, state, and local incentives that can be used to defray the costs. You can even suggest that switching to LED lighting in all public areas might save enough energy to power an EV charger without requiring an electrical upgrade (others have done this)!

You will also get to know the contractors and electricians who will install your EV charger (if you get approval) when you ask them for cost estimates. Be prepared for a difficult struggle, with no guarantee of success. Hey, it could happen!

But first things first – here are two basic rules that will save you a lot of heartache and aggravation:

• Do not buy an EV if you can’t install a charger at your apartment or condo
• If you own an EV, do not buy a condo or rent an apartment if you can’t install a charger there

If all else fails, you can try contacting an existing charging point provider that has built out other charging stations in your area. If you have several EV owners in the building, you might be able to convince the charging provider that it makes economic sense to install an EV charger in your building’s parking lot. If the provider and the building owners agree on this solution, the charging point provider would likely absorb all of the upfront and running costs, leaving you with only the cost of charging your EV. Not a bad deal if you can get it!

If you can’t get an EV charger installed at your apartment or condo

You tried your best and it didn’t work out, or maybe you didn’t think that having an EV charger installed at your apartment or condo was worth the effort and expense. Either way, you still have options:

Charge at your workplace: If your employer has an EV charger available, great! If you can leave work each day with a full charge, you should be fine until the next workday, although you may run low on electrons if you drive a lot on the weekends. If there are no chargers at work, survey the employees to see how many EV owners would use a charger there, then ask to have one installed. Remember to let your employer know of any available incentives that would reduce the cost.

Use a public DCFC: If there is a DC fast charger in your area and your EV can handle it, this is the best public charging solution. Why? Because it’s the fastest way to charge your EV, leaving you more time for all the other things you want to do.

Use a public charging system app: This will let you know where all of the available public charging stations are in your local area. It will also come in handy during long trips.

Buy a Tesla for the advantages of its Supercharger network: If you own a Tesla EV, you will have access to its nationwide fast-charging network of Superchargers. Tesla has built out its charging network to include urban and rural charging locations as well as “destination chargers” located at restaurants, hotels, and shopping centers across the country.

Buy a plug-in hybrid if it fits your needs better: If charging an EV every day is too much of a hassle, consider a plug-in hybrid vehicle. It can be charged quickly and will travel in pure electric mode for a limited number of miles, while its internal combustion engine is there as a backup (with the additional range of a full tank of fuel) when the battery is depleted. It’s the best of both worlds for those whose driving needs require it.