Electric Vehicles Free Riding on Common Power

Electric Vehicles (EV) and hybrid cars are set to soar in the coming years according to a recent research report from ClimateWorks Australia. Statistically the average strata building already has 2 vehicles requiring recharge in their carparks and could have as many as 20 by the year 2025.

This presents an issue for vehicle owners: Where are they going to recharge overnight? With no charging stations in strata building carparks, they will need to take things into their own hands. Often this results in owners finding the nearest wall socket, and plugging in.

As EV ownership continues to grow, so will the problem of the drain on common area power. Electricity bills could skyrocket as more vehicles plug into common area wall sockets. Furthermore, competing electricity demands could disrupt other common area facilities like lifts and lighting.

​Conveniently, as EVs become more popular, the number of solutions will also increase. There are a number of different charging stations available, including conventional plug-in and wireless options. These can be connected back to the user's private power, and billed directly, or connected to the common power and then billed to the user.

For further reading Gizmodo covers the Jetcharge solution for apartments, or you can download the ClimateWorks research report.