EV Charging Readiness for Strata - Section 1 - The Basics
A good place to start the EV charging journey is familiarising ourselves with some of the units of measurement.
Electricity can be AC (alternating current) which is used inside homes and buildings or DC (direct current) which is used at public fast charging stations e.g. a Tesla supercharger.
Volts is the pressure from an electrical circuit's power source that pushes charged electrons through a conducting circuit. Since 1983 Australia began transitioning to 230V. Since 2000, most of Australia has been on 230V except for Western Australia which is on 240V and Queensland which is transitioning to 230V. More information on AS/NZS 3112 is here. The internal architecture of most EV's is 400V today (e.g. Tesla) but Porsche Taycan, Audi e-Tron GT, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Genesis G80, Kia EV6, BYD Dolphin and Lucid Air are designed around 800V architecture. 800V architecture will allow faster charging at public fast charging stations, but won't affect the EV charging infrastructure which is typically installed into apartment buildings. Australian residential buildings are required to keep volts under 600V for safety reasons.
Kilowatt hours (kWh) are units of energy. Kilowatt hours are also used to describe the size of a battery in an electric vehicle e.g. a Tesla Model III standard range electric vehicle may have a 75kWh battery. For detailed information on different electric vehicles available and coming to Australia see Zecar.
EV chargepoints can be installed at single phase or three phase. Three phase allows a faster charging speed than single phase but uses up available capacity in the building faster, if there are a number of EV's charging simultaneously.
Amperage (or "Amps") is the strength of an electric current expressed in amperes and is used to describe the speed of an EV chargepoint. For example, an EV chargepoint can be installed at single phase 16 amps, or three phase 16 amps or three phase 32 amps. You can convert between the units of amps and kilowatts using an online calculator here. The relationship between Volts, Amps and Ohms (a measure of resistance) is described in this picture.
Electricity can be AC (alternating current) which is used inside homes and buildings or DC (direct current) which is used at public fast charging stations e.g. a Tesla supercharger.
Volts is the pressure from an electrical circuit's power source that pushes charged electrons through a conducting circuit. Since 1983 Australia began transitioning to 230V. Since 2000, most of Australia has been on 230V except for Western Australia which is on 240V and Queensland which is transitioning to 230V. More information on AS/NZS 3112 is here. The internal architecture of most EV's is 400V today (e.g. Tesla) but Porsche Taycan, Audi e-Tron GT, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Genesis G80, Kia EV6, BYD Dolphin and Lucid Air are designed around 800V architecture. 800V architecture will allow faster charging at public fast charging stations, but won't affect the EV charging infrastructure which is typically installed into apartment buildings. Australian residential buildings are required to keep volts under 600V for safety reasons.
Kilowatt hours (kWh) are units of energy. Kilowatt hours are also used to describe the size of a battery in an electric vehicle e.g. a Tesla Model III standard range electric vehicle may have a 75kWh battery. For detailed information on different electric vehicles available and coming to Australia see Zecar.
EV chargepoints can be installed at single phase or three phase. Three phase allows a faster charging speed than single phase but uses up available capacity in the building faster, if there are a number of EV's charging simultaneously.
Amperage (or "Amps") is the strength of an electric current expressed in amperes and is used to describe the speed of an EV chargepoint. For example, an EV chargepoint can be installed at single phase 16 amps, or three phase 16 amps or three phase 32 amps. You can convert between the units of amps and kilowatts using an online calculator here. The relationship between Volts, Amps and Ohms (a measure of resistance) is described in this picture.
Kilowatts (kW) are units of instantaneous power. A kilowatt is just 1000 Watts. Kilowatts are used to describe the speed of charging of an EV chargepoint e.g. a level 2 chargepoint may charge at 7kW or 22kW. You can convert this back to amps using an online calculator here
Level 1 EV chargepoints typically plug into General Power Outlets (GPO's) which are 10 amp single phase circuits. Level 2 EV chargepoints are hardwired into the electrical infrastructure by a qualified electrician and may be installed at single phase or three phase at the time of install. Many Level 2 Chargepoints can be installed by the electrician at 16amps or 32 amps at the time of install. Smart chargers can actually slow down and speed up their charging speeds within the physical installation configuration done by the electrician at the time of install.
Level 1 EV chargepoints typically plug into General Power Outlets (GPO's) which are 10 amp single phase circuits. Level 2 EV chargepoints are hardwired into the electrical infrastructure by a qualified electrician and may be installed at single phase or three phase at the time of install. Many Level 2 Chargepoints can be installed by the electrician at 16amps or 32 amps at the time of install. Smart chargers can actually slow down and speed up their charging speeds within the physical installation configuration done by the electrician at the time of install.
Table: Indicative Charging Speeds
As more public chargers are installed close to your strata building, this lessens the need for faster charging within your apartment building. To find out where the closest public EV charger is to your strata building, you can use plugshare. Also, keep in mind that most vehicles are parked 94% of their lives, which lessens the need for fast charging in apartment blocks. Most people think they need faster charging, whereas what they really need is a larger battery which gives them more range.
Ok, we have made it through the first challenge. Everything related to EV Charging gets more interesting from here on!
Ok, we have made it through the first challenge. Everything related to EV Charging gets more interesting from here on!
|
The Case for EV Charging in Strata
Join us walking through all the considerations strata schemes has to take in building the case for EV charging. Watch on Youtube |