All issues and solutions for charging an electric vehicle in an apartment building or in a shared house
Wheels | 12/12/21
If you have purchased an electric vehicle and you live in a shared house or apartment building, you probably already know that along with the benefits of the economical vehicle, and the reduction in air pollution and current expenses, comes a particularly sensitive issue, which is: Installation of a charging station for the electric vehicle In the common parking lot.
As mentioned, a vehicle with electric propulsion contains a battery, which must be charged with electricity via a cable, just as any electric device is charged, and this is the energy that will drive you from place to place. A full battery in an electric vehicle is sufficient for a journey of several hundred kilometers. In Israel, these are electric vehicles with a battery power that usually ranges between 400-300 km.
Battery charging is possible at public charging stations, at stations located in businesses and organizations, and at home stations. In the case of a private home with adjacent parking, the solution is relatively easy, order a private charging station and take care of the infrastructure, installation, and connection to the home electricity. Thus, the power consumption of the vehicle while charging is added to your monthly electricity bill, and that’s the end of the story.
It gets complicated when it comes to a residential building or a shared house, where you do not have direct access from the parking lot to the home electrical panel, which raises the question: who will be charged for the electricity consumption of a private tenant in the building, who charges his electric vehicle in the shared parking lot. Under the current legal situation, the occupants of the condominium or building can not make a decision that prevents an apartment owner from using an electric vehicle, or install a charging station in the parking lot registered in his name in the registry office. Seemingly, this is an ideal situation for owners of electric vehicles. Only language enters the picture as well as the house committee, maintenance companies, and concerned tenants, and you have been given a recipe for clutter and conflicts in the building.
Apart from the economic aspect that talks about charging the electricity consumption of the electric vehicle, there are other aspects that are currently not addressed in law or in orderly procedures, such as the safety aspect. There have been a few isolated cases of overcharging in an electric vehicle, in which the battery heats up and catches fire, and a fire breaks out without control or warning. Such a scenario in an apartment building or in a shared house is all the more dangerous, since the exposure to great fire potential and heavy damage to human life and property is already on a public scale. Here another aspect joins and that is the insurance aspect, and whether the insurance policy of the occupants of the building or the maintenance company is valid and is supposed to cover such damages.
Possible solutions for installing a charging station for an electric vehicle in a shared house
On the issue of the economic aspect, and with the revolution in electric vehicles in the country, in 08/2021 the government decided to work to issue an amendment to the Real Estate Law, which means that every tenant in a condominium will be allowed to install infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, without the consent of other tenants. For the transition of many drivers to electric vehicles.
It was also decided to charge each new building with the laying of basic infrastructure required for the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles.
The actual decision means connecting the charging station to the private power station owner’s private connection, without the need for the consent of other tenants, or alternatively connecting the charging station to the shared electricity in the building or condominium assuming it is reasonable electricity use. And installation of a private electric meter for the charging station.
There are businesses on the market that provide an answer to this issue as well, and offer a smart charging station with an advanced management system for electric vehicles, which serves as a private and separate electricity meter, including charging private electricity consumption in a separate account from the shared electricity bill in the building.
This type of technological solution removes the operational aspect and tracking of the charge from the house committee and the maintenance company, and in fact relieves everyone and prevents unnecessary sensitivities and conflicts.
On the issue of the safety aspect, the recommendation for the current situation and until there is an orderly reference to it in the law, is to implement an orderly procedure between the occupants of the building or the shared house. The procedure should be agreed by most of the building’s occupants in orderly regulations or assembly, and address all issues and scenarios involved in setting up a private charging station for an electric vehicle, in the public and shared space of the building, and limiting the amount of electric vehicles according to shared electricity capacity.
Another and no less important thing is the answer to the legal aspect. We understand that an electric vehicle or a number of electric vehicles in a building increases the risk of a scenario of being taken and burned from a possible event, to an everyday level of risk. This means that some steps must be taken to insure the occupants of the building and the heavy damage that may occur in this case, and here the question arises who will have to absorb the damage and expenses? Will it be the tenant who owns the electric vehicle? Or all the occupants of the building?
In this case, the recommendation is to update the building’s insurance company by adding charging stations for electric vehicles, and of course to get confirmation that the building’s and policy insurance is valid.