The challenges EV owners face when they live in a MURB or MDU

October 24, 2019

Electric vehicle adoption continues to grow and it is predicted that EVs will represent  57% of all passenger vehicle sales by 2040. The advancements of battery technology, along with a lower price range, has made them more appealable to a larger audience. Range anxiety is becoming less of an issue as newer battery electric vehicles (BEV) boast ranges of over 300 miles, which enables drivers to simply charge at home at the end of the day and not have to worry about charging up to make it through their daily driving. Additionally, there is a significant increase in public charging stations so even if they forget to charge one night, or they are driving farther than normal, they have the ability to charge away from home. But what if they can’t charge at home, can they survive on public charging alone? Is it feasible?

This is a problem affecting people who are living in apartments, condos or rely on street parking. There are many terms for these types of buildings: multi-dwelling units (MDU) or multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs), and they can create “garage or plug orphans.” They all have their own unique circumstances, but they share the same problem for someone who is driving an EV: they don’t have access to a home charger. This affects a large percentage of the population in North America, particularly in larger urban areas, and it is not a problem that is easily solved. In order to accommodate these customers, utility providers need to understand their unique problems and help them find solutions for these challenges.

Infrastructural challenges

If an EV owner lives in multi-unit residence it means someone else owns the parking lot or garage, so it is up to the owner to get a charging station installed. Unfortunately this is expensive and complicated, which can make building owners hesitant. Existing structures are not designed to support charging stations. Some smaller structures might not have any electricity, or there may not be any covered structure at all. Even if there is electrical infrastructure in place, it may not be able to support the increased load. Some municipalities are requiring that all new structures be built with this framework in place, in order to avoid the higher retrofitting costs. However, it’s not just that charging stations have to be installed in the building, there is also the issue of where they are located within that building. Regardless of whether it is a new or existing building, owners need to consider the layout.

Installing charging stations is an expense and not every parking space needs a charger, but how can they ensure there is a charger in the right spots? There are often assigned parking spaces but tenants change and a new tenant may or may not have an EV. The reassignment of parking spaces is not an easy task, and in some cases parking is deeded to the condo, making this near-impossible. On top of this there could also be zoning permits or even historical building permits that need to be obtained.

The installation of charging stations is only one of the hurdles, there is also the issue of metering and paying for the electricity. Unless there are individual submeters at each station, which further adds to the expense, there is no clear way to bill the EV owner. Another concern would be that without some form of identify verification, such as a swipe card, someone else could use the station at the EV owners expense. A different approach would be for the building owners to offer charging at no cost for the EV owner, however there are a number of objections with this option. Property managers wouldn’t want to just absorb these costs, which means the expense would be passed on the owners/renters. This is not ideal either as it means people who don’t drive EVs are subsidizing the costs for those who do.

There are some potential solutions that address these problems

Although there are still many aspects of this problem that need to be explored there are some solutions that solve some issues. ChargePoint, an EVSE manufacturer, has a line of charging stations designed for apartments or condos. There are personal charging stations for people with assigned parking spots where drivers pay a monthly service fee plus the cost of electricity and the property management company or condo board can recover costs by setting a rate for electricity usage. Alternatively, ChargePoint offers a Community charging station for properties with shared or valet parking which gives the building owners the flexibility to set their own pricing rates. Both systems allow access through a mobile phone app or swipe card.

Another option is to create vehicle-side charging logs for individual billing. The FleetCarma C2, an OBD II device which collects driving and charging data, could be used to help create easy to understand charging reports. A detailed report could be created for each vehicle, showing charge times, duration and energy usage, which would provide proper billing for the EV owner. The benefit of this option is that it is EVSE agnostic, meaning it can be used with any brand of charging station.

Education is critical for all parties

Plug-in electric vehicles are still a relatively new technology and everyone is still trying to figure out how they fit in to day-to-day life. Existing or potential EV owners living in multi-dwelling units or MURBs need to understand what options are available to them. Building owners, property managers, condo boards and voting residents need to understand the needs of EV owners, as well as the costs and benefits of integrating EVSEs. Lastly, utility providers need to understand how to properly integrate this increased demand. This could include having networked charging stations with active load control or it could be encouraging the EV owners to charge during specific periods through a behavioral loadshifting program. Regardless, before a utility can manage the additional load they need to better under driving and charging behavior of the EVs in their service territory. To learn more about this first step of EV integration contact FleetCarma to learn more about SmartCharge Profile.