Electric car charging stations: what options are available to apartment building residents?

Electric car charging stations: what options are available to apartment building residents?

Although the use of electric vehicles in Lithuania is growing year on year, one of the biggest challenges for apartment dwellers is the availability of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Tadas Kuznecovas, CEO of Civinity Namai in Vilnius, a company that provides maintenance and management services for apartment buildings, and Simonas Stankus, CEO of Inbalance grid, a company that offers an EV charging solution for residents and businesses, talk about the opportunities available to drivers living in apartment buildings.

Demand for electric car charging stations is growing

According to the data of the state-owned company Regitra, in April this year the number of pure electric and hybrid electric vehicles registered in Lithuania reached 22,000, most of them registered in Vilnius and Kaunas regions.

With the growing popularity of electric vehicles, the issue of charging them in apartment buildings is becoming a topical issue and more and more residents are applying for the possibility to install them:

“According to Eurostat data, more than half of the Lithuanian population lives in apartment buildings. Charging electric cars is not as easy for their residents as it is for individual homeowners. Those who own a parking space have more options, while others are left with the alternative of charging their cars at a public charging station close to home,” says Inbalance grid.

Options for those who own their own parking space

Those who have a parking space in the yard, underground parking or garage of an apartment building can install an EV charging station in several ways.

According to Mr Stankus, one of the most popular ways is to connect the charging station to the electricity supply in your apartment. In this case, the charging station is connected to the apartment’s meter, and a balancing device is installed to regulate the voltage spikes during charging. In this case, charging the car and using other appliances in the house that require more electricity will automatically suspend the charging of the car.

If the electricity meter of the apartment is very far away from the parking space, it is not possible to connect the charging station to it. In this case, residents can use the service of the Energy Distribution Operator (ESO) to install an additional meter closer to the parking space. In this case, the resident has two electricity consumption plans and pays separately for the electricity consumed in the apartment and at the charging station.

A third option is to use the electricity inlets in the common areas of the apartment building, where the charging station is connected to the electricity inlet for the common use, and an additional meter is connected to the charging station to account for the electricity consumed. In this case, a balancing device shall also be built to prevent the car from running out of electricity during general use, for example, when opening an automatic garage door.

According to a representative of Inbalance grid, these alternatives are also available to residents who do not own the parking lot, but own it on another basis, such as a lease agreement.

“In this case, all the installation of the charging station has to be carried out by the owner of the car park, who then hands over the management of the station to the tenant, together with the parking space,” says Stankus.

The administrator must be informed of the intended installation

When an electric vehicle charging station is installed, it is connected to the apartment building’s electrical engineering network, the maintenance and technical condition of which is the responsibility of the apartment building’s technical supervisor or the community.

Therefore, the person responsible for the technical condition of the building must assess the compliance of the planned works with the electrical and fire safety requirements before starting the installation of the charging station:

“The administrator must assess the feasibility of installing the charging station in relation to the electrical power to be used, determine whether the electrical cable to be used is suitable for the purpose, and carry out electro-physical measurements,” says a Civinity Namai representative.

According to Mr Kuznetsov, whether the installation of the charging station will be coordinated with the administrator depends mainly on the contractors chosen by the resident:

“Companies that are operating in an orderly manner ask the administrators for permission to build the station, but there are still many companies that ignore the stage of coordination with the administrator. In this case, those who maintain the building’s engineering systems, including the electrical installation, are not aware of the work and the increased electricity demand in the house,” says Kuznecovas.

Public support for the installation of charging stations

To encourage the uptake of electric cars by residents, public support is being offered for private charging infrastructure for electric cars in the courtyards, parking lots or garages of apartment buildings.

The support is open to all natural persons who own, lease or rent a parking space. For the installation of a car charging station on such a site, the State finances between 45% and 60% of the installation cost, depending on the capacity of the station.

According to the CEO of Inbalance grid, the support covers not only the cost of the charging station itself, but also the cost of the dynamic power management equipment, accessories and installation. However, this support is only available to residents who purchase new equipment and not second-hand.

Communities can also benefit from public support. If the charging station is connected to a general-purpose electricity inlet, the support for the installation of the charging station can be as high as 80% for the community.

For residents who keep their cars on the street, their options are limited to public charging stations

Despite the fact that parking spaces are provided in the vicinity of the house and residents have been given permission to park their cars there, they cannot install charging stations there on their own initiative. These parking spaces belong to the municipality and the decision to install a charging station can only be taken by its representatives.

According to a representative of Inbalance grid, the network of charging stations for electric cars is expanding in Lithuania’s major cities, especially in Vilnius, and the number of charging stations is growing not only in the city’s dedicated parking lots, but also near shopping centres and other frequented places.

“We are building EV charging stations near shops, business centres – places where people spend time and can at the same time safely charge their electric car in a filmed and illuminated parking lot. We see that this option is particularly relevant for residents who do not have a dedicated parking space in their apartment building,” says Stankus.