Installing an EV charger in an apartment or townhouse

In most apartment buildings and townhouse developments, each owner holds a lot and the owners corporation looks after common property. The plan of subdivision shows which is which. Some car spaces are part of a lot, some sit on common property with an exclusive use arrangement, and some are simply allocated.

That decides the approval path. A townhouse garage on your own lot, wired from your own switchboard, can often be treated much like a house, because the work stays inside your lot. A space in a shared basement in Port Melbourne or Kensington usually has common property somewhere between your meter and your car.

The charger has to be fed from a supply you pay for. In a townhouse, that is usually your own switchboard, with a new circuit run to the garage. In an apartment block, your unit's board may be floors above the car park, and a cable from it can be long and cross areas you don't own.

The alternatives are a sub-board near the car park that serves only your space, or a building-wide charging supply with each charger metered so the right owner is billed. Which suits depends on where the meters are, how much spare capacity the building's supply has and what the owners corporation is prepared to manage.

Energy Safe Victoria says the property owner is responsible for the electrical installation from the point of supply. In a subdivided building, which length of cable belongs to which owner depends on the plan and the owners corporation, so confirm it before anyone works on mains or a shared meter panel.

Even a short basement run can cross common property: along the car park ceiling, past storage cages, through a wall or up a riser. Each crossing needs approval. Where cable passes through a wall or slab that separates parts of the building, the hole has to be sealed properly afterwards, so ask the building manager who checks that.

In a townhouse development, the question is usually the driveway. A garage backing onto your own meter box is often a short run. A carport across a shared driveway may need trenching through common property, which means approval, a plan for reinstating the surface and agreement on who looks after the cable.

One charger on one unit's supply is a question about that unit's switchboard and mains. Ten chargers in a basement is a question about the whole building's supply. If every car plugs in after work at full rate, the building can run short just as residents are cooking and heating.

Load management is the usual answer. A sensor measures what the building or unit is drawing, and the chargers share what is left, slowing when demand is high and picking up overnight. Most cars sit parked far longer than they need to charge, so a slower evening rarely matters.

If the supply genuinely can't carry the chargers residents want, the connection may need upgrading. Consumer mains, the main switchboard and the meter box are prescribed work in Victoria, inspected by a Licensed Electrical Inspector before switch-on. Connection changes also go through the distributor, which in parts of Port Melbourne is CitiPower.

Write to the owners corporation manager or committee with what you want installed, the charger's make and model, a sketch of the cable route, how it will be metered and how it will look. Wait for approval in writing before booking work that touches common property. If you rent, you need the rental provider's consent as well.

If several owners are asking, raise it at a general meeting. One building-wide plan with a shared supply, load management and fair billing avoids a basement full of separate cable runs, and leaves room for the next owner who buys an EV.

Once approved, the work is a dedicated circuit with safety switch protection, cable fixed along the agreed route and the charger mounted where its lead reaches the charge port. It comes with a Certificate of Electrical Safety; give the manager a copy so future committees know what runs where.