EV Chargers Are Not Set & Forget

Facilities Managers, Developers and Strata should not treat EV chargers like hot water cylinders.

…installing an EV charger is only 50% of the job, here’s why,

• EV charging in a building is a system, not a stand alone device(s).
• EV Chargers Are Not Set & Forget, don’t let your builder or sparky tell you otherwise.
• They need to be treated more like elevators, with O&M contracts and 24 hour support.

There are 9 key elements that need to be included in a total system;

Electrical capacity – critical to consider both today’s requirement and future growth in line with rapidly changing standards and codes. Don’t get fooled into over specifying though!

User interface – can be app or web, a place where users can see real time data, session info, billing info, notifications, etc.

EV Charger(s) – choose wisely, quality is key, but more expensive isn’t always better. Tethered is almost always a better UX than socket, BYO cable is a terrible experience (IMHO).

Billing functionality – some way to meter and bill users for energy consumption. EV charging shouldn’t be an end of month retrospective bill. Don’t be fooled into thinking only energy retailers (or embedded networks) can do this. Should always be bundled with????user interface.

Load management – be very careful, not all load management systems are built equally. The choice of LMS will impact your infrastructure upgrade costs.

Support Agreement – A super important almost always overlooked part!

There are two components,

1. System O&M – if it stops working who to call, how long to fix?
2. User Support 24/7/365 – for end users trying to charge.

Internet connectivity – almost always ignored!

Two parts,

1. EV chargers (can be WiFi or Ethernet) beware of 4G/5G/cellular only solutions!
2. WiFi for users in the car park to interface with the system and engage with support

Visual Amenity – making it look nice makes your building more attractive!

• A few components to it,
• Painting floors, painting walls.
• Signage, helpful and clear.
• Lighting, make it bright and inviting.
• Workmanship matters!

Managed Service – someone to handle all of the above for you, from design to deployment to ongoing support. It’s a specialist service so engage a specialist who understands and owns the system outcome end to end, for ever.

Caution – ⛔️ ⚠️ be very very careful in breaking up the system listed above ⬆️ across multiple parties, you’re inviting blame shifting by design ‼️