Step 1: Assess Electrical Capacity
Understand your switchboard capacity, phase availability and cable run distances before selecting chargers.
Step 2: Get Strata or Owners Corporation Approval
Prepare a formal proposal with cost estimates, a load management plan and a draft by-law.
Step 3: Choose the Right Charging Setup
Select individual bays, shared common property chargers, or a whole-of-building infrastructure approach.
Step 4: Installation, Compliance and By-Laws
Engage a licensed electrician, obtain certificates of compliance, and finalise the strata by-law.
Before selecting chargers or raising a motion with your strata committee, a basic electrical assessment is essential. Most apartment buildings and commercial car parks built before 2020 were not designed with EV charging in mind, and the existing switchboard may not support multiple chargers running simultaneously.
A licensed electrician or EV charging consultant should assess the following:
For apartments and townhouses with individual distribution boxes and metering, it may be possible to simply add an additional circuit or reuse an existing one. Load control may be required to manage the overall building load once chargers are installed.
This is the step most residents and committees find daunting, but the legal landscape has shifted considerably in favour of EV charging in 2025.
What Approval Do You Need?
| State | Approval Required | Vote Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Yes, for common property works | Simple majority (50%) for sustainability infrastructure |
| VIC | Yes, owners corporation approval | Special resolution (75%) for works over $30,000 |
| QLD | Yes, body corporate approval | Ordinary resolution for minor works; special for major |
| SA / WA / TAS / ACT | Yes, strata committee approval | Varies by state legislation; check local rules |
Heritage-Listed Buildings
Owners corporations in states with the 2025 strata reforms in place cannot refuse EV charger installations on aesthetic grounds alone. However, if your building is heritage listed, additional planning approvals may be required regardless of the strata vote outcome.
How to Put the Proposal Together
Approaching a strata committee with a well-prepared proposal significantly increases the likelihood of approval. A strong proposal should include:
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for apartment and car park charging. The right setup depends on building size, parking configuration, budget, and how many residents are likely to need charging in the coming years.
Option A: Individual Charging at Dedicated Car Spaces
Each resident installs their own charger at their allocated car space, billed through their individual electricity meter. This approach works well in smaller buildings where residents have deeded parking spots and individual distribution boards. This is best suited to apartments and townhouses with individual distribution boxes and metering similar to a standalone house. It resolves questions of access or usage charges, as EV charging is included in the resident’s existing meter and electricity billing.
Option B: Shared Chargers on Common Property
The owners corporation installs one or more shared chargers in the car park, managed through a booking system or smart charger app. Residents pay per use, and the building controls access. For medium buildings of 11 to 100 apartments, one or two charging modules would support around 12 EVs, which exceeds the estimated 10% uptake over 10 years. If there are sufficient car park spaces and the owners corporation can manage a scheduling system, a common property approach may be suitable. Many progressive buildings are now installing one or two high-speed 22kW chargers in visitor spots, with residents using an app to unlock the charger. The building can set a small electricity markup, meaning the EV chargers help offset communal electricity costs.
Option C: Whole-of-Building Infrastructure
For large buildings of over 100 apartments, a whole-of-building approach provides sufficient infrastructure to allow EV charging to be provided to each owner’s car space as required. This is a long-term investment aimed at future-proofing EV charging requirements. This involves installing backbone electrical infrastructure throughout the car park so individual chargers can be added to any bay in the future without major additional works. The upfront cost is higher, but long-term savings on retrofitting are significant.
Load Management: A Non-Negotiable for Multi-Bay Settings
Load management is the technology that prevents multiple chargers from drawing peak power simultaneously and overloading the building’s switchboard. In any building with more than two or three chargers, a load management system is essential. Smart load management solutions can integrate with kitchen or HVAC loads to shed non-critical loads if the total electrical draw is about to exceed safe limits. Circuit segregation keeps EV charger circuits separate from major appliance circuits to prevent competition for available power.
| Building Type | Recommended Option | Key Consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Small (under 10 units) | Individual chargers at dedicated bays | Individual metering keeps billing simple |
| Medium (11 to 100 units) | Shared common property chargers | Smart charger app for access and billing |
| Large (100+ units) | Whole-of-building infrastructure | Future-proof backbone reduces long-term retrofit cost |
| Commercial car park | Shared chargers with OCPP billing software | Revenue generation via pay-per-use model |
Who Can Install the Chargers?
All EV charger installations in Australian apartment buildings and car parks must be carried out by a licensed electrician. Installations must comply with AS/NZS 3000 Wiring Rules and AS/NZS 3018 EV charging standard. Licensed electricians must provide a Certificate of Compliance on completion. If switchboard or meter room changes affect fire escape routes, a fire engineer may need to assess egress and heat loads.
What Should the By-Law Cover?
A comprehensive EV charging by-law for a strata building should address the following:
What Does It Cost?
Costs vary considerably based on building size, switchboard condition, and the number of chargers being installed. As a ballpark guide for a 30-unit building wanting four shared chargers with load balancing, total costs including switchboard upgrades are typically in the range of $30,000 to $40,000. This can be recovered via a special levy spread across quarterly levies over five years.
Is Ev Charging In Apartments A Fire Risk?
This is the most common objection raised by strata committees, and the evidence does not support the concern. NRMA data shows only 13 EV fires between 2021 and 2026, compared to 11,582 internal combustion engine fires over the same period. EV chargers installed to Australian standards include ground-fault detection and over-current protection as standard. The risk profile of a properly installed Level 2 wall charger is comparable to any other high-draw appliance in the building. Having the right solution installed by certified installers does not increase fire insurance premiums and does not increase the overall fire safety risk of the building.
What Government Grants Are Available?
Several state governments and local councils offer financial assistance to increase the number of EV charging facilities in strata buildings. Check the following for current funding opportunities:
Recommended for car parks and apartment buildings
| Ocular IQ Commercial | Supports OCPP software integration for billing, access control and load management. Ideal for shared common property chargers in medium to large buildings. |
| Ocular IQ Wallbox or IQ Commercial | For individual bay installations — IQ Wallbox suits indoor/covered bays, IQ Commercial suits outdoor exposed car parks due to its heavy duty metallic design for all climates. Both support OCPP billing and load management. |
| DC Fast Chargers | For larger car parks or high-turnover commercial sites where rapid vehicle turnaround is a priority. Output from 20kW up to 1MW depending on site requirements. |
They can raise objections, but since the 2025 strata reforms, owners corporations in NSW cannot refuse an installation on aesthetic grounds alone unless the building is heritage listed. In most states, EV charging is now classified as sustainability infrastructure, making it significantly harder to block outright.
In most cases, yes. If the installation touches common property such as shared wiring, walls or the car park floor, you will need strata or owners corporation approval. In NSW, a simple majority vote of 50% is now sufficient for most EV charging upgrades classified as sustainability infrastructure.
A good starting point is planning for 10% of car spaces to have charging capability within the next five to ten years, and ensuring the backbone electrical infrastructure can accommodate future growth beyond that. An EVSE consultant can help size the installation correctly based on your building’s current and projected EV uptake.
Load management is software that controls how multiple chargers share the available electrical capacity in a building. Without it, several chargers running at full power simultaneously could exceed the switchboard’s capacity. It is essential for any building installing more than two or three chargers.
This depends on the setup. With individual chargers at dedicated bays, residents pay through their own electricity meter. With shared common property chargers, buildings typically use a smart charger system where residents are billed per kilowatt-hour through an app, with the building recovering electricity costs plus any management fees.
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