Before installing EV chargers, you should think about what EV charging policies you will implement at your site. Will the EV chargers be open to the public or restricted to a certain user group? Are the chargers going to be monetized or free for EV drivers to use? Will the same policy apply to every charger at your site, or will you mix and match permissions and pricing?
Whatever policy you choose, ensure that the signage posted at your site and notices circulated to employees/residents mirror the policies you set in your dashboard.
Multi-family
Multi-family charging may be the most important commercial EV charging use case. Since over 80% of all EV charging sessions occur at home, it’s crucial for apartments and condo buildings to offer EV charging.
In recent years, many apartments and condos have found that offering EV charging is not optional. Whether you are mandated by local laws, or simply overwhelmed by requests from residents, most multi-family buildings will find themselves installing EV infrastructure sooner rather than later.
There are two main modes of multi-family charging: we call them “dedicated charging” and “community charging”. Both can exist within the same building.
Dedicated charging
With dedicated charging, each resident gets their own EV charger in their private parking space. This most simulates the single-family home charging experience: your own parking space, and your own EV charger. Dedicated chargers make up the overwhelming majority of EV chargers in condo buildings. Since residents have already paid to own their own parking space, they are willing to pay to have a dedicated EV charger installed in it. While less common, dedicated chargers can also be popular in rental apartments.
With dedicated EV chargers, we recommend letting the end owner of the dedicated charger set access control settings. Dedicated chargers can act just like public chargers, where the driver must authenticate using an RFID card or app before charging. Alternatively, you can enable “auto-start” from your dashboard. This will start charging as soon as an EV plugs in; no authentication is needed. With auto-start enabled, all usage fees will be automatically billed to the EV driver account linked to the specific dedicated charger.
While owners of dedicated chargers can select their own access settings, the condo board or building management almost always sets usage fees, since EV chargers run off the building’s shared electric panel.
Community charging
Community chargers are installed in common parking spaces for multiple residents or visitors to share. Visitor parking spaces within multi-family buildings are a great place to install community chargers.
Since multiple different users can use community chargers, your dashboard's authentication and billing system is essential to ensure users are billed accurately. With your dashb oard, you can even set separate fees for residents vs. visitors if you wish.
Community charging is most popular in rental apartments, especially buildings with no dedicated parking spaces. If you have visitor parking spaces in your condo building, we also recommend you install a few community chargers.
Even if you offer dedicated chargers at your building, community chargers bring a number of benefits:
- A backup if a resident’s dedicated charger breaks or needs maintenance.
- A place for residents who just purchased an EV to charge while they are waiting for their dedicated charger to be installed.
- A charging spot for residents who do not want to pay for a dedicated charger.
- A place for authorized visitors to charge their EVs.
- Can double as workplace changing for employees of the building (property managers, front desk, maintenance staff).