Strata EV Charging: The Complete Guide for Owners Corporations
EV adoption is accelerating across Australia. As more Australians drive electric, the question is no longer whether strata buildings need to address EV charging. It is how to do it fairly, affordably, and without creating a management burden.
This guide covers everything a strata committee needs to know: how strata EV charging actually works, why Level 1 (15A) charging is the right answer for apartment buildings, who pays for what, how your building's electrical system is protected, and what a successful rollout looks like in practice.
Whether you're responding to a resident's request or proactively preparing your building for an EV future, this is your complete reference.
Why EV Charging in Strata is Fundamentally Different from a House
When a homeowner installs EV charging, they call an electrician, put a charge point in their garage, and the job is done. The electrical connection is theirs. The car space is theirs. The decision is theirs alone.
In a strata building, almost none of that applies.
The electrical mains connection is shared infrastructure. The car park is typically common property. Cabling routes run through common walls and ceiling spaces. Any modification to shared infrastructure requires Owners Corporation approval, and depending on the scale of work, that may require a special resolution with 50-75% of voting lot entitlements.
This shared nature creates three distinct challenges that homeowners never have to solve:
Shared electrical capacity. Every new charge point adds load to the building's electrical supply. In older buildings especially, the mains may have limited headroom. If unmanaged, multiple residents charging simultaneously can trip circuit breakers or overload the mains connection entirely.
Cost fairness. Non-EV owners shouldn't subsidise EV owners. A well-designed strata EV solution draws a clear line between shared infrastructure costs and individual EV owner costs.
Scalability. A building might have two residents with EVs today and forty in five years. The infrastructure needs to accommodate future demand without requiring repeated committee votes and OC expenditure every time a new resident wants to charge.
A solution that addresses all three of these challenges will win committee approval. One that doesn't tends to fail at the vote, or get approved and then cause problems down the track.
Why Level 1 Charging is the Right Answer for Strata
There's a widespread assumption that Level 2 charging (7kW+, the type marketed as a 'home EV charger') is the standard for residential EV charging, and that Level 1 — a standard 15A power point delivering 3.6kW — is a compromise. In a strata context, that assumption is especially wrong, and studies show that more than 50% of EV owners rely on Level 1 charging even if they live in standalone homes .
Here's why. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average Australian vehicle travels around 33 kilometres per day. Most modern EVs consume around 15–18kWh per 100km, which means the average daily commute uses roughly 5–6kWh of battery.
A standard 15A outlet running at 3.6kW will deliver approximately 29kWh over 8 hours overnight. That replaces nearly five times the energy the average resident uses on a typical day's driving. Even an EV owner who arrives home with the battery at 20% capacity will wake up to a near full charge.
For residents who regularly cover 250 kilometres or more daily, Level 2 may offer a meaningful advantage. But that is a small minority. For the overwhelming majority of strata residents, Level 1 overnight charging is not a compromise. It is a complete solution.
Level 1 charging in strata offers decisive advantages over Level 2:
No proprietary lock-in. Standard 15A GPO outlets are universal. Residents can use any compatible EV charge point. The infrastructure isn't tied to any single brand or platform.
Simpler electrical requirements. Running 15A circuits to car spaces requires far less cable capacity than 7kW Level 2 circuits. More charging spaces can coexist within the building's available electrical capacity.
Easier OC approval. A Level 1 proposal is significantly less capital-intensive than a Level 2 rollout. Committees and non-EV owners are far more likely to vote in favour.
Genuine future-proofing. Because the system uses standard outlets and off-the-shelf charge points, it isn't dependent on any one supplier. The building's EV infrastructure will outlast any specific technology platform.
The Cost Model: Who Pays for What
The most common reason strata EV charging motions fail is ambiguity around costs. Committees worry about open-ended financial exposure. Non-EV owners worry about cross-subsidising their neighbours. Getting the cost structure right — and communicating it clearly — is often the difference between a motion that passes and one that doesn't.
The ReadySteadyPlug model separates costs into three clear categories. The Owners Corporation pays for shared electrical infrastructure (EVDBs, connection to the building's main switchboard, its energy metering that is required for load balancing and that also provides other useful information for everyone in the strata). This is a shared building asset that adds value to every lot, including those owned by non-EV drivers. Each EV owner pays for their individual charge point and connection to the nearest EVDB. And each EV owner pays for the electricity they consume, metered individually and billed automatically through the RSP app.
Non-EV owners contribute only to the shared infrastructure. After that, every dollar flows from EV owners to their own usage.
For a cost estimate tailored to your building, book a free site assessment.
As demand grows, each new EV owner pays their own connection fee to join the existing shared infrastructure. There is no further OC expenditure for each new connection. The committee doesn't need to vote again. The building manager isn't involved. The new resident simply pays their connection fee and registers on the RSP app.
This model is both practical and equitable. The OC funds the shared road into the car park. Individual drivers fund their own driveway.
Dynamic Load Balancing: Protecting Your Building's Electrical System
"Will this overload our building's electrics?" is the most common question strata committees ask, and it's a completely legitimate concern. The honest answer is: it could, if EV charging is installed without proper electrical management. With Dynamic Load Management (DLM), it won't.
RSP's DLM system works by installing energy meters at the building's main switchboard, on common mains, and on any relevant submains. These meters report usage to the RSP management platform in real time.
When EVs are charging and the building's load approaches its safe capacity limit, the system automatically reduces charging rates, throttling them down proportionally across all active charging sessions. When load drops, charging rates automatically increase.
This process is entirely automatic. No one monitors it, no one adjusts it, and it doesn't affect any other electrical system in the building.
Practically, this means:
No risk of tripping the building's mains protection
No manual management required from the building manager or committee
No electrical upgrades needed to start the rollout in most buildings
The system can accommodate significantly more EVs than a simple calculation of rated charger wattages would suggest, because residents don't all charge simultaneously at maximum rate
The committee has a monitoring dashboard showing total EV load at any time
RSP monitors the mains, common mains, and individual submains separately, giving granular visibility into the building's real electrical behaviour, not just theoretical maximums.
Designing for 100% Coverage from Day One
A common mistake in strata EV rollouts is designing just for current demand. A building installs charging for five residents, and when fifteen more want to join, the infrastructure needs to be redesignedand the OC faces another capital expenditure.
The right approach is to design for full coverage from the start, while only activating the spaces where there's immediate demand.
RSP's methodology does exactly this. The shared EVDB panels are sized and positioned to serve all car spaces in the building. Cabling routes are planned for every space, even if cables aren't yet run to spaces without immediate demand. When a new resident wants to join, they simply pay their connection fee to have their space connected to the existing EVDB. No committee vote, no new OC expenditure, no major electrical work.
For a building with 100 car spaces, this means the OC invests once in shared infrastructure designed for 100 spaces, and activates them as demand grows.
Getting Committee Approval: What You Need
Committee approval for EV charging infrastructure is typically smoother when the proposal addresses key concerns directly. Based on experience with strata buildings across NSW, the questions that most often derail approval are:
How much will this cost the OC, and is it a one-off or ongoing?
Will it put up levies for owners who don't have EVs?
Could it damage our building's electrical system?
What happens when more residents want to join in future?
A well-prepared proposal answers all of these directly. It should include a site assessment report from RSP confirming the building's electrical capacity and the recommended infrastructure; a clear cost breakdown showing the OC contribution versus individual EV owner costs; an explanation of how Dynamic Load Balancing protects the building's electrical system; and a scalability statement confirming that future residents can join without further OC expenditure.
Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), alterations to common property typically require approval at a general meeting. We recommend consulting your strata manager when preparing your formal motion. For more on the legal framework, see our guide to NSW strata law and EV charging.
RSP provides a complete committee proposal package as part of the free site assessment process, including draft motion language and a presentation that can be shared with committee members before the vote.
What a Real Strata Installation Looks Like
The best way to understand how strata EV charging works in practice is to look at buildings that have done it. RSP has installed systems across NSW, from small boutique buildings to large-scale complexes. Two case studies are worth noting.
North Ryde (160 lots): Three 12-pole EVDBs installed across the car park, providing coverage for 36 initial spaces with infrastructure designed for full 160-lot coverage. Full communications redundancy, operating without requirement for Wi-Fi network in car park area. Mains, common mains, and two submains all metered separately.
Meadowbank (154 lots, 213 car spaces): Three underground parking levels with no Wi-Fi or cellular coverage in the basement. RSP deployed its Smart Level 1 EV charging solution across all levels for 13 initial spaces, with a pathway designed to reach 100% coverage. No car-park-wide data network required. Mains, common mains, and one submain all metered separately
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a resident install their own charge point without OC approval?
No. If the installation involves common property — which it almost always does in a strata car park — OC approval is required. Installing electrical infrastructure in common property without approval is a breach of strata by-laws and potentially a safety risk.
What if our building's electrical mains are old?
This is assessed as part of RSP's free site assessment. In most buildings, the Dynamic Load Balancing system manages charging load within existing capacity without requiring a mains upgrade. If a mains upgrade is eventually needed, RSP's monitoring system will identify when that threshold is approaching, giving the OC time to plan.
What happens when a lot is sold?
Basically nothing - the infrastructure remains in place and the new owner can enjoy the convenience of charging their EV in their car park, or if it was not installed by previous owner, they can connect to the existing system by paying their own connection fee — no committee vote or new OC expenditure required.
Thinking about EV charging for your building?
Start with a conversation. We'll ask a few questions about your building and let you know what's involved — no commitment required.
