What lies behind Melbourne’s slow uptake of EV chargers in apartments?

Jamie Schachter and his wife are proud electric vehicle (EV) owners, and when they decided to relocate from Queensland to Melbourne, they discovered it wasn’t easy to find an apartment with EV charging stations.

They inspected roughly 20 properties around Melbourne, and not a single one had EV chargers. In the end, they moved into Focus Apartments in Southbank, a building completed in 2022.

However, despite being thrilled with their purchase and enjoying the Southbank lifestyle, they had to compromise by choosing to live in an apartment block without EV charging facilities.

Since moving in, they’ve been unsuccessful in getting a charger installed, despite making multiple enquiries with their building manager, Melbourne Inner City Management (MICM).

After waiting four months for a response, they were told that to explore the option of installing a charger, they would need to seek approval from the owners’ corporation (OC).

Southbank News contacted both MICM and the OC at Focus Apartments for comment.

Employees at MICM advised that this was a question better directed to the OC. However, when a member of the OC was contacted, they said that MICM, as the OC managers, should be able to assist.

In August 2023, MICM’s Owners Corporation Electric Vehicle Guide recommended that OCs should delay installation until federal government EV standards were introduced.

“Currently, the insurance and fire risks are high, and for this reason we suggest the Owners Corporation Committee put any EV projects on hold until we have further information from the government on how they would assist in putting out fires within vertical high-rise buildings,” the guide stated.

“We see additional research from other countries that are five-plus years ahead of Australia, which are now dealing with fire and explosion issues. They are producing specialised fire equipment and considering alternative locations to charge vehicles.”

Since then, federal government EV standards have been introduced. Under the National Construction Code 2022 energy efficiency requirements, new builds must include provisions for EV infrastructure.

All parking spaces in new residential apartment buildings must have EV charging capability, and 10 per cent of spaces in new office and retail buildings must also be equipped.

Former Electric Vehicle Council energy and infrastructure head, Ross De Rango, said that installing the infrastructure needed to charge EVs is often placed in the “too hard basket” by OCs and building managers.

“Owners’ corporations are responsible for all manner of things within a building, and EV charging is not necessarily at the top of their list today,” he said.

However, as the number of EV drivers increases, Mr De Rango believes it will naturally become a priority.

“The total that we spend today on liquid fuels for road transport is about $50 billion a year,” he explained.

“It’ll take something like 30 years to shift the vast majority of the fleet to electric. Once we’ve done that, we’ll be using about $20 billion a year worth of electricity instead of $50 billion a year of liquid fuels.”

Mr De Rango believes it won’t be long before the availability of EV charging in strata buildings starts to affect both rental returns and property desirability, due to it being considered essential by prospective buyers and renters.

EV sales in Australia hit record levels in 2024, with more than 114,000 units sold, accounting for 9.7 per cent of all new car sales. However, despite this growth, internal combustion engine vehicles are still more widely used.

As an early adopter, Jamie Schachter is glad to have made the switch to an electric vehicle, but it hasn’t been without its challenges, and he would like to see chargers become more accessible.

“Either let residents install standard outlets in their parking spots or offer a few shared EV chargers in common areas,” he said. “Meter it or charge us for it – just give people the option.” •