How will it affect renovation of existing buildings?
Under new legislation announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in November 2021, new builds and properties undergoing major renovation, will be required to install electric vehicle charge points from 2022.
Up to 145,000 extra charge points will be installed across England each year thanks to these regulations.
“This is a pivotal moment – we cannot go on as we are. We have to adapt our economy to the green industrial revolution” – Boris Johnson
How does this affect renovation projects?
Under the new legislation major renovations on buildings that have, or will have over 10 parking spaces, will be required to provide one charging point for dwellings with associated parking.
Any further spaces must be provided with cabling for future EV charge points, this will maintain consistency with new homes and will maximize the potential benefits of this policy.
Buildings undergoing material change of use to create new dwellings, will also need to have one charge point for every new dwelling with associated parking within the site boundary of the
building.
The motivation is future proofing, the government claims: “This course of action will ensure greater cost savings in comparison to retrofitting of charge points, greater efficiencies due to economies of scale and provide confidence in the availability of electric vehicle charging equipment”.
Potential difficulties properties may face
Concerns were raised on the potential impact that these regulations may have on the viability of housing projects and as a result the government have decided to implement the following exemptions:
Cost – The government will introduce a two-tier exemption for major renovations.
Exemption would apply if the installation cost of EV chargers exceeds 7% of the total cost of the renovation works.
If this is the case, cable routes ensuring future proofing to all car parking spaces will need to be installed. The same exemption would apply if the cost of cable routes exceeds 7% of the total cost of the renovation works.
This will allow smaller projects where funds are restricted to addressing essential works to go ahead without the need to comply.
Existing power supply limitations – For residential buildings undergoing major renovation, the policy will only require the installation of the number of charge points which can be accommodated within the existing power supply. In short, upgrades to electrical supplies involving the DNO can be extremely costly, this exemption takes this into consideration meaning that a project would be classed as exempt if it is unable to fulfil the requirements with its current capacity.
Interested?
Whether you have plans to carry out large scale renovation works or are just interested in EV charging for your block and want to know your options, you can rely on A S Ramsay to offer the best and most up to date advice.
We are happy to attend site, carry out a free site survey and discuss the available options, including load balancing and how to get the best out of your current electrical capacity.
Author: Claudio Cannas Mechanical and Electrical Manager