Belinda Bagnall of Residentsline, provides block managers a brief guide on EV chargers.

As electric vehicles become more common among residents and their guests, block managers who’ve yet to take the plunge may well be thinking of adding EV charging stations to their facilities.

Here we’ll be explaining the financial support available, the many benefits of bringing your block up to modern specifications, and how we can help.

Financial Support

June 2022 saw the launch of a government scheme to help many building owners boost EV charging infrastructure across the UK. The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) offer grants to commercially let property owners, landlords and social housing providers as well as owners of apartment buildings. There are two routes to choose from:

  • An EV Chargepoint Grant

“This gives you money off the cost of installing an electric vehicle chargepoint socket. You can get either £350 or 75% off the cost to buy and install a socket, whichever amount is lower. You can receive up to 200 grants a year for residential properties, and a further 100 for commercial properties.”

  • An EV Infrastructure Grant

“This gives you money off the cost of wider building and installation work that’s needed to install multiple chargepoint sockets. The work can be for sockets you want to install now and in the future. For example, an EV infrastructure grant can cover things like wiring and posts. You can get up to £30,000 or 75% off the cost of the work. The amount depends on how many parking spaces the work covers. You can receive up to 30 grants a year for installing infrastructure in residential carparks.”

Eligibility

You can apply for either grant if you’re a:

  • landlord with property to let
  • RTM company
  • RMC
  • company or person owning the freehold of a property that is let or leased
  • company owning a building’s common areas, including shareholders who are the leaseholders
  • property factor in Scotland
  • private registered provider of social housing (PRP)
  • public sector organisation – for example government departments, local councils, the armed forces or the NHS and emergency services
  • charity that manages or owns residential property

You must be a business registered at Companies House. If not, you must be VAT registered with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Your property must be in the UK (not the Channel Islands or Isle of Man) and you can apply for flats, houses, apartment blocks and commercial properties. If you’re letting out a commercial property, the chargepoint can only be used by the building’s staff and vehicles, not by members of the public. Each parking space must be off-street, private and clearly defined. It doesn’t have to be part of the property but it must be accessible to residents and owned by you, or be one you have the legal right to.

Additional Requirements for the EV Infrastructure Grant

In addition to the above, if you’re applying for an EV infrastructure grant, you must:

  • be using it for a property with multiple homes. For example an apartment block, or estate with buildings that share a car park
  • be installing at least one chargepoint socket as part of the work
  • carry out work on at least 5 parking spaces, so they either have chargepoint sockets or are ready to have them installed in the future

Why Take the Plunge?

Besides the obvious need to do what we can to protect the environment, there are many reasons to bring your block up to spec for EV drivers. Around 40% of UK households lack access to a garage or driveway. Leaseholders will form a large part of this percentage and so the EV drivers among them will be largely reliant on public chargepoints. This is inconvenient for them and the coverage, while improving all the time, is not great in all areas. Public charge points are also more expensive to use. As part of the Government’s commitment to climate change action, all new builds now have to include charge points. (Or the infrastructure needed for future charge points) by law. This means that leaseholders who drive electric vehicles will have more and more choice, and your block could fall behind. Installing charge points at your block ensures that you’re keeping up with the times and remain an attractive option for EV drivers.

How We Can Help

Part of the OZEV grant legislation states that only OZEV-approved contractors can be used throughout the installation of charge points. Residentsline are now able to project-manage an OZEV-accredited service across the UK via the British Engineering Services Group. The BESG can help with everything from your initial survey to making your new charge points live and ready for use. They will work closely with you to design a quality solution that meets your specific needs whil considering:

  • Aesthetics: installations can be discreet and compact or bold and robust, whatever works for you
  • Charging speed: slow, fast and rapid charging solutions are available to meet your needs

To get started, all we need is:

  • Your full site address
  • Pictures of the mains electrical incomer and most localised distribution board feeding the chargers
  • Pictures of the charger location and any cable/civils route

This information can be sent directly to info@residentsline.co.uk. We will discuss your requirements with the BESG before coming back to you with a quote and to discuss next steps. Head to the Residentsline website for information on all of our products and services or, if you’d like to speak to one of our fantastic, specialist team, give us a call on 0800 281 235.