Electric vehicle readiness requirements for new or refurbished buildings
Easy access to charging infrastructure has been shown to have an impact on consumers’ willingness to purchase an electric vehicle (EV). An increasing number of countries have legislated the installation of EV charging infrastructure for new or renovated buildings to meet the projected increasing EV demand. EV readiness requirements refer to the provision of necessary conduits and wiring to parking spaces, enabling chargers to be installed subsequently. It ensures that new and renovated buildings are in a position to contribute to the expansion of the EV charging network, without placing the entire cost for the installation and connection of the chargers on either the developer or occupier.
The Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD), approved in the European Union, mandates that minimum levels of EV readiness be incorporated into building regulations for new and refurbished buildings. The directive stipulates that for non‑residential buildings, at least one-fifth of the parking spaces should be made ready for EV chargers, with at least one charger installed for ten spaces or more. Readiness requirements also apply to all spaces for residential buildings with more than ten parking spaces. In France, legislation mandates that 50-75% of parking bays in new and renovated residential buildings must be pre‑installed with conduits. In California, the building code changes were suggested to increase the percentage of required EV charging spaces for new commercial buildings to 6% and lower the parking lot size threshold to ten parking spaces.
In January 2020, the International Code Council (ICC) approved a new set of voluntary building guidelines that will make all new homes built in the United States “EV-ready”. They call for installing panels, outlets and conduits capable of charging at least one full-size EV in a single-family garage overnight. Multifamily buildings would require two spots, along with more that can be easily retrofitted, a standard known as “EV capable.” The ICC backed this up with research that showed that the United States will need 9.6 million new EV charging ports by 2030.
The CO2 impacts from this measure will come from the consequent penetration of EVs into the fleet, and are subject to the actual capacity of EVs to deliver net greenhouse gas emissions savings (when compared with alternative technologies) on a life-cycle basis, including the need to install a home charger and a portion of publicly available ones.
In the case of California, the total statewide costs to install EV charging infrastructure was estimated at USD 30 million (US dollars) to USD 36 million based on new construction projections between 2017 and 2020 for non‑residential buildings. This was based on estimates that suggest that the initial cost to install EV charging infrastructure at the time of new construction is approximately USD 830 per EV-capable charging space.
The average charger installation cost today, calculated using data from Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, for slow home chargers (alternating current [AC] 4 kilowatts [kW]) is estimated to be USD 650; for slow public chargers (AC 5 kW), USD 6 600; and for fast public chargers (AC or direct current [DC] 47 kW), USD 33 000.
Slow charging (for example in residential or office settings) could help with managing the load profile for the electricity demand, easing pressure on the grid by allowing EVs to be charged outside of peak hours. Slow charging would also be more amenable to the use of renewable energy sources, as the vehicle can charge when the electricity is available, rather than the supply needing to be guaranteed at a specific time. These effects could also be strengthened further by the inclusion of other appliances (such as air conditioners and heat pumps, in addition to EVs) in the pool of small loads, which, through aggregators, can increase the flexibility of the electricity market through demand response.
Vulnerable road users (cyclists and pedestrians) are more exposed to road pollution in congested areas. Separating traffic and allowing mixed, slower traffic through calmer areas can reduce exposure.
The construction of cycle lanes themselves have carbon costs associated with them. In an Irish study, the authors found that a fully isolated greenway embodies 60.4 tonnes of CO2e per km. Therefore, 102 commuters (224 400 passenger kilometres) per year would need to shift from car to cycling, to offset the carbon foot print of a 10km greenway.
ITF (2021) Transport Climate Action Directory – Electric vehicle readiness requirements for new or refurbished buildings
https://www.itf-oecd.org/policy/electric-vehicle-readiness-requirements-...
ITF (2021) Transport Climate Action Directory – Electric vehicle readiness requirements for new or refurbished buildings, weblink
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