Been in this block eighteen months now, one of five owners with an EV (up from two last year, so it's clearly not a phase). There's a shared underground garage, everyone's got a numbered space, but only two spaces near the old caretaker's room actually have a GPO close enough to reach. Committee put a proposal to the last AGM for a shared L2 setup near the lift core, three of us split the quote, seemed reasonable. Got voted down — a few owners without EVs didn't want to set a precedent for the building subsidising anyone's petrol savings, was basically the argument.
So now I'm stuck. My own space is about 12 metres from the nearest GPO, no way to run an extension cord that far without it becoming a trip hazard across the aisle. I could pay an electrician to run a dedicated GPO just to my own bay, at my own cost, no shared infrastructure involved. Is that actually within my rights as an owner without going through the same committee fight? Or does anything touching the common property garage still need a vote regardless of who's paying?
A dedicated GPO to your own bay is usually a common-property by-law question, not a capital works motion — different process to what got voted down at the AGM. Our building approved five of these individually after our shared install stalled, cheaper and faster than reopening the whole fight. Ask the committee for that specific motion, not another 'EV charging' line item — the wording is what gets it through.
Does that still need to go to a full AGM, or can the committee sign off on it outside of that?
Ours went through as an out-of-session resolution, no AGM wait, about a month once the wording was right. All five owners did it the same way once the first one set the precedent.
Twelve metres off the nearest GPO is well past what you'd want tapping off an existing circuit anyway. At that distance get a dedicated run straight from the switchboard priced separately — ask for it as its own circuit, not an extension of whatever's already feeding that wall.
Would that mean digging up the garage floor for new cable, or is there usually existing conduit down there already?
Most underground carparks built in the last twenty years already have spare conduit or cable tray in for exactly this. Ask the building manager for the electrical as-builts before anyone assumes a full dig-up, that's rarer than people think.
Had this exact fight in my building a couple of years back and just gave up. Carry my own Type 2 cable now and use the public untethered chargers near the port. Cheaper in time than arguing with a committee that didn't want to set a precedent.
Wouldn't give up that early if I were you. The individual by-law route is usually a lot less contested than the shared install once the building isn't being asked to pay for anyone's power.
Half the BYD and MG owners I know in apartments hit the exact same wall. Got nothing to do with the car, it's entirely a building politics problem once you're past the dealer.
Never had to deal with any of this myself, own house, solar, charger's on its own circuit. Reading threads like this is the first time I've properly clocked how much of the apartment problem is politics rather than anything electrical.
Granny charger straight off a GPO's been fine for me, but that's a house on its own board with nothing else pulling off it. A shared garage on a building switchboard isn't really the same risk profile.
same exact fight happening in my building
Still just researching, but does a dedicated GPO like this need a fresh quote each time, or can the same sparky who did the first four just do a fifth on the same wording?