EV Charging for Strata

Greetings from the Inner West Footprint EcoFestival. One interesting display is from Alchemy Charge offering low cost electric car charging for apartment blocks, using ordinary power points. They have overcome the problem of overloading the building's power supply (or an expensive upgrade) using smart power points. Each box screwed to the wall is controlled by WiFi, to ration the amount of charge provided to each vehicle. 

The challenge for Alchemy will be convincing home owners that low capacity chargers will be worthwhile. Cars are only driven a few km a day, so a low capacity charger will be fine. But the driver thinks they need a full charge quickly.

Last year I was on a committee advising the ACT how to reduce carbon emissions (Turner Et. Al, 2023). Canberra has already implemented many measures, making new ones harder. Especially hard are measures for apartment buildings , as all decisions on changes have to be made jointly, with the costs, and benefit shared. One way I suggested was with Smart low cost power controller/monitors for EVs. This is essentially what Alchemy offer, but with more purpose designed electronics. 

Reference

Towards Net Zero in ACT Apartments, Tim Turner, Robin Eckermann, Jeffory Mitchell, Brand Hoff, Robin Stanton, Glen Hassett , Craig Davis, Tom Worthington, Amy Jowers Suburb, Marea Fatseas, Mishka Talent, Dean Spaccavento, Daniel Shaddock, Lachlan Blackhall, ACT Chapter, Pearcey Foundation, 2023