EV Charging Infrastructure for Apartment Buildings: What Developers Need to Know (2026)

Electric vehicle adoption is accelerating faster than most developers anticipated. By 2030, most forecasts suggest EV sales will represent the majority of new car purchases. For developers of apartment towers, this creates a real design challenge: how do you future-proof a building's carpark for EV charging without oversizing the electrical infrastructure today?

It's not just a power point in a carpark

The most common misconception about EV charging in apartments is that it's simply a matter of running a power outlet to each carspace. In a residential tower with 100–300 carspaces, that approach would require a supply capacity far in excess of what the building needs — and what Energex will approve.

A properly engineered EV charging system requires: a dedicated EV distribution board (EV DB) separate from the main building board; a bulk meter for body corporate cost recovery; a load management system that limits each charger's output to prevent total EV demand from exceeding available supply; wireless access points for charger network communication; fire alarm shunt-trip integration; and EV-ready conduit to each carspace.

Green Star Credit 17B3

For Green Star-rated projects, Credit 17B3 requires a minimum proportion of carspaces to be EV-capable. PLE delivered EV infrastructure to satisfy this credit at Upper House — a 34-storey, 194-unit tower in South Brisbane for Minicon Builders and Aria Property Group.

What PLE delivers

PLE has delivered EV charging infrastructure on Lagoon Apartments (259 apartments, Main Beach), Belvedere (127 apartments, Main Beach), and Upper House (194 units, South Brisbane). Contact David Hall at dave@pleqld.com or 0402 085 305 to discuss EV infrastructure for your next development.