Property Management
June 17, 2024 Published by British Columbia Chapter - By Tom Nicol
Future-Proofing The EV Infrastructure In Multi-Storey High Rises With Load Management: Learn From A Successful Case
From CCI BC Strata Connection Magazine, Volume 02, Spring/Summer 2024
It takes a multitude of efforts for Canadians to adopt the electric vehicle (EV] lifestyle fully. Much like the rest of the world, this goes beyond cultural change in habits and mindset alone. Forward-thinking is necessary if we want to tackle potential future pain points. As the father of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, puts it: “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success”.
Let’s see how developers and strata managements approach EV charging infrastructure internationally. It may shed some light on ways we can approach it in major cities in Canada.
CASE STUDY:
THE ARLES (Hong Kong) Multi-storey Residential Car Park + Visitor Car Park
| Description | Number | Remarks |
| No. of units | 1,335 | |
| No. of towers | 4 | |
| No. of Residential Car Parking Space | 196 | Basement floor |
| No. of Visitors’ Parking Space | 18 | Basement floor |
CHALLENGE:
In 2021, property developer CentralCon engaged I-Charge on a major project to provide multiple EV charging facilities at one of its largest residential car parks. After several discussions with the CentralCon leadership group, it was clear this was going to be a significant undertaking. How to quickly serve the existing demand for EV charging? How to future-proof the EV infrastructure so that it is scalable? How do we balance various competing factors, such as fairness between EV and non-EV drivers, sustainability, scalability, and lower carbon emission?
SOLUTION:
Having previously worked on other major EV charging projects close by to this site, our I-Charge team well understood fluctuating drivers’ usage patterns in the busy area. It was important we designed our electrical and mechanical infrastructure accordingly to ensure the charging experience for drivers was reliable and robust. In addition, a new EV charging project of this scale would require technical excellence and innovation. Following a period of consultation, the developer commissioned I-Charge to install 195 charging units across the car park’s six levels. A 32A Single-Phase AC charger manufactured by Setec Power and Schneider Electric was selected for installation at all locations on this site, with each unit providing a maximum output of 7kW. Not only did the developer choose an OCPP 1.6J certified charger band agnostic Charging Station Management System (CSMS) on the network, but it also deployed a leading Load Management System (LMS) across this site. The installation of a dynamic LMS was essential to ensure the maximum number of chargers at any time could cater to the maximum number of car park users, whether it was busy or quiet or whether charging demand was high or low. Power Sharing and Smart Queuing functionalities were also activated on all charging units to ensure the highest standards of power management were adhered to - which was of particular importance to the client given The Arles is the flagship, environmentally friendly and high-end property of the developer. Residents can use their resident card or mobile app to control the start/stop of their own charger. I-Charge also provided a Pay-Wavetype kiosk and mobile payment options for the Visitors’ Parking. Users are charged by kWh. The Load Management System deployed for this project has now become the gold standard for EV charging Load Management Systems, which is now stipulated in many other Hong Kong public and private enterprises’ tenders.
RESULTS:
| Description | Number | Results |
| No. of Residential Car Parking Space | 196 | 90.31% of the residential car park have charging facilities. |
| No. of Residential Car Parking Space with EV chargers | 177 | 32A Single-Phase, maximum output 7kW |
| No. of Visitors’ Parking Space | 18 | 94% of Visitors’ car park have EV charging facilities |
| No. of Visitors’ Parking Space with EV charger & payment system | 17 | Kiosk and mobile payment 32A Single-Phase, maximum output 7kW |
| No. of Payment Kiosk (Visitors’ Parking) | 1 | |
| Brand of Charger | Schneider Electric & Setec Power | The CSMS and LMS are charger brand agnostic and OCPP 1.6J Fuly certified and Security certified |
| Brand of Charger Management System | I-Charge Solutions | The CSMS is charger brand agnostic and OCPP 1.6J Fuly certified and Security certified |
| Brand of Load Management System | I-Charge Solutions | The LMS are charger brand agnostic and OCPP 1.6J Fuly certified and Security certified |
Tom Nicol
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