Mandatory charging point for apartment buildings

The rise of electric cars should be supported...

Europe has been working on new building regulations in order to stimulate sales. As a result, the installation of charging points for electric cars or the cabling for these will be a mandatory requirement for new or renovated buildings with more than ten parking spaces.

By introducing this, the European Parliament wants to win over people who are currently not buying electric cars because they are afraid of them running out of power while they are on the road.

Providing a sufficient supply of charging points throughout Europe is the only way to “revolutionise” electric cars.

Private or public?

It is necessary to make a distinction between charging points in public spaces (e.g. public roads) and at private properties such as apartment buildings, shopping centres,…

Back in 2014, Europe voted on a Directive which made it mandatory for each member state to have installed an “appropriate” number of charging points in public spaces by the end of 2020. For Flanders, that means 5,000 charging points.

The European Parliament recently voted on a Directive on the number of charging points that must be installed for private properties by 2025. Consequently, it is now mandatory in Europe to install one charging point for every ten parking spaces for new or renovated buildings.

Therefore for the time being, this obligation will still not apply to existing buildings but only to new or renovated buildings with at least ten car parking spaces.

The term ‘buildings’ is understood to refer to both residential and non-residential properties under private ownership.

In the case of non-residential buildings – such as SME units, shops,... – at least one out of every ten parking spaces must have the cabling required in order to install a charging point.

Although 2025 still seems a long way off and this directive only applies to new or renovated buildings, it is advisable to put the matter of installing charging points on the agenda now for existing buildings under co-ownership in order to enable a policy regarding electric vehicles which is supported by the majority to be laid down.

For don’t forget that from January 2019, every individual co-owner will also have the right to install cables in communal areas for an individual charging point in the garage complex, for example. Therefore a collective approach is definitely recommended for this type of situation.