Once you’ve determined the location for your community EV charging station, you’ll need to determine how many charging stalls to include. One rule-of-thumb estimate is two or three charging parking spaces for every 15 regular parking spaces. But whatever metric you use, the number of EV charging parking spaces will depend on the number of EV owners in your HOA and any expected growth in EV ownership.
Determining the appropriate number of charging stations is important because while your HOA wants to accommodate all its members where feasible, you don’t want EV charging stations sitting idle; you want to maximize their use.
Your EV charging partner can help you conduct an inventory for EV stations. This “needs assessment” could include a community survey to learn how many residents currently own or plan to own an electric vehicle. This will help determine the current need for a charging station and the future need for one and help define the scale of the project. The survey can also be helpful getting residents feelings on the project, suggestions for possible locations, concerns about cost, and any other concerns.
As for the layout of EV chargers within the location, this determination is site specific and will vary with each HOA property.
One thing to keep in mind is that the charging station and at least one charger will have to meet any federal, state and local requirements for accessibility as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The best approach is to install a charging station near an ADA accessible parking space, your installation partner can offer guidance on this issue.