If the electrical infrastructure needs to be upgraded, that will add more costs and might require coordination with local utility companies.
One aspect of infrastructure to be considered when planning an EV charging station is location station relative to an electric power supply. The distance from the community charger location to the power supply impacts the cost—as does the distance of the ground that needs to be excavated (all power is placed underground).
Also, even if the location has access to a power supply, that electrical infrastructure might not have the capacity to support the additional demand of EV chargers. One of the more surprising—and more costly—discoveries for HOAs planning to install community EV charging is that their existing electrical infrastructure doesn’t have the power capacity needed for the additional demand created by the chargers.
Your vendor partner, in conjunction with a licensed electrician or engineer, will assess the capacity of the electrical system and conduct an electric load analysis to determine if upgrades are needed. This analysis involves load sizing to determine the appropriate amount of electrical capacity needed to support the charging of vehicles at the entire charging station.
Factors such as number of chargers, number of ports, charger type, power rating, and simultaneous charging all affect load sizing. Proper load sizing means the electrical system can safely, efficiently and reliably handle the demand from EV chargers without overloading the system.
As your HOA evaluates the electrical infrastructure keep in mind the need for additional chargers in the future and the possibility you might want to add higher charging speeds in the future.