Electric vehicles are now part of many business and government fleets in Western Australia, and tenants and visitors increasingly expect somewhere to charge. Getting EV charging right starts well before a charger is mounted on the wall.
AC or DC charging?
- AC chargers use the Type 2 connector standard in Australia. They typically deliver around 7 kW on a single-phase supply or up to 22 kW on three-phase, which suits vehicles parked for several hours: staff car parks, fleet depots and overnight charging.
- DC fast chargers use the CCS2 connector and deliver much higher power, which suits public sites and vehicles that need a quick top-up between jobs. They need significantly more electrical capacity and cost more to install.
For most workplaces and fleets, AC charging covers daily needs, with DC charging added only where vehicles must turn around quickly.
Check your site’s electrical capacity first
Every charger adds load to your building. Before choosing chargers, an electrical contractor should assess your main switchboard, supply capacity and existing demand. Some sites have plenty of spare capacity; others need a switchboard upgrade or a supply increase from the network.
Use load management to do more with less
Load management shares the available power between chargers and adjusts charging around the building’s other demand. It often allows more chargers to be installed without an expensive supply upgrade, and helps avoid peak demand charges.
Plan for the full life of the chargers
- Bay locations, signage and accessible parking
- Software for access control, usage reports and billing
- Cabling and switchboard capacity for future chargers
- Scheduled maintenance and fast repairs so chargers stay available
EV charging experience in WA
Foster’s Services has worked on WALGA’s EV charging program, which is installing 105 charging stations across 22 local governments. Our specialist brand, EV Charging Systems, designs, supplies, installs and maintains EV chargers for car parks, tenants and fleets across WA. Call 08 9337 3315, email service@fosters.net.au or send us a message. For urgent after-hours faults, call 1300 19 19 42.
This article is general information only. Always refer to the current editions of the relevant Australian Standards and your site’s own requirements.