All New Homes with Parking to Provide an EV Charge Point

From next year all new homes with associated parking will be required to be fitted with an electric vehicle (EV) charge point. Developments will need to consider the additional electrical needs and costs that this could incur.

The Government has responded to the 2019 consultation (which was summarised in our article earlier this year) and is set to introduce into the Building Regulations the following requirements:

• That all new homes with associated parking within the site boundary have one dedicated charge point. The number of vehicles owned of car parking spaces assigned to a dwelling therefore does not affect the number of charge points provided;
• That enabling infrastructure (defined as space for cable routes and charge points) is set aside for all residential parking spaces which are not specifically assigned to a property;
• That new non-residential buildings with more than 10 parking spaces have one charge point, with enabling infrastructure provided to one in five of the remaining spaces;
• That major renovations (defined as renovation affecting over 25% of a building’s surface area) are subject to similar requirements, except where it can be proven that the existing site electrical capacity cannot accommodate charge points. Specific exemptions are also noted where renovations may be required due to fire-related cladding reasons, or where communal car parks are partly or fully enclosed (e.g. underground).

New homes can also be exempt where it can be proven that introducing a charge point would increase grid connection costs by £3,600 or more (per charge point).

Charge points will be required to be at least 7kW-rated, using cables which are untethered and Mode 3. This should future-proof them so a broad array of vehicle types both now and into the future are compatible.

Legislation is expected to be presented to parliament in the next month, with the regulations proposed to come into force from summer 2022. Like the new Part L proposals, a 12-month grace period from this point will allow the requirements to be avoided on any buildings where work is started prior to the end of the grace period.