EV Chargepoints to enter Building Regulations

Electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints will soon be essential for new homes due to the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars (hybrids to be banned from 2035), with Government now also proposing to mandate their inclusion through the Building Regulations.

The widespread uptake of EVs and chargepoints suffers from a classic chicken and egg dilemma. A consultation ran by the DfT in autumn 2019 aims to assist in navigating this challenge. It requires all new homes with an associated car parking space, and non-residential buildings with more than 10 car parking spaces, to install EV chargepoints.

The proposals seek for a minimum 7kW chargepoint. For most houses the consultation expects this to fit within the standard 23kW home connection. For apartment blocks and non-residential buildings greater electrical capacity will be needed due to the installation and use of multiple EV chargepoints. This pressure would only increase if developers were looking to install fast AC (20kW+) or even rapid (50kW+) DC chargepoints.

The consultation states that if a developer could prove EV chargepoints would make a development unviable then an exemption may be permitted under very specific circumstances.

Government has yet to respond to this consultation. A separate consultation which seeks to standardise and simplify payment processes for public EV chargepoints was launched in February 2021.