Charging As A Service: How Apartments Can Plug Into EV Savings

Australia’s push to expand EV charging in apartment buildings has received a boost, with ARENA awarding $1.51 million for a lower-cost charging-as-a-service rollout across strata apartment buildings.

How Can Apartments Share Power Points For EV Charging?

The project, developed by EV charging provider ReadySteadyPlug, combines standard power outlets with dedicated EV distribution boards, modular metering, dynamic load management, and cloud-based billing systems designed specifically for multi-residential buildings.

Over three years, the rollout will target at least 64 apartment sites, including installation of up to 428 charging outlets and supporting infrastructure.

ARENA says the project will test the technical and commercial viability of low-power apartment charging, while also examining whether a charging-as-a-service model can help reduce barriers such as high upfront costs, landlord hesitation, and slow strata approval processes.

In practice, this may provide an early entry point for apartment EV charging.

An Early-Stage Solution For Apartment EV Charging

Slow charging from a standard household outlet is already common in detached homes, where vehicles often remain parked overnight long enough for a full recharge.

Apartments are more complex, with residents parking and charging at different times and for varying durations, all within the limits of existing electrical capacity.

ReadySteadyPlug’s system combines low-power charging with central load management, individual metering, and automated billing so residents are charged only for the energy they use.

The company says this can avoid the need for major electrical upgrades, helping lower upfront costs for owners corporations and residents.

For apartment complexes that would otherwise struggle to justify dedicated EV charging infrastructure, this may make early-stage rollout more achievable.

ReadySteadyPlug’s app provides key information and the ability to schedule charging.

Can EV Charging Be Added Without Major Upgrades?

Claims that these systems avoid electrical upgrades need context. Whether upgrades are required depends heavily on a building’s existing electrical capacity and configuration.

Factors can include:

• available spare capacity in the switchboard
• condition and age of existing wiring
• whether parking areas already have suitable electrical supply
• overall electrical demand across the building

Importantly, ReadySteadyPlug’s system includes dedicated EV distribution boards and supporting control infrastructure. It is not simply a case of adding outlets to existing circuits without modification.

In some buildings, EV charging can be introduced with relatively minor changes. In others, additional work such as new circuits, protection equipment, or switchboard upgrades may still be required — though often less extensive than a full high-capacity charger rollout.

When EV Uptake Grows

The key question is how well shared low-power charging holds up as EV ownership increases within a single building.

A system based on standard outlets can work effectively when EV uptake is low and demand is manageable. However, as more residents adopt EVs, overnight charging demand increases.

Even with dynamic load management, a building’s total electrical capacity doesn’t increase — it is simply shared across more users.

At higher levels of adoption, many apartment buildings are still likely to require higher-capacity charging infrastructure to reliably meet demand.

A Stepping Stone To Full Scale EV Charging

This funding doesn’t solve apartment EV charging on its own, but it supports a pathway for buildings that might otherwise delay installation.

Systems like the one developed by ReadySteadyPlug may help enable earlier EV adoption in strata buildings where spare electrical capacity is limited or major upgrades are difficult to justify upfront. However, as EV uptake increases within apartment buildings, many complexes are likely to eventually require more substantial electrical upgrades to meet demand.

For existing strata buildings, this ARENA-backed rollout of lower-cost managed charging systems may still offer a stepping stone to full-scale EV charging infrastructure.

If, however, you’re more interested in faster EV charging for apartments, read our explainer on how to convince your strata to approve EV charger installs.