EV charging in an apartment, condo or HOA

• The short version
• Your options
• Can I charge here?
• Right-to-charge laws
• What they'll ask for
• Who pays for the electricity
• Shared chargers
• The letter

The short version

• A normal outlet near your parking space may be all you need. Level 1 adds about 40 miles in ten hours, which covers most commutes.
• In 14 states and Washington, DC, a condo board or HOA can't say no to a charger in your own space. Five of those states protect renters too. Everywhere else, it's a request, not a right.
• You will almost always pay for the installation, the electricity and the insurance. Offer that in writing up front. It turns the conversation from "no" into "how".
• Shared chargers the building owns are often the better deal for everyone, and several states pay most of the cost for multifamily buildings. The rebate lookup shows yours.

Your options, cheapest first

1. An outlet that's already there. Garages and carports often have one. Ask whether it's on its own circuit, and who pays for the power. Level 1 is slow, but slow for ten hours is enough for most people.
2. A new outlet or charger at your own space. You pay an electrician, the building approves it, and the meter question gets answered (more on that below). This is what right-to-charge laws protect.
3. Shared chargers the building installs. A few Level 2 chargers for everyone, billed per session through an app. Boards like these because the building controls them. Grants for multifamily buildings can cover most of the cost.
4. Charging near home or at work. Public Level 2 at a grocery store or a workplace charger can do the job if you're there for hours anyway.
5. DC fast charging once a week. Twenty to forty minutes, at about three times the price of home power. It works, and it is the most expensive way to own an EV. The charging cost calculator compares it with gas.

One thing not to do: run an extension cord out a window and across a sidewalk. It's a trip hazard, a fire risk and, in most cities, a ticket.

Right-to-charge laws by state

These laws stop a condo association or HOA, and in a few states a landlord, from saying no to a charger in a space you own or rent, as long as you follow reasonable rules and pay for it. They don't make the building pay, and they don't cover shared spaces you don't have the right to use. Pick your state.

Summaries of the state laws listed by the U.S. Department of Energy, checked against the statutes where noted. Not legal advice, and laws change. Read the statute, and your association's documents, before you rely on it.

What the board or landlord will ask for

Boards and landlords say no to three things: cost, liability and precedent. Take all three off the table before they bring them up.

• A licensed electrician and a permit. Non-negotiable, and you'd want both anyway.
• Insurance. Usually a certificate showing your liability coverage, sometimes naming the association. California asks condo owners for a $1 million umbrella policy.
• Who pays for the power. Your own meter, a sub-meter, a smart charger that reports its usage, or a flat monthly fee. Have a proposal ready.
• Where the wire goes. The route from the panel to your space, and whether it crosses common areas. A sketch helps more than you'd think.
• What happens when you leave. Remove it and restore the space, or leave it for the next person. Several state laws make you tell a buyer it's there.

It also helps to say that you won't be the last person to ask. A building that works out a policy once gets to stop having this conversation.

Who pays for the electricity

The board's real worry is rarely the charger. It's that you'll run up the common electric bill. Solve that before they ask.

• Wire it to your own unit's panel. Your meter, your bill, no argument. Only possible when your panel is reasonably close to your space.
• A smart charger that meters itself. Most networked chargers report kilowatt-hours to the minute. You pay the association each month from the app's numbers.
• A flat fee. Simple and slightly unfair to someone. At 300 miles a week and 18 cents a kWh, a car uses about $70 of electricity a month.

The expensive surprise is distance. Your meter may be in a room at the far end of the garage, and every foot between it and your space is copper, conduit and labor. The install estimator shows how fast that adds up, and Hiring an electrician covers what the quote should say. If the building's supply is full, ask about load management before anyone quotes a new transformer.

When the building should do it instead

If parking isn't assigned, or five neighbors are about to ask for the same thing, one charger per space stops making sense. A handful of shared Level 2 chargers, managed so they split the available power, serves far more cars for the same money.

That's a business decision for the owner, and there's a whole other side of this site about it. If you're the one pitching it, send them The business and Software and OCPP. If you're the owner reading this, hello. Your tenants are about to start asking.

The letter

Fill in the blanks. It cites your state's law if there is one, offers to pay for everything, and asks for a written answer by a date. Copy it, print it, or open it in your email. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.