Hiidenkiukantie 1-3: A shared charger in a housing company - a threat or an opportunity?
Charging electric cars is increasingly being discussed at housing association general meetings, and the media is increasingly marketing the installation of electric car charging devices. One option might be to present a shared charging device that those who wish can use if necessary, move their car away when charging is complete, and release the device for the next user.
The main thing when installing such a charging device is that the electricity consumption must be able to be allocated to the user. In some cases, a pen and graph paper have been placed inside the charging device as a solution, on which each person has marked the kilowatt-hour reading at the end of their charging session. The management has then interpreted the markings and invoiced the chargers once a year based on the actual results.
Fortunately, digitalization has made it possible to create easier ways. The eParking system makes it possible to create a shared charging device: the user receives access to the device and activates the charging device every time they want to charge their car with the charger. At the end of charging, the electricity is turned off, and the consumption reading is stored in a cloud service, which invoices the user once a month, and the money is regularly credited to the housing company.
This type of shared charging device works well, as long as the charger remembers to move their car away from the charging point immediately after charging, so that the space is freed up for the next one. However, sometimes it can happen that the car is forgotten to be moved and the next charger gets into trouble. It would be easier for the resident to be able to charge their car in their own parking space, so they wouldn't have to worry about moving the car.
At As Oy Hiidenkiukaantie 1–3 in Helsinki, the decision was initially made to use a shared charging device, as the housing company did not yet have many car chargers. However, due to increased demand, the housing company decided to increase the number of charging devices a year and a half after installing the shared charging device, so that the housing company could serve its residents as well as possible. In addition, the housing company introduced the eParking system to make it easy to correctly allocate charging electricity billing to users of the shared charging device.
Residents' experiences
“The housing company’s board discussed the charging option at several meetings in autumn 2019 and early 2020 and saw that it is part of the service range of a modern housing company. In addition, the charging option has an effect on increasing the value of the housing company, and it should also facilitate the sale and purchase of apartments. Shareholders had been asked about the need for charging a few years earlier, but at that time there were not many interested parties. In a new survey during the winter of 2019-2020, interest had clearly increased, even though shareholders did not yet have very many fully electric cars. The board decided to submit a proposal on the matter to the spring 2020 general meeting so that the installation work would be carried out from the housing company’s management funds. The project fit into the normal budget largely due to the large size of the company. The general meeting gave the board the authority to implement the project with the company’s funds. In addition to electricity, users pay a small additional price to cover the costs incurred from the purchase. The additional price is currently €0.05/kWh, meaning the total price was €0.16/kWh.
The housing company has three buildings of slightly different sizes, with a total of 124 apartments. There are a total of 50 heated parking spaces, 15 garages and 29 covered spaces in the courtyards. The housing company owns the spaces and they are rented to the shareholders for a monthly fee. There are also a few shared parking spaces in the courtyards, and the first shared 2 x 22 kW space was implemented in one of these, so that no one would lose their own space. However, the main reason was that it was easiest to implement the necessary high-current electricity supply to this location.
No special rules were drawn up for the use of the shared charging device, other than that the two places in question are intended for charging. There was no restriction on the length of the charging session. A large part of the cars being charged are still hybrids. The housing company has its own property manager who lives in the company, who acted as the necessary communication channel for guiding users. No other separate communication channel has been used. No challenges related to dinotta (parking a car other than the one being charged, for example a combustion engine car) have also been observed at the locations.
During the fall of 2020 and early 2021, the use of the shared charging point increased significantly, so that one of the places was almost always in use, often both. The board therefore continued to discuss the original plan, in which the idea was to start with a shared place first, and as the need grew, to increase the number of places by converting heating posts into charging devices. The board proposed to the 2021 general meeting that five heating posts in the yard of each house be converted into charging devices. This would bring the total number of points to 30. The general meeting approved the proposal and the changes were made in late 2021. Some of the places are still used by combustion engine cars, which means that the timing of their block heaters is more flexible than in the old places. As the number of cars to be charged increases, the places will be changed so that combustion engine cars are moved away from the charging places to the old places. More heating posts will be converted into charging devices as the need increases.”
– Jorma Kyyrä , resident of As Oy Hiidenkiukaantie 1-3.
“The shared use model worked quite well, but of course it would be easier and simpler if you could charge the car at your own location without any extraneous commercial tricks. Just plug in the plug and the battery is practically always in the desired charge state in the morning. A faster shared use device gives you flexibility if you have an unplanned longer trip and need to charge the car faster. But I have managed well with full electricity with just the slow charging of my own location. I have used the shared use point maybe 2-3 times since purchasing my own charging device. I have driven the car for approximately 50,000 km and about 80-90% of the trips have been charged at my own location. So slow charging works very well, at least for me.
Purchasing the device itself was not difficult at all, there are many options on the market. In this case, it was clear that I would purchase the charging device through eParking. The device is connected to the housing company's system, which makes billing and other data flow easily, and the housing company does not incur additional costs from additional billing. Electricity bills for charging are allocated directly to me, so I pay for what I consume. The discussion with the housing company's board and property manager was smooth, and since the installation and charging do not incur costs for the housing company, but I cover them myself, making decisions was also quick and easy. A big thank you to the board for this, which understands what creates value for residents and makes the housing company more attractive in the longer term.”
– Kalle Mäkinen , resident of As Oy Hiidenkiukaantie 1-3.
Clear rules for using a shared charger
A shared charging device can be a very functional solution in a housing association. It is important for the housing association to have agreed on clear rules and practices for the use of the charging device and that billing is allocated to users correctly. However, as the number of cars to be charged increases, the housing association should consider purchasing more charging devices for residents' own parking spaces. A shared charging device can have a higher charging power than the residents' own charging devices, as an efficient charging device is good to have for sudden and faster charging needs. Slower charging devices work well in predictable everyday driving. It is also worth paying attention to the pricing of charging in the housing association. At Hiidenkiukaantie 1-3, the pricing model for slow charging devices has been created so that heating electricity is free for the user and electricity consumed for charging is subject to a fee.
Jorma Kyyrä and Kalle Mäkinen, residents of As Oy Hiidenkiukaantie 1-3, have participated in writing the reference.
