Energy renovation or installation of electric car charging infrastructure in a housing company

How can you promote energy efficiency in your housing association? See how Pieta from Espoo was able to upgrade the energy efficiency of her housing association to a new level.

How you can advance an energy renovation project or charging infrastructure in your housing company

Analyse the situation and the options available: The Motiva website (in Finnish) is an excellent source of information.

Survey the potential for an energy renovation project or charging stations for electric cars in the housing company. Authorisation from the housing company is always required to survey an energy renovation project or the installation of charging stations. Please discuss these matters at the general meeting. An energy survey usually costs a few thousand euros, which is a small sum compared to the future savings it enables.
Request the best options for energy surveys and charging infrastructure from service providers. The content of the surveys may vary; you should work with your housing manager to see what an offer includes in relation to your needs.
Make a plan to improve energy efficiency. If the construction of electric car charging infrastructure is a part of the plan, pay attention to it. There are subsidies available for energy renovation projects(external link, opens in a new window) and charging infrastructure(external link, opens in a new window). You should consider these from the start, as the subsidies often need to be applied for before the renovations start.
The housing company will carry out the energy renovation project and/or the installation of the charging stations. The subsidies will be paid after the renovation project is complete.

Moving to electric cars requires us to change our habits

The most notable difference between a car with a combustion engine and an electric car is the means of transferring energy to the car. When a car with a combustion engine is fuelled with petrol or similar, this is usually done at a petrol station outside the home. Conversely, a full electric car is typically charged at home or at public charging stations in connection with supermarkets, for example.

The largest difference is in the speed of the energy transmission: while conventional cars can be fuelled in a few minutes, charging a fully electric car may take dozens of hours, depending on the power of the charging system. As such, charging the car at home is an appealing option, since the price of charging is largely determined by the electricity agreement for the property, and slow charging overnight is not an issue. While there are fast and effective ‘super chargers’ available, their higher prices motivate people to choose slower charging at home.

Because of the above, installing a charging station is easy for a house owner. Things are different in a housing company with multiple homeowners: installing the charging system requires a decision by the board. It is of the utmost importance that the systems to be installed are approved and designed for fully electric cars or plug-in hybrids. Charging via a conventional socket for heating a car is not safe due to the risk of fire.

Surveying your needs is a good way to start the purchase of charging infrastructure for electric cars. If the project moves to the purchase stage, financial support is available for buying charging stations.

Motiva has compiled an excellent guide on how to successfully purchase charging stations for a housing company(external link, opens in a new window) (in Finnish).

Energy renovation or installation of electric car charging infrastructure in a housing company

How you can advance an energy renovation project or charging infrastructure in your housing company

Charging infrastructure for electric cars