Estimates are as high as $5,000 in prewiring costs to make a garage stall ready for electric vehicle charging, officials say.
Minneapolis is one of the latest jurisdictions to offer incentives for EV chargers in garages. "
Trying to tackle one of the biggest challenges in the shift to electric vehicles — the lack of at-home charging at apartments and condos — Minneapolis last year required electric vehicles chargers to be installed in the parking garages of most new construction. The effort hit an unexpected roadblock. A Minnesota building code official told the city that a provision in state law prohibits cities from adopting an ordinance to require building components or systems that differ from those in state building code."
New local laws that conflict with existing state laws in not all that uncommon which can bring confusion and frustration to communities. Minneapolis is working around this challenge by offering incentives to move EV charging infrastructure forward.
"The Minnesota State Building Code was created by the Legislature 50 years ago to establish one set of consistent standards of construction. Although the code is updated every few years, it so far does not address EV charging in buildings."
Some terminology to consider when thinking about EV building codes:
- EV-installed: A dedicated "EV-only" parking space that includes full installation of EV charging station(s)
- EV-capable: A parking space with the electrical capacity to support future EV infrastructure
- EV-ready: A designated parking space with a branch circuit dedicated for EV charging with sufficient capacity for each charging spot
To learn more about building codes and EV charging, Phase 1 is here to help.