victorian electric vehicle trial mid-term report - Department of Transport

Although this outcome was a successin the context of the trial delivery, itdoes not provide any insight into themore likely scenario where costs mustbe borne by one of the landlord orthe tenant. Installation of electricvehicle charging infrastructure intenanted premises is characterisedby the ‘principle-agent problem’ thathas been found to inhibit investmentin energy efficiency (de T’Serclaesand Jollands 2007). Landlords wereclearly concerned about any aspectof the installation or operation ofthe charging infrastructure that mayimpact them in terms of cost oreffort. Given that the charging circuitrepresents a cost of just under $2,000that cannot be recovered by the tenantshould they move, it seems likelythat this will represent a significantbarrier to EV adoption by the one in fiveVictorians who rent.Dwellings with shared parkingarrangements were found to be aspecial case. Although differenceswere observed in the approach takenby different charging infrastructureproviders, a common solutionwas to run a circuit from the agreedparking/charging location to thepoint of metered electrical supply forthe dwelling. In some instances thisrequired a cherry-picker to route thecircuit to apartments above groundlevel, driving significantly higher costsinto the installation – around doublethat of detached housing with offstreetparking.With reference to the results from thetrial application process as describedin Figure 35, this issue does not appearto be as significant as for renters.However, urban developmenttrends are likely to increasethe significance of this issue asaccommodation with shared parkingincreases in prevalence.Expert advice provided for Melbourne’sMetropolitan Planning Strategy (MAC2012) illustrates this issue:About half of all newhousing in Melbourneis being constructed inestablished areas. Work bythe Grattan Institute showsthere are ‘shortages’ ofsemi-detached dwellingsand apartments inMelbourne’s middle andouter suburbs.This suggests that the costs of retrofitfor apartments are likely to be adeterrent for EV take-up by a growingnumber of Victorians.Question 1. Do you have off street parking?YES 98% NO 2%Question 2. Is this parking location shared with others?YES 3% NO 97%Question 3. Do you have the final decision on how power outletsin the shared parking facility can be used?YES 55% NO 43%Body corporate, landlord or other organisation decides0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%Figure 35. Results from the 2011 trial household application to participate process, highlighting the relatively low number of peoplewithout off-street parking and/or oversight of the decision-making that relates to their regular place of parking (n = 6,327, DOT 2011).CREATING A MARKET 65