Case Study

The Columbia Shores

This condo complex in Washington State, consisting of townhouses and a multi-story building, chose to install SMP+ as the charging solution to allow residents who wished to do so to have access to a charging station in their parking space. The installation was carried out by the team at Prairie Electric Inc.

Technical Specifications

Type of construction

existing building (retrofit)

Type of occupation

condo

Building size

135 units

Number of floors

4

Number of parking spaces

95

Location of electricity meters

inaccessible

Location of parking spaces

indoors (covered) and outdoors (possibility of wet conditions, rain, or snow)

Type of parking spaces

assigned

Products used

Challenge

Installing an electric vehicle charging infrastructure in a multifamily building for units with inaccessible electricity meters, without charging co-owners who do not want a charging station right away, while still giving them the option to have one added later.

Before the project, some EV owners relied on public charging stations or standard 120-volt outlets in the garage. This created several issues for residents and the HOA: charging was slow, public stations were less convenient and more expensive, and the existing garage circuits were already being overloaded, causing breakers to trip. With 95 parking spaces, the HOA needed a safer, scalable approach before more EVs were added to the building.

Solution

Installation of 5 SMP+ (SMP-21 model)

  • Allows up to 21 charging stations to be connected from the same power source, maximizing every available kilowatt-hour thanks to its automatic load shedding algorithm.
  • Compatible with all brands of electrical panels and charging stations; residents could choose their own charger.
  • No recurring fees or management fees.
  • Wired Internet connection:  cheaper and more reliable than wireless systems.
  • Supports fair cost allocation by tracking the electricity consumption associated with each parking space via the RVE Connect Portal. This allows the property to bill the residents who use the charging infrastructure, instead of spreading EV charging costs across all co-owners.

“[The SMP+] had so many smart features. What really was appealing was that it could track [energy] consumption so we could bill the people that are using electricity.”

Eric Winkler
President of the Columbia Shores HOA