"If the proportion of electric vehicles increases, power facility capacity shortages in aging apartments will worsen... Support needed"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] As the proportion of electric vehicle registrations increases in the future, there is a high possibility of capacity shortages in power facilities, especially in aging multi-family housing, so detailed support policies need to be implemented, according to an analysis.

According to the report titled 'The Necessity of Improving Power Facilities in Multi-family Housing Due to the Expansion of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure,' published on the 12th by the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, the government recently raised the mandatory ratio of electric vehicle charging facilities through the 4th Basic Plan for Eco-friendly Vehicles. For newly built apartments, the mandatory installation ratio of electric vehicle chargers was increased from 0.5% to 5%, and for existing apartments, a new obligation to install chargers was imposed with a mandatory installation ratio set at 2%.

The problem is that many multi-family housing complexes have aging power facilities or insufficient design capacity, raising concerns about power outages. According to the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, among the total 25,132 multi-family housing complexes, 56% (13,995 complexes) are over 15 years old, and 32% (7,921 complexes) have a design capacity of less than 3 kW per household.

The institute stated, "Apartments constructed in the 1990s had a design capacity of 1 kW per household at that time, but currently, the appropriate capacity per household has increased to 3 to 5 kW, raising the possibility of power outages," adding, "In fact, power outages frequently occur in multi-family housing, especially during summer, and Korea Electric Power Corporation is conducting a transformer replacement support project."

The concern is expected to grow if the proportion of electric vehicles increases in the future. This is because the residential power charging pattern of electric vehicles is similar to the residential power consumption pattern, which will increase the residential power load after working hours. In fact, the Korea Automotive Technology Institute analyzed vehicle entry status by season and time through apartment parking control systems and found that vehicle operation is active in summer and autumn, with an increase in vehicle entries after 5 p.m.

Therefore, to smoothly expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure, attention should also be paid to supporting power facility improvements. However, at this point, it may be difficult to reach an agreement on the cost-sharing for power facility improvements between electric vehicle and internal combustion engine vehicle owners in multi-family housing, the institute explained. This is because, although electric vehicle sales are rapidly increasing, the registration ratio compared to the total number of vehicles is still less than 1%.

The Korea Automotive Technology Institute emphasized, "A comprehensive survey of power facilities in aging multi-family housing should be conducted to identify priority support targets considering the urgency of facility improvements," and added, "It is also necessary to consider shifting the focus of support policies from individual facilities such as transformers and circuit breakers to the overall capacity that can practically accommodate electric vehicle charging infrastructure."