January 2025
Electric vehicles pose difficulties for maintaining and protecting parking garages.
Most communities wanting to support electric vehicles focus on the charging infrastructure to ensure vehicles can be charged without impacting on electricity use throughout the building. Electric vehicle charging stations require an increase in the total power delivered to a building. This usually requires more electrical services and transformers at a significant cost to owners.
There are additional considerations.
Parking Structure Wear
Electric vehicle tires can more easily damage floor coatings designed to protect the structure from corrosion
Electric vehicles are heavier than gas-powered vehicles. While having a few in a parking structure should not pose difficulties, storing hundreds without upgrading the integrity of a parking structure not designed to support that weight is a concern.
Electric vehicles use a different type of tire designed to support its heavier weight. These tires can more easily damage floor coatings designed to protect the structure from corrosion. Both the tires on electric vehicles and the parking structure will require more maintenance.
Fire Safety
Electric vehicles, if they catch fire, burn too hot for standard sprinkler systems to be of use
Fire safety measures need to be considered. Electric vehicles, if they catch fire, burn too hot for standard sprinkler systems to be of use. The current fire-fighting methodology for dealing with an electric vehicle fire is to allow it to burn out while keeping the fire from spreading. Dragging a burning electric vehicle out of an underground parking structure so that it can burn out on its own without causing further damage is impractical.
A vehicle fire releases hazardous gases and materials that pose significant risk to anyone in a parking structure. If one electric vehicle were to catch fire then ignite other electric vehicles nearby, results could be devastating. Electric vehicle fires burn hotter and longer. Existing fire suppression systems in parking garages are unlikely to be capable of handling such a fire and preventing damage to a building structure, and should be upgraded.
Understand how your building’s infrastructure and safety systems will be affected by changes to facilitate electric vehicle charging systems.
