By Robert Briant, Associate
Once upon a time spotting an Electric Vehicle (EV) was a rare event. Not so much anymore, as adoption grows rapidly, and they are seemingly everywhere.
So where does the BCA stand on EVs?
The BCA does not care about your choice of car. I might personally judge, but the BCA does not.
However, changes to the BCA do have implications for the home charging stations of EVs. These changes do not apply to single dwelling houses but do affect all buildings other than single dwelling houses, associated out buildings and farm sheds.
Prior to May 1, 2019, the clause applicable to the separation of batteries read (I have highlighted the relevant part of the clause);
C2.12 Separation of equipment
(a) equipment other than that described in (b) and (c) must be separated from the remainder of the building with construction complying with (d), if that equipment comprises –
(i) lift motors and lift control panels; or
(ii) emergency generators used to sustain emergency equipment operating in the emergency mode; or
(iii) central smoke control plant; or
(iv) boilers; or
(v) battery or batteries installed in the building that have a voltage exceeding 24 volts and a capacity exceeding 10 ampere hours.
This resulted in anyone wanting to place a small UPS in a building needing to enclose it in a fire rated enclosure. This also could have been read that all fire indicator panels, due to their back up power requirements, are required to be enclosed in fire rated construction.
Now let’s look at Clause C2.12 of the Building Code of Australia 2019, Amendment 1– Volume 1 (NCC).
C2.12 Separation of equipment
(a) Equipment other than that described in (b) and (c) must be separated from the remainder of the building with construction complying with (d), if that equipment comprises—
(i) lift motors and lift control panels; or
(ii) emergency generators used to sustain emergency equipment operating in the emergency mode; or
(iii) central smoke control plant; or
(iv) boilers; or
(v) a battery system installed in the building that has a total voltage of 12 volts or more and a storage capacity of 200 kWh or more.
(b) Equipment need not be separated in accordance with (a) if the equipment comprises—
(i) smoke control exhaust fans located in the air stream which are constructed for high temperature operation in accordance with Specification E2.2b; or
(ii) stair pressurising equipment installed in compliance with the relevant provisions of AS 1668.1; or
(iii) a lift installation without a machine-room; or
(iv) equipment otherwise adequately separated from the remainder of the building.
(c) Separation of on-site fire pumps must comply with the requirements of AS 2419.1.
(d) Separating construction must have—
(i) except as provided by (ii)—
(A) an FRL as required by Specification C1.1, but not less than 120/120/120; and
(B) any doorway protected with a self-closing fire door having an FRL of not less than –/120/30; or
(ii) when separating a lift shaft and lift motor room, an FRL not less than 120/–/–.
Equipment with battery system that has a total voltage of 12 volts or more and a storage capacity of 200 kWh or more is required to be separated from the rest of the building by a fire rated wall system and door. The separation is otherwise known as a two-hour fire wall.
You may well ask how the limit to unprotected battery capacity has increased over 800% from 0.240 kWh to 200 kWh.
The simple answer is – it is unclear. There does not appear to be any publicly available documents published to justify this change to requirements for battery systems in the NCC.
In relation to EV’s a Tesla Model 3 has a battery capacity of up to 82 kWh and a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid has a battery capacity of 18.1 kWh, both have total voltages of greater than 12 volts.
I note that buildings are required to comply with the relevant requirements of the Building Code of Australia (as in force at the time the application for the construction certificate was made). This means that as the Building Code of Australia is updated these updates are not applied to existing buildings.
What does this mean?
All buildings, other than single dwelling houses, associated out buildings and farm sheds, approved prior to NCC 2019 (adopted 1 May 2019) should technically not contain EV charging stations unless they are housed in a fire rated enclosure.
If you would like more information on implementing special precautions for EV charging facilities please contact our team on 02 9281 8555 or info@credwell.com.au
