Don’t shut flat-dwellers out of EV ownership

Recent OZEV changes risk excluding flat-dwellers from the EV transition, warns Denis Watling of ChargeGuru UK

Electric vehicle ownership is becoming mainstream, but while momentum is building, a significant portion of drivers continues to be overlooked: those who live in flats. For people without access to private driveways, home charging remains frustratingly out of reach, and recent changes to the OZEV grant scheme threaten to push it even further away.

At first glance, the revised funding framework appears generous. From 1 April, the grant available for individual chargepoint installations has increased. However, the decision to remove the EV infrastructure grant for landlords fundamentally undermines that apparent progress. For most apartment buildings, individual installations simply aren’t feasible without shared infrastructure, making the headline increase largely academic. 

Infrastructure support quietly withdrawn

Under the previous scheme, landlords could reclaim up to £850 per parking bay. This included £500 per bay towards core electrical infrastructure – up to £30,000 per site – and £350 for the chargepoints themselves. That infrastructure funding was critical: it helped finance essential works such as cabling, distribution boards, load balancing and safety systems, which is the groundwork needed for scalable, future-proof charging across an entire site.

Under the new rules, the available support falls to £500 in total and is only accessible once a charger is physically installed. There is no longer any assistance for the foundational infrastructure. The result is a system that discourages long-term planning and ignores the reality that, in blocks of flats, charging provision must start with shared electrical readiness.

For the 22% of UK households that live in flats, this is a serious setback. With projects becoming more difficult to justify financially, freeholders are understandably cautious, and residents are left with fewer options. The risk is that outdated policy design slows the wider EV transition at a time when it should be accelerating. 

The risks of unplanned, individual installations

As public charging costs up to three times more than charging at home, many flat-dwellers will understandably look to the £500 grant as a way to install a charger independently. On the surface, this seems like a practical workaround. In reality, it introduces a host of problems.

Uncoordinated installations can lead to inaccurate or unfair billing, electrical load imbalances, trailing cables across shared spaces and, most concerningly, serious safety hazards. Over time, buildings can end up with a patchwork of incompatible systems that are expensive to manage and difficult to retrofit properly.

This is why EV charging in multi-occupancy buildings needs to be approached with a building-wide strategy rather than a series of one-off fixes. The OZEV changes make that coordinated approach more important, and more urgent, than ever. 

Residents aren’t lowering their expectations

If property owners are looking for a reason to act, they only need to listen to their residents. ChargeGuru research shows that 74% of EV drivers view access to on-site charging as a key factor when choosing where to live. As EV adoption continues to grow, buildings without a clear charging strategy will quickly fall behind.
Postponing surveys or installations doesn’t remove the problem, but simply defers it. And when action is eventually taken, the work is likely to be more disruptive, more expensive and met with greater frustration from residents. 

Viable funding routes beyond OZEV

Despite the loss of infrastructure grants, property managers are not without options. One approach is for freeholders to fund the infrastructure themselves. This represents a long-term investment that enhances the value of the asset, enables controlled expansion and prevents unsafe, resident-led solutions. The challenge, of course, is the requirement for significant upfront capital and ongoing oversight.

Another route is resident co-funding. While this can work in some circumstances, it often proves divisive. Non-EV owners may object to contributing, and the building inherits responsibility for operation and maintenance, which is a burden many are reluctant to take on.

A third option is third-party funding, which is the model ChargeGuru specialises in. Under this approach, infrastructure is funded, installed and maintained externally, with no upfront cost to freeholders or residents without EVs. EV drivers gain access to safe, reliable and fairly priced charging, while buildings benefit from a scalable solution without added complexity. For many apartment blocks, this is the most realistic way forward. However, it is worth noting that, since 1 April, we have already found that the changes to the OZEV grant have in fact complicated the process, with a host of more steps for the resident to follow, evidence to collect, resulting in a generally longer process. 

Turning challenge into opportunity

If policy changes fail to address the needs of flat-dwellers, the responsibility shifts to the industry to close that gap. At ChargeGuru, our commitment to narrowing the “driveway divide” remains unchanged, which is why we continue to offer fully-funded charging solutions for eligible apartment buildings.
Our advice to building owners and managing agents is simple: start the conversation now. Engaging with EV charging specialists early allows for a coordinated, building-wide plan that avoids costly, unmanaged rollouts later. While government support has evolved, delivering safe, efficient and future-ready charging for apartment residents is still entirely achievable.

Denis Watling is managing director of ChargeGuru UK