In an unusual cross over between CALGreen and ADA, Electric Vehicle charging stations are triggering requirements for access compliance.
How Many?
CALGreen mandatory measures require infrastructure for EV charging stations, including parking space(s), conduit, and room on the electrical panel (not the charging station itself). The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that a certain percentage of EV stations be “accessible." In the following chart, we meld the two to summarize the quantity of each:
*If by some crazy chance you are providing more than 25 EV charging stations (!), be sure to consult the Access Compliance Reference Manual for additional requirements.
Of course, if you do install actual charging stations, the chargers themselves must be accessible per the chart above.
Size and Dimensions
The key point is that even if you only have one EV charging space, that one must be van accessible, meaning 12’ wide and 18’ long, with a 5’-wide access aisle. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th stations do not need be accessible, but a fifth station would need to be standard accessible, meaning 9’ wide and adjacent to the access aisle. Those spaces do not serve as your Accessible Parking Spaces, and should not be labeled as such. Accessible charging spaces do need a path of travel to the building. The following diagram is provided in CBC Chapter 11B.
Figure 11B-812.9
During the recent ADA Seminar sponsored by the Central Coast AIA and ICC Chapters, access compliance guru Greg Izor reviewed these important changes in the 2016 code. He also presented an alternate lay-out where the charging station is at the top of the access aisle, shared by two parking spaces, and the path of travel is behind the vehicles. In other words, there are lay-out options here depending on the site arrangement.
There are plenty more details in the code section, so be sure to check out CBC 11B-228 and 11B-812.