Protection of equipment

[Greentagger]

Does an exterior installed EV charging station require protection from physical damage( vehicular traffic)? Would 110.26(E)(2)(a)(2) apply or is this requirement strictly reserved for “switchboards, switch gear, panelboards, and motor control centers”? If not this any other requirements for protection? Thanks for interpretations and opinions.

 

[jaggedben]

I think 110.27(B) is what you are looking for.

110.26 is about working space and has nothing to do with protection from damage.

 

[Greentagger]

I think 110.27(B) is what you are looking for.

110.26 is about working space and has nothing to do with protection from damage.

Is that section not titled “Guarding of Live Parts”?

 

[Fred B]

Additionally there might be a reference from building code for that level of protection. You can try to make a case for a physical barricade with the AHJ from 110.27(B). If your installation is at a private home likely not going to get any meaningful protection like you'd see at a public charging station.

 

[retirede]

There are subsections in both 110.26 and 110.27 that mention protection from physical damage that seem to be out of place based on the heading of those sections.

For residential EVSEs mounted alongside a driveway, I would simply mount it high enough off grade that a car couldn’t hit it.

 

[jaggedben]

Is that section not titled “Guarding of Live Parts”?

Well one could say that if a piece of equipment is physically damaged then its live parts may no longer be guarded. At any rate, this is the section that AHJs have cited when asking for a bollard in front of equipment.

 

[petersonra]

Is that section not titled “Guarding of Live Parts”?

I seem to recall that titles are only informational in nature.

 

[Fred B]

Well one could say that if a piece of equipment is physically damaged then its live parts may no longer be guarded. At any rate, this is the section that AHJs have cited when asking for a bollard in front of equipment.

Got a call where a tractor trailer had backed along a warehouse hitting a meter ripping it from the building with huge arcing and flames with burn marks for about 20ft along the trailer and knocking power out for several blocks. Exposed live parts?
Meter had been there for years so I was told.
Should the meter have been protected from damage? Would that code section have require it?
Regardless we ended installing 2 bollards to try to keep that from happening again when we replaced the meter. Was that wrong, and just setting a bad precedence?