Benidorm chose to grow towards the sky, and half a century later the sustainability studies have caught up with it: more skyscrapers per inhabitant than any city in Europe, the Intempo tower topping out at 192 metres, and a footprint that eats far less land than the sprawl of villas further down the coast. Everything is within walking distance, the TRAM light rail runs along the seafront to Alicante, and each visitor covers fewer kilometres by car than almost anywhere else on the Mediterranean. For an electric car that is close to ideal: a vehicle used sparingly and charged where it rests.
The practical consequence is that the typical job in Benidorm is not a wall in a private driveway. It is a parking space in a basement shared with dozens of other owners. Plenty of residents assume that means asking permission and waiting months for the annual meeting. It does not. Article 17.5 of the Spanish Horizontal Property Act lets you install a charging point in your own space after giving the community prior written notice. No vote, no majority, no agenda item.
Fitting a charger inside a tower has its own craft. We run an individual line from your meter in the building's meter room down to your space, with tidy trunking through the common areas and its own protective devices. Your consumption is metered separately, so nobody else pays for your electricity and the rest of the garage barely notices the installation exists.
Vertical does not mean uniform. On the slopes of Sierra Helada, in the upper reaches of Rincón de Loix and around La Cala there are villas and townhouses where the job is the classic single-family one: the unit on the wall beside the car and a dedicated circuit straight from your own consumer unit.
Basement or garden, the finish is identical. Every installation is carried out to the REBT and its ITC-BT-52, uses certified chargers, and closes with the electrical installation certificate (the boletín, or CIE) registered with the Industry department of the Generalitat Valenciana. The local grid belongs to i-DE, part of the Iberdrola group, and we handle whatever network paperwork your charging point needs with them.
New to all this? Start with our full guide to charging an electric car in Spain, where the equipment, the power levels, the tariffs and the paperwork are explained province-wide and step by step.
77,327 People who live here all year
Benidorm's population according to the 2025 INE figures. The town multiplies that in season, but chargers are fitted for residents and second-home owners: the ones who take the lift down to the garage every day.
Art. 17.5 Your space, your decision
In a communal garage you only have to notify the community or the administrator in writing before the work starts. You pay for it, and the electricity comes off your meter rather than the building's.
192 m The roof of the town
The Intempo tower crowns the most recognisable skyline on the Mediterranean. The taller the block, the more spaces share one basement, which is why shared-garage work is our daily bread here.
i-DE The local network operator
Benidorm's electricity grid is run by i-DE, of the Iberdrola group. We deal with them on your behalf, whoever you buy your electricity from.