Three stratas, three solutions for electric vehicle charging

Source: · BC HYDRO · | September 14, 2020

Patience key to finding the best option (and owner support) for Level 2 chargers

There's growing demand for electric car charging in the parking areas of B.C. apartment buildings and townhouse complexes. Strata councils look to the BC Hydro Alliance of Energy Professionals for help in making that happen.

Do your homework. Talk to multiple vendors. And have patience with apartment owners, who may initially balk at the idea of adding electric vehicle chargers to a strata parking lot, but who can be won over.

These are the recommendations of three strata council members who, despite some hiccups along the way, found a way to install Level 2 charging to parking stalls in their apartment buildings. Each opted for a different solution, but all three have emerged with some consensus on what it takes to get it done.

"One of my neighbours has told me repeatedly that electric cars aren't feasible, that they should never be on the market, and that hydrogen fuel cells are the way of the future," says Robert Gutierrez, a strata council member who led the EV charging initiative in his Vancouver building. "He came to a meeting where the contractor explained the options, and I expected him to try to tear a hole in the whole thing. At the end of the meeting, he walked up to shake my hand – back when we were allowed to shake hands – and said, "I might not believe in electric cars, but I believe that what you're doing is right."

Tim Lau, another strata owner in a different building that just installed shared dual-port chargers, offers his take: "People spend the money because they believe it's the future and that they'll be using it later," he says. "There was resistance, even by myself originally – especially to the notion of having to pay a management fee each month. But as we dug into it, we saw it as the way to go."

With the majority of B.C. families living in apartments or townhomes – including more than 70% of residences in Metro Vancouver – a major barrier to widespread plug-in vehicle adoption is a shortage of charging at multi-unit buildings. Even as some cities legislate that parking stalls at new apartment buildings are pre-wired for Level 2 chargers, many strata councils and homeowners in older buildings are wary of the costs of installing and operating the chargers.