One of the greatest advantages of possessing an EV is to wake up a completely loaded car every morning and never have to go to a service station, that is, if you have a charge at home.
Before Lucian Oboroceanu install the EV loaders in their Toronto condominium building, keeping their car loaded was a pain.
“I had to go around the city to find [a] Charger and it was very difficult, “he recalled.
In a recent one 16,000 Canadian EV drivers survey By CAA and Plugshare, 85 percent of the respondents in single -family homes had access to domestic load, compared to 62 percent of those of multifamily buildings. In that survey, only 20 percent of EV owners lived in a multifamily building, although approximately one third of Canadians live in this type of housing.
Oboroceanu soon learned that he was not the only person in his 350 units building who was concerned about the lack of positions: several neighbors mentioned him at the general meeting of the Board. One was trying to sell his unit and continued to receive questions about the availability of the evil load of possible buyers.
As a treasurer of the Board, Oboroteanu decided to address the problem. Two years later, EV loaders are installed in the personal parking places of any person in the building that one wants, including yours.
The modernization of condominium buildings with EV loaders can raise a challenge, as Oboroceanu learned. CBC News spoke with him and several other owners of condominiums who succeeded, and learned what they did to work.
Why it is difficult to charge in older condominiums
Joanna Kyriazis, director of Public Affairs of Clean Energy of the group of experts, Canada, said that it usually costs around $ 1,500 to install a level 2 charger in a single -family house, but it can be much more modernizing a multifamily building. (Is Much cheaper in a new building.) That is because the installation can be complex and implies a long -distance expensive and wiring drilling through multiple parking levels.
When Oboroceanu first analyzed what would be needed to charge for 10 cars in his condominium building, he was surprised to know that he would cost $ 50,000, a non-go.
Some buildings also have limited electrical capacity.
Peter Luff from Kanata, Ontario, a suburb of Ottawa, calculated that to have load capacity for the eight condominium units, his building could only install the level 1 load instead of the fastest level 2 load 2 load that can fill an empty battery during the night. The good news is that Level 1 is often fast enough for many driversincluding Luff.
Kyriazis said that electrical capacity is often not a problem, thanks to technology that can monitor and optimize I charge, but people may not know about those solutions.
A final problem: How will EV owners pay for the load and electricity they use?
“There is still no standard way to do this,” Kyriazis said.
Systems that manage collection and payment often require network connectivity, which can also increase to infrastructure costs.
Do your research
While all this can be challenging, Oboroceanu, Luff and Kyriazis have some tips for success.
Building inspection, residents and government subsidies are good places to begin.
Luff contacted local electrical utility and nearby buildings that already had load to obtain information.
Dave Wong of Vancouver, BC, did so, who lives in a high rate of 36 floors with 132 units. He learned from the neighbors about federal and provincial programs that when they are stacked together with a subsidy of BC Hydro, almost all costs could differ. He also obtained the names of four local suppliers and appointments for different possible configurations.
Finally, he delivered hand surveys to each unit of his building to find out how many people had EV and how many planned to buy one in the next five years.
Educate neighbors and build allies
Cara Clairman, president and executive director of Plug’n Drive, a defense group of EV, said that obtaining neighbors on board is important, since a Board of Condominiums will need to first approve the load of EV.
Wong and Luff provided information about electric vehicles and the acceptance of EV to their neighbors. For example, Wong pointed out in his survey that BC will require that 100 percent of new vehicle sales are zero broadcasts by 2035, which increases future EV collection demand.
They argued that potential buyers will want EV to charge in their building, something that Oboceanu’s neighbors were already finding in 2023.
Wong also argued that it would be cheaper to modernize the entire building at the same time, especially because the subsidies were available at that time.
Recent holders have suggested that consumers are losing interest in electric vehicles, but a look closer to trends tells a different story. Nisha patel of CBC breakdown where we are in the EV transition and why experts say the future is still electric.
Note the needs of your building
Through his survey, Wong learned that there were only five EV owners in his building. (He didn’t even have one himself). Then, instead of installing a charger in each place, the building has just connected each place to be ready for EV at a cost of $ 1,000 per unit (with subsidies), with the option of adding a level 2 for $ 3,500. To Wong’s surprise, 20 people did that.
Luff was with level load 1. His board learned that Ontario would allow the project to be paid from the Condo reserve fund “so there was no problem in the presentation of money.”
He also kept the simple payments, buying $ 40 electricity meters for all new points of sale. Residents pay bills based on reading every month. The only disadvantage, he said, is that the system “depends totally on being honest.”
That would probably not work for a large building like Oboroceanu. His research on local suppliers in Toronto finally led him to Smart Ev Systems, which offered a package at no initial cost to install an electrical panel that serves 10 EV loaders. He rent your charger and pay the electricity monthly.
Kyriazis said that hiring companies such as that can be a good solution, since they are responsible for many of the complexities. But she said she has heard mixed reviews about payment schemes, which can cost more long term.
Until now, however, Oboroteanu is satisfied with the result, so happy that he is recommending the service to some of the 150 buildings he manages through Newton-Trelawney Property Management.
For those who seek that EV loads in their own buildings, Plug’n Drive and Clean Energy Canada are working on a new guide they hope to launch in the fall.
