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Condo charging conundrum

BC Hydro’s clean energy spokesman “Dave” might be driving across B.C. in his electric vehicle, making charging EVs look easy.

But the lighthearted videos promoting EVs for the masses don’t quite match the experience of people living in condos and of strata councils grappling with ways to accommodate the vehicle owners.

“You want to make owners happy and protect the environment but, also, we have to look at economics of scale as far as the building is concerned and what we can accommodate,” said Charlie Young, president of the strata council at Princess Gate, a condo building near Coquitlam's City Centre Aquatic Complex.

Residents may want to accommodate the future and support EV ownership, he said, but strata councils don’t have the time, expertise or money to deal with what could be a costly change to electrical and parking infrastructure.

Under new rules, stratas can charge fees for using power to charge EV batteries and recover fees for the installation of Level 2 chargers, but making wholesale changes requires the support of 75% of residents — a high threshold to meet especially if a special levy is needed to upgrade a building’s electrical capacity.

At Princess Gate, the council has adopted a stopgap measure, charging residents $25 a month to use a standard 110-volt outlet to charge their car, but Young said attempts to accommodate have opened up other cans of worms, including the need to reassign parking spots.

“Gee whiz, how many changes can we accommodate in our building?” he said.

Grappling with these questions is becoming more common since federal and provincial incentives created a buying frenzy of EV cars. But while the issue may be new for many stratas, EV clubs and associations say strata councils should be required to find ways to accommodate EV drivers.

Groups such as the Vancouver EV Association have written to Selina Robinson, minister of municipal affairs and housing, asking for right-to-charge legislation, similar to what is in place in Ontario and other jurisdictions.

Jim Hindson, who has owned an electric vehicle for five years, says governments may have to compel strata councils to deal with the issue of EV charging, and right-to-charge legislation may be the answer.

While the legislation may seem draconian to some, Hindson said it’s necessary to make EV car ownership easier and enable B.C. to meet its target of 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2040.

“It’s the number one barrier [to EV ownership]. We’ve got the cars, we’ve got the range, we’ve got the [public] infrastructure coming.”



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