Condo buyers will increasingly expect an EV charging station to be included as a must-have amenity for their condo purchase. Property owners won’t want parking that only acts as storage for their vehicle without the convenience of plugging in.

EV charging in condos stratas MURBs
Image: LeadingAhead Energy

1. Divide the costs and benefits

Providing charging stations on a first-ask, first-serve basis has the potential to leave less-savvy residents with lower property values. A 100% EV ready plan can be hard to swallow, but dividing the costs and benefits ensures equal access to all owners. Treat charging like any other necessary building upgrade.

2. Follow a guide

Click here for step-by-step instructions on how to develop and implement a charging station project for your condo or strata. Hydro-Québec has provided lots of technical information, too, so you can understand the nuts and volts of how this all works.

View of Toronto condo buildings
illustration of a car with a ruler

3. Understand condo EV charging costs

Need to convince your condo board of why 100% EV readiness is the way to go? Click here for a costing study that shows the typical costs of new and retrofit charging station installations in the greater Toronto area. When best practices are used, such as networked charger sharing, costs per stall drop dramatically. 

Next steps

⚡️ Share your power

Most vehicles in urban areas travel less than 50 km per day, which means they only need a nightly top-up. A level 2 charger provides about 30 km per hour spent charging, so most of your parked cars will only need to draw an hour or two of power each overnight. Put simply, while each spot needs the ability to plug into a charging station, networked stations can use software to send power to the vehicles only as needed. 

📱 Go high tech

Also called smart charging, pairing your physical stations with charging software as part of your infrastructure plan can enable automated billing and provide a seamless, app-based experience for your residents. It can also help manage and optimize the power available in your building and greatly reduce the ongoing cost of electricity.

🚙 Plan for the normal use case, not the outliers

Most EV owners do not deplete their battery on a regular basis. Keep in mind that on the rare occasion this happens, such as after a road trip, drivers can always tap into a faster public charger if they need quick refueling. (It’s easy to forget the old days when you had to stop at a gas station once you’ve experienced the convenience of overnight charging!) And in the near future, your residents will be using a mix of workplace, retail and public charging, rather than doing all their charging in the building.