How these condo dwellers got EV charging in their buildings

Emily Chung · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 25, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

One of the biggest perks of owning an EV is waking up to a afloat charged car each greeting and ne'er having to spell to a state station — that is, if you person at-home charging.

Before Lucian Oboroceanu got EV chargers installed successful his Toronto condo building, keeping his car charged was a pain. 

"I had to spell astir the metropolis to find [a] charger and it was precise difficult," helium recalled.

In a caller survey of 16,000 Canadian EV drivers by CAA and PlugShare, 85 per cent of respondents successful single-family homes had entree to location charging, compared to 62 per cent of those successful multi-family buildings. In that survey, lone 20 per cent of EV owners lived successful a multi-family building, adjacent though astir a 3rd of Canadians unrecorded successful this benignant of housing.

Oboroceanu soon learned helium wasn't the lone idiosyncratic successful his 350-unit gathering who was acrophobic astir the deficiency of charging — several neighbours brought it up astatine the board's wide meeting. One was trying to merchantability his portion and kept getting questions astir the availability of EV charging from prospective buyers.

As committee treasurer, Oboroceanu decided to code the problem. Two years later, EV chargers are installed successful the idiosyncratic parking spots of anyone successful the gathering who wants one, including his own. 

Retrofitting condo buildings with EV chargers tin airs a challenge, as Oboroceanu learned. CBC News spoke with him and respective different condo owners who succeeded, and learned what they did to marque it work.

Why getting charging into older condos is hard

Joanna Kyriazis, nationalist affairs manager for the think-tank Clean Energy Canada, said it typically costs astir $1,500 to instal a Level 2 charger successful a single-family home, but it tin beryllium acold much to retrofit a multi-family building. (It's overmuch cheaper successful a caller building.) That's due to the fact that installation tin beryllium analyzable and impact costly drilling and long-distance wiring done aggregate levels of parking.

When Oboroceanu archetypal looked into what it would instrumentality to get charging for 10 cars successful his condo building, helium was shocked to larn it would outgo $50,000 — a no-go.

Some buildings besides person constricted electrical capacity.

Peter Luff of Kanata, Ont., a suburb of Ottawa, calculated that to person charging capableness for each 8 condo units, his gathering could lone instal Level 1 charging alternatively than the faster Level 2 charging that tin capable an bare artillery overnight. The bully quality is that Level 1 is often accelerated capable for galore drivers, including Luff.

Kyriazis said electrical capableness is often not an issue, acknowledgment to exertion that can monitor and optimize charging, but radical whitethorn not cognize astir those solutions.

One last issue: How volition EV owners wage for charging and the energy they use?

"There's not a modular mode of doing this yet," said Kyriazis. 

Systems that negociate charging and outgo often necessitate web connectivity, which tin besides adhd to infrastructure costs.

Do your research

While each these tin beryllium challenging, Oboroceanu, Luff and Kyriazis person immoderate proposal for success.

Surveying one's building, residents and authorities subsidies are bully places to start.

Luff contacted the section electrical inferior and adjacent buildings that already had charging to get information. 

So did Dave Wong of Vancouver, B.C., who lives successful a 36-storey highrise with 132 units. He learned from neighbours astir national and provincial programs that erstwhile stacked unneurotic with a subsidy from B.C. Hydro could defer astir each costs. He besides got the names of 4 section vendors and quotes for antithetic imaginable configurations.

Finally, helium hand-delivered surveys to each portion successful his gathering to find retired however galore radical had EVs, and however galore planned to bargain 1 successful the adjacent 5 years.

Educate neighbours and physique allies

Cara Clairman, president and CEO of Plug'n Drive, an EV advocacy group, said getting neighbours connected committee is important, arsenic a condo committee volition request to o.k. EV charging first.

Wong and Luff some provided accusation astir EVs and EV uptake to their neighbours. For example, Wong noted successful his survey that B.C. volition necessitate 100 per cent of caller conveyance income to beryllium zero emissions by 2035, expanding the aboriginal request for EV charging.

They argued that imaginable buyers volition privation EV charging successful their gathering — thing Oroboceanu's neighbours were already uncovering successful 2023.

Wong besides argued that it would beryllium cheaper to retrofit the full gathering astatine once, particularly since subsidies were disposable astatine the time.

WATCH | Road to EV adoption: Why experts deliberation the aboriginal is inactive electric 

Keep your building's needs successful mind

Through his survey, Wong learned determination were lone 5 EV owners successful his building. (He didn't adjacent person 1 himself.) So alternatively of installing a charger successful each spot, the gathering conscionable wired each spot to beryllium EV-ready astatine a outgo of $1,000 per portion (with subsidies), with the enactment to adhd a Level 2 charger for $3,500. To Wong's surprise, 20 radical did that.

Luff went with Level 1 charging. His committee learned that Ontario would let the task to beryllium paid for from the condo's reserve money "so determination was nary occupation successful coming up with the money."

He besides kept payments simple, buying $40 energy meters for each the caller outlets. Residents wage bills based connected the speechmaking each month. The 1 disadvantage, helium said, is that the strategy is "totally reliant connected you being honest." 

That apt wouldn't enactment for a ample gathering similar Oboroceanu's. His probe connected section vendors successful Toronto yet brought him to Smart EV Systems, which offered a bundle with nary upfront outgo to instal an electrical sheet serving up to 10 EV chargers. He rents his charger and pays for the energy monthly.

Kyriazis said hiring companies similar that tin beryllium a bully solution, arsenic they instrumentality attraction of galore of the complexities. But she said she has heard mixed reviews connected the outgo schemes, which tin outgo much successful the agelong run.

So far, though, Oboroceanu is pleased with the effect — truthful pleased that he's recommending the work to immoderate of the 150 buildings helium manages done Newton-Trelawney Property Management. 

For those looking to get EV charging successful their ain buildings, Plug'n Drive and Clean Energy Canada are moving connected a caller usher that they anticipation to merchandise successful the fall.