What is an EV Ready Plan?

The Complete Beginner’s Guide

The world is going green. The future is electric. All statistics show that electric vehicle sales continue to rise and there will be no more gas powered cars sold after year 2035. As more electric cars hit the road, more electricity will be needed to power them. 80% of EV drivers prefer to charge at home but the question is - do these residential buildings have enough power to support this massive increase in electric vehicles? This is where EV Ready Plans are called into action.

So what is an EV Ready Plan? How does it work?

Enter our guide

In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to know to get started with an EV Ready Plan, including:

• What an EV Ready Plan is and why it’s important.

• The 3 Benefits of an EV Ready Plan and how it can help.

• Tips, tools, and best practices to succeed with an EV Ready Plan.

Read on so you can save time and money throughout the process.

What is an EV Ready Plan?

An EV Ready plan is a document laying out the steps needed to make every residential stall in the building ready for EV Charging. This involves equipping parking spaces with power outlets for a Level 2 EV charger in each stall. An EV Ready Plan is a quote and strategy to ensure every residential unit in the building has a parking stall equipped with an EV Charger.

That being said, EV Ready Plans are packed with much more valuable information than just an overall cost of the project. Being EV Ready means preparing a building to support substantial levels of future EV charging. This helps ensure Multi-Use Residential Buildings have an approach to make their building future proofed to provide all residents with a simple process to access EV charging at their parking space.

Why is an EV Ready Plan important?

3 Major Benefits of an EV Ready Plan

• Increase the value of your building

• Future proof your building

• Safety and avoiding disaster

Most importantly, the information below will help you save time and money.

I believe every strata building should get an EV Ready Plan done. It will be an eye opening experience. Most strata buildings have a handful of residents that own electric vehicles. Although the number is still low, these residents usually put pressure on the strata council to add EV Charging to the building. EV Charging will soon be a essential amenity and strata councils are aware this movement is on the horizon. If the topic is raised enough throughout the building someone on the strata council will usually reach out to an electrician or EV Charging company to ask how much EV Charging costs. This is when they are advised to get an EV Ready Plan created.

Benefits of an EV Ready Plan

Increase Value of the Building

It’s no surprise that making your building EV Ready is expensive. It’s important to remember that this is an investment into your building. Having your building EV Ready will drastically increase the value of your building and attract new residents and renters. In terms of costs it depends on how many units you have in the building. I’ve seen EV Ready Plans range anywhere from $50K-$750K. As a rough reference I’d estimate an average of $3K per stall to become EV Ready. These numbers vary though depending on the scope of the project. Keep in mind that you may be eligible to have a portion of this amount covered by government rebates. I’ll discuss that later in the post.

Future Proof your Building

Obtaining an EV Ready Plan is a valuable tool in your toolbox. Having the report will help you plan for the future and anticipate costs that may be on the horizon. Gordon Gecko from the movie Wall Street said “the most valuable commodity I know of is information” and this is no exception. There is no doubt more people are driving electric vehicles as time goes on. This means with time the demand for chargers will increase. An EV Ready Plan will help you be proactive and get in front of the situation before it become a problem. You’ll be able to explain the complexity of the project to EV owners but ensure it is being considered for a plan in the future.

Safety

Whether you know about it or not - people in your building are probably already charging their electric cars. If there are EV’s in your building I guarantee there is at least one person that has their own Level 1 EV Charger with an extension cord running to the closest outlet in the parkade. If there is no plan in place and people are using extension cords to charge their cars you’re looking at a potential fire hazard. I’ve come across one building that had a fire break out due to a resident using multiple extension cords to reach the nearest outlet. The fire damaged their parkade and the strata council had to dip into the contingency fund to renovate the area.

How much does an EV Ready Plan Cost?

The Process

An electrical contractor or engineer can create the EV Ready Plan for you. An engineer will be more expensive. The cost for an EV Ready Plan is usually around $5K and BC Hydro will provide you with a rebate of $3K. The EV Ready Plan will tell you the entire cost of the project as well as the average cost per stall. Some EV Ready Plans are more detailed than others but at minimum are required to include the information noted here: https://www.bchydro.com/content/dam/BCHydro/customer-portal/documents/power-smart/electric-vehicles/ev-ready-plan-requirements.pdf

Savings

It may be smart to get an EV Ready Plan done sooner rather than later because these projects are only going to get more expensive as time goes on. As more buildings request these upgrades and the demand increases the prices will increase too. It's already starting to happen. Another aspect to saving money is being able to accurately bill for electricity use. As mentioned above, it’s common for EV owners to use their own Level 1 chargers with nearby outlets. This is essentially stealing electricity because everyone in the building is paying for them to charge their car. If you have a proper EV Charging plan in place you can properly track and bill EV owners a monthly fee to use the buildings energy. The monthly electricity fee usually ranges between $20-$50/month.

How to get an EV Ready Plan created

As mentioned above, an EV Ready Plan can be created by a licensed electrical contractor or a registered electrical engineer. I would recommend choosing a local electrician with a high number of good reviews. An electrician will be much less expensive than using an electrical engineer. Make sure you research the electricians website to confirm if EV Ready Plans are a service they offer. Most electricians see the demand of EV Charging in the market and are focusing their efforts on this industry. That being said, not all EV Ready Plans are created equal so ask to see an example if you can.

Timeline

The timeline to have one created should be less than a month. The electrician may have to run a survey and ask the residents a few questions about their driving habits, such as distance travelled, frequency of driving and if they’re considering driving an electric car in the near future.

Important Components of an EV Ready Plan

Terminology: EVSE - Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment

• What is the existing electrical main service size?

• What is the existing peak demand on the main service and how was it determined?

• What is the spare capacity prior to EVSE installation?

• Average daily distance travelled by vehicles and how this was determined.

• Charging performance per vehicle as they relate to the needs of the user.

• Identify any existing EV chargers and how they will be integrated into the new EV charging system.

• Identify conditions of the existing WiFi/Cellular network infrastructure and if it can handle the new EV charging equipment. As well as costs of adding in more WiFi/Cellular.

• Specify what Level 2 Networked EVSE models will be compatible with the one recommended design solution, as well as a compatible EV energy management system

• Include a cost estimate to install the electrical infrastructure, telecommunication/network upgrades if required, and EVSE (if applicable) for the one design option being recommended.

Are there Rebates for EV Ready Plans?

Yes, the government will help pay for a portion of making your building EV Ready. You could apply for these rebates together to streamline the EV-related upgrades to your building, or you could apply for them one at a time as your project progresses. Keep in mind these rebates are in flux so they may be subject to change.

EV Ready Plan Rebate:

• A rebate covering up to 75% of the costs, to a maximum of $3,000 for the creation of an EV Ready plan – a professional strategy for your building to make at least one parking space per residential unit EV Ready. The cost of an EV Ready Plan usually floats around $5,000.

EV Ready Infrastructure Rebate:

• A rebate of up to 50% of costs to install the electrical infrastructure required to implement your EV Ready plan, to a maximum of $600 per parking space, and a project maximum of $120,000. Remember the average per stall is usually close to $3,000.

EV Charger Rebate:

• A rebate of up to 50% of costs, up to a maximum of $1,400 per charger to purchase and install Level 2 networked EV Chargers to implement your building's EV Ready plan, to a maximum of $14,000.

Conclusion

Get started with an EV Ready Plan today

That was a lot of information but now you have a foundation of knowledge. These are the essentials of an EV Ready Plan. Having an EV Ready Plan will provide you with strong talking points to discuss at your next Annual General Meeting. Remember, an EV Ready Plan is there to help you. Having one created will save you time and money in the long run.

So let me ask, are you still considering getting an EV Ready Plan for your building?

Best of luck with your EV Charging journey. I hope this helps throughout your process and feel free to reach out if you need advice of any kind.

Kindly,

Strong Energy