{"id":2709,"date":"2023-10-30T10:06:14","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T14:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/?p=2709"},"modified":"2024-02-20T09:53:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T14:53:20","slug":"condo-unit-owners-band-together-and-install-57-ev-chargers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/blog\/client-profile\/condo-unit-owners-band-together-and-install-57-ev-chargers\/","title":{"rendered":"Condo Unit Owners Band Together and Install 57 EV Chargers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) making any sort of collective decision is notoriously difficult. And with\u00a0one in eight Canadians living in condos<\/a>, group action when it comes to installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure is a common problem.<\/p>\n

But for one Merton Street condo in midtown Toronto, residents banded together to achieve an impressive feat: 57 unit owners had EV charging stations installed in their deeded parking spots. The kicker is only three of them actually own an electric vehicle.<\/p>\n

In partnership with electric vehicle charging technology company SWTCH and full-service installers Simply EV Charging Solutions, the condo board and property manager facilitated this installation earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\"AKB_8101
One of the 57 installed Level 2 chargers in the parking garage<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

As a result, over 20 per cent of the building\u2019s units boast EV charging capabilities. And there\u2019s capacity to expand as demand grows.<\/p>\n

\n \u201c<\/span>\n
\n \u201cIt was super easy to work with SWTCH and Simply. They made our work so much easier,\u201d\n <\/blockquote><\/div>\n

Electric vehicle sales are skyrocketing across North America and there are a growing number of EV-ready bylaws across Canada.<\/p>\n

Groundwork is being laid through government incentive programs. Now, property managers, boards and owners stand to benefit from myriad opportunities to partner with industry experts to access resources, defray costs and future-proof their investments.<\/p>\n

The Merton Street condo board and residents serve as an excellent example of collective action done well.<\/p>\n

The why and how<\/h3>\n

What convinced dozens of residents to pre-emptively electrify their parking spots? A combination of collective buying power, real estate values, reducing gas dependence and concern for the environment.<\/p>\n

The condo board began investigating EV infrastructure for the building in 2018 when a resident inquired about it. The Ontario Condo Act requires condo boards (in most cases) to allow owners to install their own chargers.<\/p>\n

But this board wanted to avoid a patchwork solution or, worse, a temporary fix needing overhauling in a few years. Its members thought if one resident wants this amenity, perhaps others will too.<\/p>\n

The Merton Street condo board then hired an engineer to assess the building\u2019s electrical infrastructure capacity.<\/p>\n

But at a rough cost of $400,000, the prospect of offering widespread charging access seemed financially daunting. The board began to set aside money for the project, but it took a combination of the residents\u2019 collective buying power reducing costs, savvy grant knowledge and strategic hardware and software applications to bring the project within reach.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Merton Street condo board worked with an electrical engineer, along with partners SWTCH and Simply EV Charging Solutions, to develop an EV charging installation plan for all floors of the parking garage \u2014 without overtaxing the building\u2019s existing power infrastructure.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u2019s where SWTCH came in. The company, which offers charging hardware and software, helped connect the Merton Street condo to relevant incentive programs and grants. In this case, funds from the Canadian government\u2019s\u00a0ZEVIP program<\/a>\u00a0covered 50 per cent of total project costs.<\/p>\n

This grant all but eliminated the condo corporation\u2019s upfront costs. Individual installation fees for participating unit owners ran roughly $4,000 \u2014 and uninvolved residents paid nothing at all.<\/p>\n

\n \u201c<\/span>\n
\n \u201cWe had a strategy underway, but the catalyst for getting this project off the ground was access to this funding source.”\n <\/blockquote><\/div>\n

A forward-looking investment and partnership<\/h3>\n

For the Merton Street condo board and residents, installing EV charging infrastructure offers a boost to property resale values.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving an EV-ready building will enhance all unit values,\u201d says Saevitzon.<\/p>\n

While research is still ongoing to quantify this particular value add,\u00a0an American study published this year in\u00a0Nature Sustainability<\/em><\/a>\u00a0found that proximity to EV charging stations may command a premium of up to 5 per cent on the current real estate market.<\/p>\n

And, of course, many residents want the option to buy an electric vehicle down the road and charge at home.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what drew them to partner with SWTCH, which offers an intelligent\u00a0load management system<\/a>\u00a0designed specifically for multifamily properties. With Level 2 chargers and SWTCH\u2019s EV driver app and software, residents are able to connect to the charging network from their parking garage and pay individually for their usage \u2014 all while using the building\u2019s existing power infrastructure responsibly. The software responds to demand fluctuations in real time. This means the building can harness the lower off-peak electricity rates overnight for the majority of their charging needs.<\/p>\n

\"Dozens
Dozens of EV charging stations in this condo garage have been installed but not yet activated. Now, participating residents have access to home charging when they need it \u2014 either in the short term or down the road.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

And with this installation, there\u2019s now a path forward for other residents. \u201cWe now have a framework in place if additional owners want to have a charger installed and connect to our infrastructure,\u201d says Saevitzon.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur owners now have one less barrier to buying an electric vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you’re interesting to crafting a similar story for your condo, get in touch with SWTCH<\/a> to learn how you can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) making any sort of collective decision is notoriously difficult. And with\u00a0one in eight Canadians living in condos, group action when it comes to installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure is a common problem. But for one Merton Street condo in midtown Toronto, residents banded together to achieve an impressive feat: 57 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Condo Unit Owners Band Together and Install 57 EV Chargers","description":"24% of condo owners' worked together to install 57 Level 2 chargers in their deeded spots... but only 3 have EVs. A textbook story of collective action to future proof their building and property investment"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2709","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-client-profile"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":2709},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2709"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3164,"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2709\/revisions\/3164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtchenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}