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EV Charging in Rental Unit?
#1
I've recently purchased an electric vehicle, and was wondering if anyone knew any apartments that would allow charging? I'm more than willing to pay for the costs involved with installing a charger or outlet, but it seems impossible with most landlords/rental companies. Any suggestions?
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#2
Get rid of the car?

Just kidding. It's actually an interesting question - do any rental buildings in K-W have chargers for tenants? How about condo apartments?
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#3
I saw a blog post about 144 Park having chargers for owners, but there's only 1 unit for rent and they weren't willing to let me install one. I've also tried Barrel Yards but they don't seem very interested in it at all.
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#4
What are the (perceived?) downsides of retrofitting chargers into multi-unit buildings? I've only heard about resistance, even for owners willing to pay the costs of installation. I would have thought that the Province would be creeping toward making them obligatory in new builds, before too many more years have passed.
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#5
I can't think of any downsides other than costs? But the minimum that I need is a 110V outlet, which I also can't seem to find. It's quite frustrating as the only other option is to find a townhouse/house. The province provides rebates for chargers and installations as well, but it's not at all common in Waterloo condos.
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#6
(07-09-2017, 03:11 PM)helloWorld Wrote: I can't think of any downsides other than costs? But the minimum that I need is a 110V outlet, which I also can't seem to find. It's quite frustrating as the only other option is to find a townhouse/house. The province provides rebates for chargers and installations as well, but it's not at all common in Waterloo condos.

Isn't that just a standard outlet?
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#7
I can totally believe there is strong resistance, simply out of a "easier to do nothing" policy.

That being said, I have heard that the Drewlo buildings on Victoria St. (near Park) had installed some for some of their tenants, so you may have luck with Drewlo buildings.

You may also for some places which have indoor parking, you might try just asking the property manager if you can use an existing 110v outlet in the garage "under the radar".  It won't be fast, but it's the kind of thing that could probably be ignored while it's still relatively uncommon.
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#8
(07-09-2017, 03:35 PM)panamaniac Wrote:
(07-09-2017, 03:11 PM)helloWorld Wrote: I can't think of any downsides other than costs? But the minimum that I need is a 110V outlet, which I also can't seem to find. It's quite frustrating as the only other option is to find a townhouse/house. The province provides rebates for chargers and installations as well, but it's not at all common in Waterloo condos.

Isn't that just a standard outlet?

Yes it is! Apparently there aren't any outlets in the Barrel Yards garage, and of the other units I've seen none of them have one nearby.
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#9
(07-09-2017, 04:11 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I can totally believe there is strong resistance, simply out of a "easier to do nothing" policy.

That being said, I have heard that the Drewlo buildings on Victoria St. (near Park) had installed some for some of their tenants, so you may have luck with Drewlo buildings.

You may also for some places which have indoor parking, you might try just asking the property manager if you can use an existing 110v outlet in the garage "under the radar".  It won't be fast, but it's the kind of thing that could probably be ignored while it's still relatively uncommon.

Thanks! I'll give them a call tomorrow morning. Hopefully they'll have something!
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#10
(07-09-2017, 03:03 PM)panamaniac Wrote: What are the (perceived?) downsides of retrofitting chargers into multi-unit buildings?  I've only heard about resistance, even for owners willing to pay the costs of installation.  I would have thought that the Province would be creeping toward making them obligatory in new builds, before too many more years have passed.

In a garage without assigned spaces (I think 1 Victoria uses FCFS parking, for example), it's not that difficult for the building owner or the condo corporation to put in one or two EV charging spaces.  There are L2 chargers available that will automatically charge the car owner (using an Internet connection) so it's pretty easy to implement.

Buildings with assigned spaces are much more of a challenge.  Now the charger has to be installed at the EV owner's assigned parking space.  The parking garage has to be prepared for the connection of multiple chargers (the more capacity, the more cost) and then the individual charger needs to be connected to the backbone.  It's unlikely that many tenants in a rental building would be willing to pay for that so this really applies to condo buildings.

Most garages do not have even 110V outlets at parking spaces.  Installing those is less expensive than installing L2 chargers, but it's still a substantial cost.  And the building would need to decide on a policy for charging for the electricity use.

We are looking at this for our building (assigned spaces and L2 charging in our case).  It won't come cheap, though.
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#11
(07-09-2017, 05:53 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(07-09-2017, 03:03 PM)panamaniac Wrote: What are the (perceived?) downsides of retrofitting chargers into multi-unit buildings?  I've only heard about resistance, even for owners willing to pay the costs of installation.  I would have thought that the Province would be creeping toward making them obligatory in new builds, before too many more years have passed.

In a garage without assigned spaces (I think 1 Victoria uses FCFS parking, for example), it's not that difficult for the building owner or the condo corporation to put in one or two EV charging spaces.  There are L2 chargers available that will automatically charge the car owner (using an Internet connection) so it's pretty easy to implement.

Buildings with assigned spaces are much more of a challenge.  Now the charger has to be installed at the EV owner's assigned parking space.  The parking garage has to be prepared for the connection of multiple chargers (the more capacity, the more cost) and then the individual charger needs to be connected to the backbone.  It's unlikely that many tenants in a rental building would be willing to pay for that so this really applies to condo buildings.

Most garages do not have even 110V outlets at parking spaces.  Installing those is less expensive than installing L2 chargers, but it's still a substantial cost.  And the building would need to decide on a policy for charging for the electricity use.

We are looking at this for our building (assigned spaces and L2 charging in our case).  It won't come cheap, though.

I was looking at this post on 144 Park St, where they said the costs of L2 charging (240V, 30-50A) would be $3500-5000. I'm actually wiling to pay that to install it in a rental unit as I intend to stay there for a while, but the main concern for me is finding someone who's willing to allow me to do that. Would you happen to know if any buildings have 110V outlets readily available? L2 is definitely nice to have but I'm not sure if that's even possible with rentals at this point..
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#12
(07-09-2017, 06:07 PM)helloWorld Wrote: I was looking at this post on 144 Park St, where they said the costs of L2 charging (240V, 30-50A) would be $3500-5000. I'm actually wiling to pay that to install it in a rental unit as I intend to stay there for a while, but the main concern for me is finding someone who's willing to allow me to do that. Would you happen to know if any buildings have 110V outlets readily available? L2 is definitely nice to have but I'm not sure if that's even possible with rentals at this point..

Most places will have some electrical outlets in the garage, but not where the cars are parked (usually they're in whatever lobby area exists for use of cleaning staff etc.).  The suggestion I have is that they may be able to arrange a space near where there is already an outlet you can use.  It really depends entirely upon the layout of the garage, and the super.

@tomh009  I would actually thing FCFS would be a bigger problem, an EV user needs to know there will be a charger available, I would think even in a FCFS location, you would still need assigned EV stations for tenants.

But cost wise, I think it is not really that much of a problem, at least in some places, depending on the electrical layout, if there is a box in the garage, installation should be less than 1000 dollars, plus the cost of the unit.  Anyone willing to buy an EV who's planning on staying in an apartment medium term would probably be willing.  Plus, a building may even be willing to front some of the cost (if installing a "commercial" unit as opposed to just a home style unit) because they'd be able to list it as an amenity.  If the garage doesn't have nearby electrical panel of sufficient power, then all bets are off.

But this is only true right now, in a world where even 10% of your tenants want an EV charger, as opposed to just 1 or 2, things get a lot more complicated.
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#13
(07-09-2017, 06:07 PM)helloWorld Wrote: I was looking at this post on 144 Park St, where they said the costs of L2 charging (240V, 30-50A) would be $3500-5000. I'm actually wiling to pay that to install it in a rental unit as I intend to stay there for a while, but the main concern for me is finding someone who's willing to allow me to do that. Would you happen to know if any buildings have 110V outlets readily available? L2 is definitely nice to have but I'm not sure if that's even possible with rentals at this point..

Yes, those costs are in the ballpark for 30A wiring + L2 charger, once the infrastructure is in place.

I don't know that many other buildings so no one comes to mind at the moment.  Have you checked the situation at 1 Victoria (which does have some units for rent) or 460 Belmont?  Both are new buildings which have a better chance of supporting EV charging of some type.
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#14
(07-09-2017, 07:22 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(07-09-2017, 06:07 PM)helloWorld Wrote: I was looking at this post on 144 Park St, where they said the costs of L2 charging (240V, 30-50A) would be $3500-5000. I'm actually wiling to pay that to install it in a rental unit as I intend to stay there for a while, but the main concern for me is finding someone who's willing to allow me to do that. Would you happen to know if any buildings have 110V outlets readily available? L2 is definitely nice to have but I'm not sure if that's even possible with rentals at this point..

Yes, those costs are in the ballpark for 30A wiring + L2 charger, once the infrastructure is in place.

I don't know that many other buildings so no one comes to mind at the moment.  Have you checked the situation at 1 Victoria (which does have some units for rent) or 460 Belmont?  Both are new buildings which have a better chance of supporting EV charging of some type.

I'll definitely talk to 460 Belmont tomorrow. According to Condo Culture which is listing 1 Victoria, none of the kw properties that they manage are EV friendly. Hopefully someone at 144 Park will be willing to rent to me, or I suppose I'll have to look at townhouses/houses much further away.
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#15
How urgently do you need to find a place with EV charging?  What size unit are you looking for?

There is a 2BR for rent at 144 Park:
https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Singl...rio-N2L0B6
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