Challenges of EVs, condos

With their limited range and small sizes, it should come as no surprise that nearly 98 per cent of electric vehicle (EV) registrations happen in “urban areas” or densely populated cities.

While the green lifestyle is appealing to prospective EV owners, the ever important challenge of charging a car is hard to ignore. It’s pretty easy if you have your own house with a garage, but if you live in a condo or apartment, you may be wondering how to charge your own car at home. Fortunately, we have some ideas.

Whenever it’s time to talk about charging an electric car, we have to bring up the types of chargers involved. There’s Level 1 charging, which uses your typical120-volt plug. To get the full172-kilometre range on aNissan Leaf, that would take almost 26 hours of straight charging.

Instead, you may want a Level 2 charger, which is what most EV buyers get at their home. These operate at 240-volts and charge cars quicker. In the case of a Leaf, it can charge fully in about seven hours or even less if the car is equipped with the optional 6.6 kW on-board charger.

Finally, there’s Level 3 charging, also known as fast chargers, which are very powerful and are typically used in paid stations. Some of these stations aren’t compatible with every EV. For example, Tesla uses its own system, called Superchargers. These can charge a compatible electric vehicle in just over an hour.

Getting a charger Electric car owners should look to use a Level 2 charger at home, but if you live in an apartment or condo, then you may not be able to install a charger.

It’s not impossible, though. A recent bill passed in California, called AB-2565, will allow renters to install a charger in their parking spots if they’re willing to cover all the costs associated with the installation. You’d have to use electrical engineers to perform the work. This is in contrast to installing a charger in a ga-

rage at a house, which you can do with whatever contractor or electrician you want or even yourself. Some condos also require the electricity from your charging station be metered and billed back to your unit.

For homeowners (not renters) with parking spots, it is possible to install a charger in your spot in your condo’s parking garage. Technically, you own that parking spot, so you can buy and install a charger there, however, because you don’t own the facilities, you need to present your case to the condo board or landlord. Nissan and other EV advocacy groups provide whitepapers that will help convince landlords about the benefits of installing chargers at their buildings.

Scheduling charges If you’re renting a condo and aren’t able to install a charger in your rented parking spot, you could consider flipping the charging schedule. Instead of charging at home, charge while you’re at work. A readily available Level 1 charger wouldn’t improve your situation that much, but it may be enough to help you commute home. Eight hours on a 120volt charger could net you just more than 48 kilometres.

Another option is to install a Level 2 charger at your workplace. That may not sound like an easy task, unless you’re the boss of your company, but there are some initiatives in place that help broadcast the benefits of having chargers at the workplace. In particular, a CALSTART study suggests that having chargers at a business can help in terms of marketing, and even retain customers and employees.

Finding a charger If not at the workplace, there may be a public Level 2 charger near your home or work. More shopping centres feature charging stations. And CAA and ChargeHub have charging station locator information on their websites.

At first, it may be difficult to grasp the concept of living in a condo or apartment while owning an electric car, and there are some hurdles to deal with when it comes to getting your own personal charger in those buildings, but it’s not impossible.