What decision-makers need to know
Created by LC3, the Green Municipal Fund (GMF) and Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors
The Government of Canada recently established a standard that all new passenger vehicles sold be zero emission by 2035. This will exponentially increase demand for electric vehicles (EV) and EV charging over the coming decades.
Charging at home is the most affordable and convenient option for most EV owners. Yet while a third of Canada’s population live in multifamily buildings, only a fraction have EV charging access. This is due to a range of barriers including high investment hurdle rates, an absence of incentive programs, complex internal approval processes and a lack of awareness regarding the upcoming surge in EV charging demand.
The time to act is now. This report outlines how Canadian decision-makers can support futureproofing of multifamily buildings and ensure all residents can access EV charging at home. It presents 16 recommendations related to policy, incentives, financing and capacity building to accelerate comprehensive retrofitting instead of incremental approaches.
Key takeaways
- New policies and programs that enable comprehensive, whole building retrofits in multifamily buildings for “EV-ready” parking are necessary to achieve local and national climate targets and equity goals around transportation.
- To keep pace with the EV-ready retrofits that are needed, interventions should enable whole building, comprehensive retrofits over a fragmented approach.
- Developing an approach to futureproofing EV charging in multifamily buildings is an equity issue, and this work should be designed to meet the needs of equity-deserving households.
- Comprehensive futureproofing approaches can create strategic linkages with other urban climate priorities of broad building electrification and transportation modal shift.
Recommendations (next steps)
Based on the research and findings detailed in this report, we present our recommendations to support the widespread deployment of comprehensive futureproofing across Canada.
Municipalities
• Adopt best practice EV Ready requirements for new construction. (Recommendation 1.2)
• Pilot Charging-as-a-Service, and quickly scale up if programs are deemed effective. (Recommendation 3.4)
• Provide education and training related to comprehensive EV ready retrofits for condominium boards and rental building owners to understand the value proposition. (Recommendation 4.1)
Federal Government
- Update the model National Energy Code for Buildings (NECB) and the National Building Code (NBC) to require EV Ready new construction. (Recommendation 1.1)
- Offer incentives (rebates) for comprehensive EV futureproofing retrofit planning studies and infrastructure upgrades. In aggregate, we recommend incentives total approximately $3 billion by 2030. (Recommendation 2.1)
- Engage with the Canada Infrastructure Bank and consider aggregating EV futureproofing projects as part of the Building Retrofits Initiative. (Recommendation 3.2)
- Explore financing projects to be repaid against future Clean Fuel credit revenues in jurisdictions with high credit values. (Recommendation 3.3)
- Provide education and training related to comprehensive EV ready retrofits for condominium boards and rental building owners to understand the value proposition. (Recommendation 4.1)
- Develop a standard specification for networked EV charging services for multifamily buildings (and potentially other applications – e.g. workplaces), and an impartial means of testing and certifying service providers against the specification. (Recommendation 4.2)
- Develop specifications and guidance for wholistic electrification planning studies and futureproofing practices. (Recommendation 4.3)
- Explore bulk procurement of EV charging services for multifamily buildings (and potentially other applications – e.g. workplaces). (Recommendation 4.4)
Provincial Government
- Adopt best practice EV Ready requirements for new construction. (Recommendation 1.2)
- Adopt “Right to Charge 2.0”. (Recommendation 1.3)
- Update utility policy constructs, regulations, rates and programs to support widespread deployment of EV charging, and broader beneficial electrification. (Recommendation 1.4)
- Explore legislation, and/or template condo bylaws and associated processes, to enable legally exchanging parking spaces in condos and thereby enable phased retrofits, and to lower approval voting thresholds for futureproofing projects. (Recommendation 1.5)
- Provide education and training related to comprehensive EV ready retrofits for condominium boards and rental building owners to understand the value proposition. (Recommendation 4.1)
- Develop a standard specification for networked EV charging services for multifamily buildings (and potentially other applications – e.g. workplaces), and an impartial means of testing and certifying service providers against the specification. (Recommendation 4.2)
- Develop specifications and guidance for wholistic electrification planning studies and futureproofing practices. (Recommendation 4.3)
- Explore bulk procurement of EV charging services for multifamily buildings (and potentially other applications – e.g. workplaces). (Recommendation 4.4)
Utilities
- Update utility policy constructs, regulation, rates and programs to support widespread deployment of EV charging, and broader beneficial electrification. (Recommendation 1.4)
- Offer incentives (rebates) for comprehensive EV futureproofing retrofit planning studies and infrastructure upgrades. In aggregate, we recommend incentives total approximately $3 billion by 2030. (Recommendation 2.1)
- Offer incentives specifically tailored to low- or moderate-income rental buildings and non-market housing. Offer incentives specifically tailored to low- or moderate-income rental buildings and non-market housing. Consider Charging-as-a-Service and utility “make ready” programs specifically tailored to the rental and affordable housing sectors. Include clauses in funding agreements that restrict rent increases, evictions and exorbitant user fees. (Recommendation 2.2)
- Pilot Charging-as-a-Service, and quickly scale up if programs are deemed effective. (Recommendation 3.4)
- Pilot “Make Ready” utility investment in EV charging infrastructure, and quickly scale up programs if deemed cost effective. (Recommendation 3.5)
- Provide education and training related to comprehensive EV ready retrofits for condominium boards and rental building owners to understand the value proposition. (Recommendation 4.1)
- Develop a standard specification for networked EV charging services for multifamily buildings (and potentially other applications – e.g. workplaces), and an impartial means of testing and certifying service providers against the specification. (Recommendation 4.2)
- Develop specifications and guidance for wholistic electrification planning studies and futureproofing practices. (Recommendation 4.3)
Development finance institutions
- Explore legislation, and/or template condo bylaws and associated processes, to enable legally exchanging parking spaces in condos and thereby enable phased retrofits, and to lower approval voting thresholds for futureproofing projects. (Recommendation 1.5.)
- Introduce loan financing products to support comprehensive EV futureproofing. (Recommendation 3.1)
- Explore financing projects to be repaid against future Clean Fuel credit revenues in jurisdictions with high credit values. (Recommendation 3.3.)
- Pilot Charging-as-a-Service, and quickly scale up if programs are deemed effective. (Recommendation 3.4)
- Develop a standard specification for networked EV charging services for multifamily buildings (and potentially other applications – e.g. workplaces), and an impartial means of testing and certifying service providers against the specification. (Recommendation 4.2)
- Develop specifications and guidance for wholistic electrification planning studies and futureproofing practices. (Recommendation 4.3)
- Explore bulk procurement of EV charging services for multifamily buildings (and potentially other applications – e.g. workplaces). (Recommendation 4.4)
Non-profits
- Explore legislation, and/or template condo bylaws and associated processes, to enable legally exchanging parking spaces in condos and thereby enable phased retrofits, and to lower approval voting thresholds for futureproofing projects. (Recommendation 1.5)
- Provide education and training related to comprehensive EV ready retrofits for condominium boards and rental building owners to understand the value proposition. (Recommendation 4.1)
- Develop a standard specification for networked EV charging services for multifamily buildings (and potentially other applications – e.g. workplaces), and an impartial means of testing and certifying service providers against the specification. (Recommendation 4.2)
- Develop specifications and guidance for wholistic electrification planning studies and futureproofing practices. (Recommendation 4.3)
Charging service providers
- Pilot Charging-as-a-Service, and quickly scale up if programs are deemed effective. (Recommendation 3.4)
Full details on these recommendations can be found on pages 74-82 of the report.
“Comprehensive futureproofing of multifamily buildings with EV charging infrastructure is key to enable the full transition to EVs over the next 2-3 decades. With careful planning, these approaches can also enable broader building decarbonization by reserving limited electrical capacity for heat pumps and other electrification retrofits.
While comprehensive EV futureproofing is the lowest cost approach on a life cycle basis, a variety of market failures prevent the condo and rental apartment sectors from implementing these approaches without supportive government policies and programs. Dunsky is proud to have served GMF and the LC3 Network, describing comprehensive futureproofing approaches and innovative policies and programs to drive their widespread adoption across Canada.”
– Brendan McEwen, Managing Consultant, Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors