In November 2019, after receiving more and more requests for EV chargers over the last few months, the board of this 132-unit condo building decided to start an EV-Readiness Project. All of the steps were taken collaboratively and simultaneously with Phase 2 of the complex given the similarities between the buildings and their needs.
Charging Solution
The building has three levels of parking, one electrical room in the basement (SS1) and one on the ninth floor. Of the 132 electricity meters, 99 are accessible from the parking lot and 33 are not accessible, which means two charging solutions had to be adopted. For the units with an accessible meter, the Electric Vehicle Energy Management System (EVEMS) has been selected, while for the ones with an inaccessible meter, it has been determined that a second meter would be added for each unit since the infrastructure in place allowed it. This solution allows each co-owner to be billed automatically on an individual basis, which reduces the management to be carried out by the board.
Since this energy capacity study was done, this solution of adding a second meter is no longer accepted by utilities and new technologies are now available. In a context of inaccessible meters, it is now suggested to install a smart panel.
Installation Approach
In order for every unit to have access to a charger in their parking space and to ensure uniform installations, the project proceeded according to the Partial Global Approach.
Set Up
To assess the building’s situation, the board wanted an Energy Capacity Study made. Given the cost of this study, the tenants had to respond to a survey on their interest in installing EV chargers to evaluate whether the expense was justified. The answers came back in March 2020 : of 44 respondents, 31 wanted the possibility to charge their vehicle in their parking space, four were not interested, seven answered “maybe” and four didn’t know. The vast majority of positive answers justified the launch of the study. In May 2020, the contract was given and was completed two months later. A special assembly was held in August and led to the implementation of a Charging Policy. In October 2020, the board announced the organization of an installation group which eventually consisted of six tenants.
Installation
The installation of 8 chargers, 2 DCCs and a meter stack of 6 meters took place from January to February 2021.
Project Details
Work in the Electrical Room
Installation of 2 DCC-9-40A
Installation of a meter stack of 6 meters
Installation of 6 new meters
Work in the Garage
Installation of the piping and cabling for 8 EV chargers
Work in the Parking Spaces
Installation of 8 FLO G5 EV chargers
Rebate
This project took advantage of the Roulez Vert program established by the Quebec Government, through the section Borne de recharge en multilogement, offering up to 50% cost reimbursement.
Location
Montreal, Quebec