Ontario Condo Act a roadblock for electric vehicle owners
CBC News
12 June 2017
Hoping to hit its ambitious goals for electric vehicle ownership,
Ontario is looking to overhaul parts of the Condominium Act that have
become an unexpected barrier to owning one.
Ontario's Ministry of Government and Consumer Services is gathering
electric vehicle and condo groups together Monday and Tuesday to look
at how revamping the act could encourage more electric vehicles on the
roads.
Prospective buyers like Roxanne Wright have found that improvements in
battery technology have made the cars affordable and desirable, but
condo dwellers like her may have difficulty finding a place to plug-in.
The Brampton elementary school teacher said she took one look at a friend's Chevrolet Bolt and fell in love immediately.
"The moment I saw the car, it was like this is what I need," she said,
adding that a test drive sealed the deal. "I don't need to pump any
gas, no oil change. I mean it's good for the environment; it's good for
me."
The car is so popular, she's on a waiting list to buy one, but in the
meantime, she decided to check to make sure installing a charging
station would be OK with her Mississauga condo. And that's when the
problems started.
'Not ready to undertake this expense'
In an email response to her request, the condo corporation's board of
directors said they were "not ready to undertake this expense at this
point of time given the fact that there is only one request" and that
they "represent all owners and cannot accommodate one owner against the
other owners."
"I was surprised, because it's good for the environment and it's the
way of the future. It's not like [electric vehicles] are going away,"
said Wright, adding she was willing to cover the $3,000 installation
cost.
Cara Clairman, CEO of Plug'n Drive, a non-profit organization
encouraging the use of electric vehicles in Ontario, says Wright's
situation is becoming more and more common as condo boards are fielding
a growing number of requests to install charging stations in parking
garages.
Clairman says more often than not boards are turning those requests down.
"Condo boards right now are a bit hesitant to get onboard with
[electric vehicles]," says Clairman, adding that presents a practical
problem for condo dwellers since most want to charge their vehicles at
home overnight when it is most convenient and the cost of electricity
is lowest.
Older the condo, bigger the job
Condo lawyer Chris Jaglowitz, a partner at Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP,
represents many condo corporations in Toronto. He says there are too
many unknowns — and too much risk — for some boards to approve the
charging stations.
"They do have to look first and foremost to the rest of the units, to
the value of the units, to safety, to cost and to the Condominium Act,"
said Jaglowitz.
That legislation governs how condominiums are run and what their boards
must consider when modifications to common elements, like parking
garages, are requested.
Jaglowitz says the concerns are over whether the charging stations will
have adverse affect for other units, create costs for the corporation
and detract from the appearance of the building.
He expects that more condo boards will face an increasing number of
requests by unit owners for electric-car charging infrastructure, but
under the current legal framework, he advises against it. Particularly
for older condominiums, rewiring their parking garages could be
lengthy, complicated and costly projects.
'It's about time' to update Condo Act
But changes to the Condominium Act, which dates back to 1998, could
provide condo corporations with needed clarity, said Jaglowitz.
"To their credit, the government is trying to find a way to make the
Condo Act more responsive to this particular situation dealing with
electric vehicle charging, so it's about time they are looking at it
specifically," he said.
Both Clairman of Plug'n Drive and Jaglowitz will be part of the
Ministry of Government and Consumer Services' consultation on changes
to the Condominium Act, which is now almost 20 years old.
"With these revisions to the condo act coming up we could put something
in that would suggest electric vehicle owners had the right to
install," said Clairman.
California state law provides for the installation of electric vehicle
charging stations in condo common areas, a titleholder's parking space
or an exclusive-use common area, as long as the user pays for the
installation, maintenance and repair of the station, as well as
electricity use.
Still a miniscule market
Jaglowitz says Ontario would be wise to provide condo boards, property
developers and condo residents with similar legal direction.
The province is encouraging electric vehicle use as part its Climate
Change Action Plan which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 15
per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, 37 per cent by 2030 and 80
per cent by 2050.
In the next three years, Ontario would like five per cent of all new
vehicle sales in the province be electric. That's about 14,000 vehicles
a year.
But it may have to hit the accelerator to get there. While electric car
sales are growing, last year they still only accounted for half a per
cent of all vehicle sales.
With condo populations skyrocketing, Jaglowitz says people who live in
multi-unit buildings in urban communities who tend to drive shorter
distances, will be a big part of the market.
While the province is encouraging people to buy electric vehicles
through incentives, infrastructure, such as public charging stations
and free electricity, Wrights says they forgot one piece of the puzzle.
"When they were putting a plan together they didn't really consider apartments and condos. We all have cars," she said.
Comments
Blaine Little
Electric vehicles are a joke. They have no range, don't work well in
winter, and create an environmental disaster when their batteries have
to be replaced. The main purpose of electric vehicles is to create a
false hope that we can consumer our way to a clean environment.
Mike Frenette
Clearly, condo corporations have to get on board with this (no pun).
The California approach is the most reasonable. The electric car owner
pays for the cost of operation, installation and maintenance (running
wires from meters in the panel room, installing the charging station,
and so on) for their individual parking spot. The only issue I might
see is if the building has insufficient power coming in to accommodate
the request, and the corporation has to take on a one-time upgrade
expense.
Charles A. Brown
There's no demand now, and there's no demand building... EV proponents
are going to need to wait a generation before worrying about
"increasing the value" of condo properties with their green schemes.
Alf. Mielke
And from where will the condo building be able to start drawing more
power from if it was constructed with minimum sized wiring connecting
it to its major power supplier?
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