Electric-vehicle charging is a growing priority for large real estate developers and asset-management companies in Canada as demand for powered parking stalls ticks up and future-proofing properties becomes a near necessity.
“You want to be in a position where you’re not backed into a corner,” Graeme Armster, director of innovation and sustainability at Tridel, said May 17 at the inaugural EV & Charging Expo in Toronto.
The condominium developer, which focuses on the Greater Toronto Area, began installing a “trickle” of chargers in 2012 — one or two owners per building. Today, about 30 per cent of condo buyers with a parking space want EV charging.
Many of them don’t have EVs now, Armster said, but they eventually will. Being proactive makes sense, he said, but it creates challenges for builders as they try to match power supply with demand.
It’s one of many lessons the real estate sector has taken away from its early experiences in charging. Armster was one of three experts to take part in a panel discussion at the EV & Charging Expo.