TORONTO — New multi-unit buildings across Canada should be required to make their parking spots electric-vehicle ready as a possible way to spur EV uptake, a report released Wednesday suggested.
As Canada sets out on major home-building plans, the federal government and most provinces have no regulations to ensure those apartments are EV ready, the Clean Energy Canada report said.
Apartment-dwelling is more prevalent among younger Canadians, who are also generally more inclined to go electric, the report said.
"In short, those with the most appetite for EVs are those most likely to face the barrier of not having charging access at home," said the report, published by the clean energy think tank based at Simon Fraser University.
About 38 per cent of EV owners living in multi-unit apartments don't have access to home charging, the report said. Among single-family homeowners, that number drops to just two per cent.
To help address that barrier, the report suggested adding EV charging requirements to provincial and federal building codes.
"Now is a great time to revisit some of those ... codes and try to standardize the approach and make sure that we're focusing on the things that we want to be achieving in the next decade, including supporting our electric vehicle industry and helping Canadians save money on gas by going electric," said Joanna Kyriazis, the think tank's public affairs director.
Quebec is the only province that requires homes to be EV-ready, with plans to extend those requirements to apartments before the end of the year, the report said.
Ontario repealed its EV building code provisions when the Progressive Conservatives came to power in 2018. It has "right to charge" legislation that makes it easier for condo owners to get approval for EV chargers at their own cost, the report noted.
British Columbia also has similar right-to-charge legislation for apartment dwellers. Some provinces, such as Nova Scotia, offer rebates to help cover the cost of chargers in existing or new buildings.
Amid what the report called an "inconsistent Canadian landscape," municipalities including Toronto and Vancouver have brought in their own EV-ready rules. Toronto requires all parking spots in new residential builds to have an energized outlet or an EV charger.
While those are welcome changes, Kyriazis said province-wide mandates would be "better for everyone." They help streamline developers' building processes, offer more options for residents and give a boost to the EV industry, she said.
Ontario's Progressive Conservatives turned down an NDP proposal last year to amend the province's building code, citing construction costs. Yet the report said it's three to four times cheaper to install EV charging in new builds than it is to upgrade an existing building.
"We are trying to build a domestic industry in Ontario on the premise that this is the future of auto. And so this is one of the best ways that we can be supporting Ontario drivers as well as this burgeoning industry," said Kyriazis.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2025.
Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press
