There is a wealth of information out there about electric vehicles (EVs) with many organizations doing the hard work of producing engaging and helpful content. However, finding the right information can sometimes feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Since our team 'lives and breathes' electric vehicles, we decided to create a series of blog posts highlighting some of our favorite resources out there. 

Today we will be writing about a Condo Charging guide created by Plug'n Drive for condominium board members, property managers, and residents. Plug’n Drive is a non-profit organization that has helped over 125,000 consumers learn about electric vehicles and facilitated over 23,000 EV test drives. Its EV Discovery Centre was the first facility of its kind worldwide to host a variety of EV models from leading manufacturers in a sales-free, brand neutral environment.

As more drivers switch to EVs, their needs for at-home charging solutions are evolving. Most current EV owners live in single-unit dwellings where charger installation and maintenance is relatively straightforward. However, increasingly property managers of multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) such as condos or apartment buildings are receiving requests to install chargers from their residents. While there are major benefits to adding EV charging to a MURB, the process is more complex than for a single-unit residence. Among the many factors to consider are: what are the financial and legal responsibilities of the different groups involved? What is important to include in a successful EV charging policy for a condo or apartment building? How do you ensure your building has enough electrical capacity to support EV charging now and plan for the future? It can feel overwhelming and difficult to figure out how to begin.

To address these questions and assist condo owners, boards, and managers in getting EV charging at their MURBs, Plug’n Drive provides a very helpful resource that is a great first step in simplifying the process. Its Make Your Condo EV Ready guide teaches the basics about EVs and charging and explains the main steps involved in typical charger installations at condos. It reviews available incentives, cost saving tips, and provides resources for finding more information. It also addresses numerous frequently asked questions from managers and residents about the process. 

Want to read more? Download the guide!

When I first started learning about electric cars, Tesla hadn't launched the Model S yet and few of my friends understood why I was so excited about electric vehicles. I remember reading books and struggling to understand these engineering concepts that seemed too technical and outside of my reach. Thankfully, I got the opportunity to learn from industry experts who designed an electric car from scratch when I worked at Lucid Motors (at the time they were called Atieva and they had a speedy delivery van called Edna that shocked the world with its acceleration). 

Once I finally felt comfortable with my knowledge about electric cars, I joined the electric vehicle team at Ontario Power Generation, one of the largest electricity generators in Canada. Working at a utility was humbling and exposed me to even more complicated engineering topics about electricity generation, power supply infrastructure, and electricity delivery. I learned a lot about the challenges that utilities and clients encounter when they want to electrify transportation. 

Fast forward to today, the world seems to finally get it - we're going electric. Yet, these pesky engineering topics continue to haunt our dreams and make it difficult for people to learn about electric cars. Questions as simple as 'what is a kilowatt hour and how is that different from a kilowatt?' can stump the brightest minds who were not trained as electrical engineers. 

If we want to make transportation electrification accessible to the general public, we need to make it easy for people to learn about electric vehicles. EV re-Fleet was the brainchild of an engineer and a business guy (spoiler alert: I'm not the engineer) who saw the need to make it affordable and fun for people to get into Electric Vehicles (EVs).