More and more people are choosing to exchange their gas-powered car for to an electric vehicle, so on our podcast, All Things Renovation, Brandy interviewed Quinn McLaughlin from MJR Electric to find out more information about the logistics of charging one up. Here’s a summary of what we learned from him.

How much electricity does an electric vehicle charger require?

An EV charger uses 7500 Watts, which is roughly equivalent to a hot tub.

What are the different levels of charging?

Source: BC Hydro EV Charger website

Level 1

Plug into a normal 120 Volt outlet
Charges 8 km per hour
Takes 12 to 20 hours to fully charge a battery EV (6 to 12 hours for a plug-in hybrid)
Used mostly in homes

Level 2

Uses a connection to a 240-volt outlet, like those used by ovens and clothes dryers
Charges 30 km per hour
Takes 6 to 14 hours to fully charge a battery EV (4 to 8 hours for a plug-in hybrid)
Used in homes, businesses, and common areas

Level 3

Uses a direct current connection to an electrical system
Charges 100 km per 30 minutes or 80% charge at 50 kW (varies by vehicle type)
Takes 1 to 4 hours to fully charge a battery EV (15 minutes to 3 hours for a plug-in hybrid)
Used mostly in businesses and common areas

What happens if you live in an older home?

In Vancouver, the majority of houses have a 100 amp panel that is at max capacity already. Multi-unit residential buildings that are 20-30 years old or older might have the electrical capacity to only install one charger.

Solutions:

Decommission some appliances to make room – most people aren’t going to use this option.
Use a load management system (DCC-9 or DCC-10) that connects to your main service and reads your consumption of electricity. If you are drawing a lot of electricity at any point, your electric vehicle won’t charge during that time.
Get a service upgrade.

How much do these solutions cost?

A load management system can cost roughly $2500, depending on the distance from the electrical panel to the charger.

A service upgrade can cost you anywhere between $3500 to $5000, depending on things like if you need to run a private electrical pole or how the house is oriented.

If you have a lot of power and your main service panel is in your garage, running a cable and installing a charger can cost around $750. Every situation is different!!

What incentives are available from BC Hydro for installing wall chargers?

Residential

You can get up to $350

Multi-Unit Residential

You can get $2000 per charger, up to a total of $14,000.
You can create an EV Ready plan, which is an outline for BC Hydro that gives them an idea how much power is available and what is required to make the parkade EV ready, meaning every stall has or is ready for an EV charger. If you go this route, you can get $600 per stall for wiring and $2000 per charger that is installed, up to a total of $80,000.

This only applies to older buildings that need to be retrofitted, not to new builds. It is now in the electrical code that new builds need to have 80% of the parking stalls wired for electric vehicles.

What is the best place to mount the charging station?

The cords are about 20-25 feet so you can place your charger wherever really. A lot, but not all, of electric vehicles have the charging port at the back of the car, so that needs to be factored in. In a parkade situation, steel bollards are required to protect the charging stations from damage.

Are there any downsides to installing a charging station?

Not really, other than if you have a detached garage and you need to run cable through your garden. It’s really new technology so the lifetime of the product is still somewhat unknown.

Electric Vehicle Chargers