By Dee Baptiste
Last year we went through the process of having a charger for our electric car installed in our parking spot.
The basic process is described here on the Condo Authority of Ontario website. Below I describe the actual process we went through, along with costs and timelines we encountered here at Village by Main Station.
Month 1:
• Purchased a charging station online from Amazon.com Flo Home G5 Level 2 EV Charger Cost: $1,000 USD
• Asked friends for recommendations until we found a licensed electrician to do the installation. Installation Proposal. Cost: $1,500
Month 2:
• Our electrician did a site visit to finalize quote and note which parts would be required.
• Our electrician also contacted Provident on our behalf to arrange for the interconnect parts to be sent directly to them in advance of the installation.
• Downloaded application form from CAO web site, filled in details from the electrician and submitted to our Condo Board for approval, along with a completed Renovation Application (download from Condo Control web site)
Month 3:
• To avoid a conflict of interest, I recused myself from the entire conversation at the monthly Board meeting. The remaining Board conditionally granted approval, waiting for the Property Manager to receive some missing paperwork from our contractor (WSIB form was missing)
• Electrician supplied the WSIB form, then performed the installation. They had quoted 3 days, but managed it in one.
• An ESA inspector visited the building to inspect and approved the installation and the interconnect.
Month 4:
• Provident sent a technician to verify the interconnect to the monitoring system, and ensure electricity used by the EV charger is being added to our unit’s monthly bill.
• The Property Manager instructed the corporation lawyer, Miller Thomson, to execute a Section 98 Alteration Agreement, which we signed and paid for. Cost $1,200
What might be different for you:
A special part may be needed to interface with the Provident monitoring system. A 6-port block is attached to the building’s electrical panel. Five of the ports were already in use from the EV charger rough-ins done at the time the building was constructed. We got lucky and were able to use the last open spot on the existing block. Your electrician will let you know what’s required. The additional cost of this may possibly be shared by the next few unit owners installing chargers?
Finally:
On average, our car consumes about $30 of electricity per month. There have been 0 technical, electrical or billing issues.