As of 2021, British Columbia has the highest electric vehicle adoption rate in North America, with 13% of vehicle purchases being electric.
This number is only going to continue to grow as we start to see zero-emission vehicle targets being put into place by municipal and federal governments.
In order to meet these targets however, we need more charging infrastructure.
Because of the time It takes to charge an electric vehicle, EV owners want to be able to charge at home first and foremost, with the option to be able to charge at work and while running errands.
As such, municipal governments are beginning to get involved through the institution of bylaws requiring new developments to be EV ready, as well as some existing buildings to upgrade their parkades to become EV Ready.
Below is a list of all the BC Municipalities that have established requirements for EV Readiness (to find your city quickly, hit CTRL + F):
City of Vancouver
For New Buildings:
- Commercial: 10% of parking stalls to be EV Ready
- Multi-Unit Residential: 100% of parking stalls to be EV Ready
- Single-family homes: 1 EV ready stall
For Existing Buildings:
- Multi-Unit Residential: 100% of parking stalls to be EV Ready
Parking Bylaw 6059 – Section 4.14
City of North Vancouver
For residential buildings that were built June 2019 or later, 100% of parking stalls must be EV ready with Level 2 charging, and 10% of visitor parking in the same buildings must be EV ready as of January 2022.
Effective January 1, 2022, a minimum of 45% of parking spaces for non-residential uses must include Level 2 Charging infrastructure as follows:
- 35% of parking spaces include EV charging infrastructure to support workplace charging
- 10% of parking spaces include EV charging infrastructure to support opportunity(on-the-go) charging
For workplace charging, EV energy management systems (EVEMS)or “load sharing” can be used to meet the requirements to reduce costs and minimize the impact on the utility grid.
City of North Vancouver EV Charging Requirements
District of North Vancouver
For new multi-family buildings, all parking stalls (not including visitor parking) must be EV ready for Level 2 charging or higher.
For new commercial and industrial buildings, at least 20% of parking stalls (not including accessible parking) must be EV ready for Level 2 charging or higher. All accessible parking stalls must feature energized outlets capable of providing Level 2 charging or higher.
District of North Vancouver EV Charging Requirements
City of Richmond
For residential buildings and parking spaces that were built April 2018 or later, all parking spaces (excluding visitor parking) must have outlets capable of Level 2 Charging.
Zoning Bylaw 8500 – Section 7.15
City of Burnaby
All required parking spaces for new dwelling units, excluding visitor parking spaces, secondary suite parking spaces and new parking spaces servicing existing dwelling units, must include an energized outlet capable of providing Level 2 charging
This requirement does not apply to developments that have applied for a Building Permit or Preliminary Plan Approval, or have an active rezoning application that has advanced past Second Reading prior to 2018 September 1.
City of Burnaby EV Charging Requirements
City of New Westminster
As of April 2019, all new buildings containing at least one residential unit must be EV ready with Level 2 Charging.
City of New Westminster EV Charging Requirements
City of Coquitlam
All new residential buildings (apartment, townhouse, and street-oriented village home residential uses), 100% of parking spaces (min. 1 space per dwelling unit) must be EV ready for Level 2 charging or higher.
This requirement excludes two-family, triplex, and fourplex developments, where the required number of parking spaces is less than the number of dwelling units.
City of Coquitlam EV Charging Requirements
City of Port Coquitlam
For all new MURBs, 100% of parking stalls must be EV ready (except if a unit owns more than 1 parking spot). Newly built houses must also have 1 EV ready stall.
Port Coquitlam EV Charging Requirements
City of Port Moody
For new residential buildings, 100% of required parking spaces must be EV ready for Level 2 charging (excluding visitor parking, secondary suites, and new parking spaces servicing existing dwelling units).
For new commercial buildings, a minimum of 20% of parking spaces (excluding visitor and new parking spaces servicing existing units) must be EV ready for Level 2 charging.
Port Moody EV Charging Requirements
City of Surrey
For new residential developments, 100% of parking spaces must be EV ready for Level 2 charging. This requirement applies to both single-family and multiple unit residential dwellings.
50% of visitor parking spaces in multiple unit residential developments must each have an installed energized electrical outlet capable of providing Level 2 charging.
For new commercial developments, 20% of parking spaces must be EV ready for Level 2 charging.
City of Surrey EV Charging Requirements
City of White Rock
White Rock current has no EV charging requirements for MURBs but is considering changes to its existing bylaws.
District of Squamish
For residential:
390% of the required off-street parking spaces for apartment dwelling units shall have shared access to an energized outlet capable of providing level charging. 100% of the required off-street parking spaces for apartment dwelling units shall be roughed in for electrification, with conduit terminating at a junction box at each location.
For two unit dwellings, triplexes, townhomes, or cottage clusters, a minimum of 1 required off-street parking space per dwelling unit should be EV ready for Level 2 charging.
At least 1 required off-street parking space per single unit should be EV ready for Level 2 charging.
For new commercial or industrial developments:
10% of the required off-street parking spaces must be EV ready for Level 2 charging.
Township of Langley
In most new residential construction, one energized outlet capable of providing Level 2 charging is required per dwelling unit. This requirement applies to new building permit applications submitted after November 4, 2019.
Township of Langley EV Charging Requirements
District of Saanich
Multi-family residential buildings must be 100% EV ready.
Ground-oriented residential buildings must provide 1 EV ready space per dwelling unit.
Non-residential building EV charging requirements vary, please review the Saanich Zoning Bylaw 8200 – Table 7 for more information.
The district of Saanich also provides top-up rebates, which are administered through the provincial CleanBC program. They’ll provide an additional $1,000 for an EV Ready Plan, as well as an additional $100/parking stall for EV ready infrastructure.
District of Saanich EV Charging Requirements
City of Kamloops
For new buildings:
- 100% of parking stalls must be EV ready with Level 2 Charging
- 10% of visitor parking in the same buildings must be EV ready with Level 2 charging as of Jan 2022.
By 2023, 100% of new off-street residential parking will need to be EV ready, and 100% of residential parking in existing and new apartments will need to be EV ready.
City Of Kamloops EV Charging Requirements
City of Nelson
For new single family and multi-unit residential, one stall per dwelling unit is required to be EV ready.
For new commercial buildings, two stalls per 10 required stalls is required to be EV ready.
City of Nelson EV Charging Requirements
City of Victoria
All new residential buildings, including, MURBs, single-family, two-family and semi-attached dwellings will need to be EV ready(1 per vehicle parking space).
For new Commercial buildings, 5% of parking spaces over a certain threshold must be EV ready for Level 2 charging.
City of Victoria EV Charging Requirements
City of Nanaimo
A minimum of 10% of all required off-street parking stalls within any common parking areas for multi-family residential uses shall have shared access to a Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charge Receptacle or a more efficient charger.
An additional 20% of required parking spaces for multiple-family dwelling use shall be provided within an electrical outlet box wired with separate branch circuit capable of supplying electricity to support the installation of a Level 2 EV Charge Receptacle
For retail trade, service centres, or shopping centres, 5%of all required off-street parking spaces shall have access to a Level 2 EV charge receptacle or more efficient charger.
City of Nanaimo EV Charging Requirements
Town of View Royal
For every commercial or multi-unit residential development that requires more than 100 parking spaces, an electric vehicle charging station is required on the lot, in a location which is accessible to the patrons or residents.
Every required residential parking space (except secondary suites and home occupation parking requirements) must be an EV ready space.
Every required class 1 bicycle parking space must be an EV ready Space.
Non-residential uses with 10-10 required vehicle parking spaces require that one of them is an EV ready space. More than 15 required spaces requires that two of them are an EV ready space, or that 5% of the total number of required spaces are EV ready.
Town of View Royal EV Charging Requirements
We will continue to update this list as more information becomes available. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions about these requirements!
