Province Makes It Easier For Stratas To Greenlight EV Charging Stations

The province says it is making it easier for BC residents to charge up their Electric Vehicles.

“Many B.C. strata residents are eager to make the switch to electric vehicles, but the lack of charging stations in their buildings is holding them back,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing.

“Our government is committed to help people reduce their carbon footprints by improving access to EV charging stations in residential buildings. That’s why we’ve introduced legislation to make it easier for strata corporations to greenlight charging stations.”

Changes to legislation will soon allow people living in strata buildings to be able to charge their electric vehicles at home. The legislation will make it easier for strata corporations and owners to install charging stations.

The proposed amendments to the Strata Property Act is intended to improve access to EV charging stations in residential strata buildings by:

• lowering the voting threshold from 75% to 50% approval for expenditures and changes to personal property that are needed to install EV charging stations,
   
• requiring strata corporations to approve owners' requests to install EV charging stations at the owners' expense when reasonable criteria are met.

The Province says it has introduced several initiatives to encourage people to purchase electric vehicles, including the CleanBC Go Electric Passenger Vehicle Rebate program and a provincial sales tax exemption on used EVs.

The number of EVs on B.C.'s roads has increased from 5,000 in 2016 to more than 109,000 as of December 2022.

In 2019, the Province passed the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act, which requires 30% of vehicle sales and leases to be zero-emission vehicles by 2030 - and 100% by 2040.

To see the full release, visit Government of British Columbia.