Why EV infrastructure regulations are needed for non-residential properties

January 27, 2019

Jim Hindson, P Eng. Victoria BC
jhindson@telus.net

The use of municipal zoning bylaws represents a best-practice for requiring EV infrastructure in new
construction and renovation projects that involve a rezoning of a property. Zoning bylaw regulations apply
individually to properties according to their land use. Residential properties can be regulated to have
100% of their spaces EV ready whereas other land uses such as commercial shopping centres. institutional
or industrial properties can be regulated with lower EV charging requirements. The zoning bylaw also
includes the important ability to regulate EV infrastructure requirements for properties without buildings
(parking lots).

When the first generation of EVs arrived with 150 km ranges in the early 2010’s, the expectation was that
EV charging requirements as high as 20% for non-residential parking spaces would be required to meet
the daily driving needs for EVs that were ORR (out of return range) of their home charger. With the arrival
of second generation EVs with ranges of 250 to 400 km or higher, it is expected that fewer Level 2 charging
stations will be required for non-residential properties but not eliminated entirely as Level 2 charging at
non-residential properties will perform an important role as part of an integrated EV charging network.

Although expansion of DCFC charging into urban areas and longer range EVs are expected to reduce the
need for some Level 2 requirements, DCFC charging would not be expected to meet the convenience
needs of longer range EVs that are ORR.

It is assumed that the optimal price/range point for EVs in the foreseeable future will be in the
neighbourhood of 60 kWh. This capacity provides for the daily range requirements for about 95% of daily
driving needs and provides enough range for inter-city travel using DCFC fast chargers during rest or meal
breaks. Although battery technology will continue to improve, the 60-kWh battery represents a good
trade-off between battery size, cost, and range. Lower per kWh battery costs would be expected to result
in more affordable EVs and additional market penetration rather than larger standard EV battery
capacities.

Although 60 kWh second generation EVs will meet most daily driving range needs, there are several
circumstances or scenarios where Level 2 charging will continue to be preferred and hence of importance
in the setting EV infrastructure regulations in zoning bylaws.

Scenarios for being Out of Return Range (ORR)

The EV owner:
o Occasionally travels out of town for a business appointment or meeting that results in the EV
being ORR or with insufficient range to complete the rest of its planned daily travel (such as a
travel obligation after business hours)
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o experiences a day with additional or unexpected travel (airport run or distant family obligation)

o will be travelling to a distant sporting event, cultural event, meeting or is on a personal travel
(shopping) trip to another community.

What these circumstances have in common is that they result in the vehicle being ORR and it being
subsequently inconvenient or impractical to use DCFC charging for additional range.

1) DCFC charging requires an additional (unknown) amount of time to queue up if the DCFC space is
occupied. By their nature, people are frequently late or busy during their workday. It would be
difficult to be able to predict the availability of DCFC charging before or after a business
appointment or meeting and impractical to interrupt a business meeting or appointment to move
an EV after charging at a DCFC. Level 2 charging on the other hand, has predictable charging times
that can coincide with meeting or appointment times and not require moving an EV. Most
business meetings and appointments are less than 2 or 3 hours which would usually be enough
time to get a reasonable amount of additional range to return to home base.

2) Peaks in demand at a DCFC installation would occur at sporting or cultural events where all
vehicles would arrive shortly before the event and all leave shortly after the event. For example,
if 5% of vehicles were ORR upon arrival at an event with 2,000 attendees, as many as 50 vehicles
(assuming 2 persons/vehicle) would need a charge. At one hour per vehicle, it would take 50
DCFC-hours to service them and EV owners would be required to interrupt their attendance at
the event to move and/or plug in their vehicles and this would be simply impractical. Instead,
Level 2 managed or unmanaged charging would be preferable as there would be no interruption
in attendance at the event, no DCFC peak demand issue and considerable reduced anxiety about
getting a sufficient charge to return home. A 5% EV Level 2 infrastructure requirement would
cover this case.

3) A third scenario would be a preference to not interrupt a discretionary or personal activity. If the
vehicle owner has travelled to another city to shop, or dine and their EV was ORR, there should
be opportunities to charge at Level 2 rather than interrupt the activity to unplug or move the
vehicle or to see if a DCFC is now available. There is far less anxiety and inconvenience to plug into
a Level 2 on arrival knowing that the vehicle will receive enough charge by the time that the EV
owner plans to leave the facility.

In all these cases specifying Level 2 requirements for non-residential properties in the zoning bylaw
schedules is important to meeting the needs of EV owners and improve EV adoption rates.

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 However, there are additional benefits of regulating EV infrastructure for non-residential properties
in order to:
o provide an effective tool to increase charging availability for “garage orphans”1. Level 2
requirements for surface parking lots in appropriate locations would enable EV owners to
charge overnight when the lot is otherwise vacant or underutilised.
o reduce peak demand loading on DCFC units by accommodating EVs that do not need a fast
charge by providing for access to lower speed Level 2 chargers.
o optimize costs, as there would be no need to provide additional DCFC infrastructure for
extreme peak periods (sporting or cultural events)
o reduce charging anxiety there would be access to many Level 2 chargers as opposed to the
EV owner being anxious about encountering queues at a DCFC.
o Make the ownership of less expensive 250 km EVs and used first generation EVs more
appealing through the availability of additional public Level 2 infrastructure.

The number of Level 2 charging spaces required (as a percentage of total parking spaces) for non-
residential properties varies according to the individual characteristic associated with each municipality
including daily kms travelled, congestion levels, climate and terrain. Selection of a default non-residential
EV infrastructure requirement involves an assessment of these characteristics at the municipal level.

In summary, the regulation of Level 2 EV infrastructure for non-residential properties will continue to be
an important factor as part of a comprehensive EV charging network despite increases in EV range and
an increase in the number of DCFC installations.

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Vehicle owners that do not have access to an exclusive or designated parking space
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