EV charging has a reputation problem.
In condo buildings across Canada, it’s spoken about in frustration or indifference —like a project that’s inherently risky, overly complicated, and best left for later. Power limitations. Fire concerns. Vendor proposals that feel more confusing than helpful. Boards fear mistakes, residents experience frustration, and property managers are left in the middle without a lifeline.
Here’s the truth that rarely gets stated plainly: EV charging isn’t failing because it’s complex. It’s failing because of a poorly structured decision-making process.
It’s up to the property manager to create the necessary decision-making structure.
Not because you’re an electrical expert or because you’re expected to design the system. But rather, because you are the only person positioned to help board members navigate complicated decisions. A property manager’s job is to turn uncertainty into a structured, manageable set of decisions.
We’re publishing this three-part series outlining all the challenges and barriers we’ve identified over 8 years of deploying more than 3,000 EV chargers across Canada. This guide will give property managers and board members the structure needed to make a good EV charging decision.
Waiting Increases your Risk of Heartburn
When EV charging comes up, waiting often feels like the default, safe choice.
The board isn’t ready. More information is needed. Technology might improve. Costs could come down… No one wants to be the person who rushed into the wrong solution.
But waiting has consequences—As time passes:
- Resident frustration grows: I’ve been in buildings where the EV charging project has taken over 2 years, resulting in tenant and owner turnover and a palpable increase in frustration from existing building owners.
- No system design or future planning: Under pressure, some condo corporations allow a patchwork of one-off chargers to be installed on a first-come, first-served basis. It feels pragmatic at the moment, but it creates design constraints, sets precedents that are unfair for future drivers, and consumes electrical capacity inefficiently, forcing boards to later unwind legacy installs or manage multiple EV programs at higher costs.
- Stress increases: You don’t want to be the property manager involved in a legal procedure when condo owners issue a formal written application under Ontario regulation 48/01 of the Condo Act.
| Did you Know?
In Ontario, the ‘right to act’ exists to prevent residents from being indefinitely blocked from installing EV charging. To learn more about the legal process for residents to formally require compliance with the Ontario Condo Act, visit the CAO Guide on Electric Vehicles Charging Systems (URL Link). |
You can save the EV charging heartburn by taking charge of the project. Smart planning and early action creates better options for your condo board.
Why EV Charging Feels So Confusing
EV charging conversations usually go wrong in predictable ways.
Without a plan, the discussion jumps too quickly to solutions.
Vendors are invited in early. Proposals appear. Acronyms multiply. The board is suddenly asked to compare systems it doesn’t understand, based on criteria it never agreed on, for a problem it hasn’t clearly defined.
No one is being unreasonable. But the sequence is backwards.
Before choosing a solution, you should help the board get clarity on:
- What problem is it actually trying to solve (are they installing chargers for visitors or for private residents?)
- What risks it wants to avoid (how do you make a decision today that can be defended for the next 10 years?)
- What trade-offs it is willing to accept (does the condo corporation want to buy the equipment or lease the system to avoid a potential increase in condo fees?)
Without a foundation for decision making, every option feels risky—and indecision becomes the safest choice.
The Property Manager’s Role
The most important reframe in the entire series is this:
Management’s job is not to explain EV charging. Your job is to design the decision-making process around it and to guide the board to make a defensible choice.
That means:
- Slowing the conversation down before it speeds up.
- Separating fact-finding from decision-making.
- Making sure the board agrees on what the decision process will be (first we research, then we meet vendors, then we choose).
- Agreeing on a timeline to make the final decision.
Neutrality is often mistaken for professionalism. In reality, neutrality without structure often leaves condo board members feeling confused and unsupported. They need a property manager to stand in the middle, and lead them through the decision.
Leadership, in this context, doesn’t mean certainty. It means sequence.
Busting Through the Fear of Uncertainty
Many property managers quietly avoid taking charge of EV charging for understandable reasons.
The infrastructure feels permanent. The costs feel political. The future feels uncertain. There’s a lingering fear that a decision made today could be criticized years from now by a different board, under different circumstances.
But here’s what our experience shows: boards are far more forgiving of well-run processes than they are of prolonged indecision. A thoughtful decision—documented, explained, and aligned with the information available at the time—is defensible.
A lack of structure in decision-making leads to the EV charging problem lingering for years.
The uncomfortable truth is this: how a decision is made matters just as much as what is decided.
And that process belongs to management.
This Is Bigger Than Chargers
Electric vehicles are not a fringe trend. They are part of a technology transformation in how people move, spend money, and think about their homes.
For residents who adopt electric vehicles, the benefits are tangible: the average Canadian saves about $3,000 per year on fuel and maintenance (URL link), at a time when inflation and tariffs are making affordability a challenge for condo residents. For young professionals, being able to plug an electric vehicle in their condo makes a meaningful economic difference.
Boards don’t want to block progress. They want to manage risk responsibly. As property manager you don’t need to do more work, you just need to help the board make an efficient decision on your EV charging project.
What This Series Will Do
Over the next two modules, we’ll walk through:
- How to frame the EV charging project (including energy, technology, and vendor evaluation) so that your condo board can make a defensible decision with confidence
- How to move from an approved EV charging project into the first EV chargers installed (uncertainty to approval—and then to completion)
For now, you don’t need to become an expert. You just need to give your condo board a decision-making map. Agree on how they will make a decision, and then guide them through it.
This 3-part series will be your map. You will become the EV charging guide.