Every one of the 1,974 underground parking spaces in Concord Pacific’s Hillside project has its own electric vehicle (EV) charger, making it the world's largest EV charging parkade, according to the Vancouver-headquartered developer.

The infrastructure underpinning the parking spaces at the four-tower Hillside is designed so if every spot was charging an EV, the electrical system can withstand the surge in power demand.

“When you do a single parkade of 2,000 stalls roughly and they’re all EV-complete, that means you’ve anticipated a future whereby EV stalls will become the norm, which is what the government is interested in seeing,” Peter Webb, senior vice-president of development for Concord Pacific, told Sustainable Biz Canada in an interview.

Concord Pacific, one of the largest master-planned community developers in the country, is behind projects such as Concord Pacific Place in Vancouver and Concord CityPlace in Toronto. It has approximately 16 million square feet of buildings and almost 11,000 housing units in development worldwide.

An offshoot of its interest in environmental matters is Concord Green Energy, as renewable energy developer and investor. It produces hundreds of megawatts of electricity from wind, solar and hydro in its portfolio, with 1.1 gigawatts of generation in development.

Setting a record for parkades

The four towers of Hillside are the completed phase of the 11-tower Brentwood project that will consist of over 5,000 housing units. Just under 1,800 units are spread across Hillside, Webb explained, which range from 45-, 50- and 55-storey towers.

The underground parking stalls for Hillside have Level 2 chargers. Currently, half have separate metering, meaning the resident will pay for what they use, rather than a flat fee per month. The other half, controlled by a different strata council, does not have metering. But metering will likely double EV charger use if installed, Peter Udzenija, director of corporate relations for Concord Pacific, told Sustainable Biz Canada in the interview.

Ensuring the EV charging infrastructure can handle significant demand is critical. Charging an EV’s battery consumes a significant amount of electricity, an issue that has been flagged by industry observers. If left unprepared, grids may be bottlenecked from increasing EV adoption.

The transformers and substations for Hillside are prepared to handle the maximum load if every charger was being used at once, Udzenija said. Such an event is very unlikely, Webb said.

Concord Pacific is seeing 15 to 20 per cent of the parking stalls using the EV charger, and anticipates half will be signed on over time, Udzenija said. Across its projects, about 30 per cent are EV drivers, which is a higher occurrence than most developers, Webb said.

B.C.’s grid will be topping up EV drivers’ batteries at the Hillside towers, and the province’s electricity is generated almost entirely by renewables. As a green energy developer, the power Concord Green Energy contributes to the Vancouver grid will be energizing the building and EV chargers at Brentwood.

Driving ahead of regulations

The decision to emphasize EV charging is an example of Concord Pacific taking initiative on sustainability, Webb said. “We actually inherently believe in the concept of sustainability through electrification,” he outlined.

Concord Pacific anticipates a future where EVs are the norm, and is acting on this prediction by having parking stalls with chargers at all of its projects in the B.C. Lower Mainland, even if it is not required by municipalities.

Bylaws for multiresidential buildings in some B.C. cities mandate parking stalls be at least prepared for a charger. In Burnaby for example, 100 per cent of new residential parking stalls must be EV-ready with Level 2 charging.

Concord Pacific is ahead of bylaws on charger adoption because it believes it is “protecting the homeowners’ investment,” Webb said. A condo unit with no EV charger in a parking stall will likely be sold for less in 10 to 20 years, he explained.

“We’re anticipating what our buyers want. So clearly, in Concord, we believe that the future is electric vehicle-ready parking stalls for all of the homeowners in high-density environments.”

Concord Pacific is already offering 100 per cent EV parking at The Arc in Vancouver and Central in Toronto. The Avenue One condo in Vancouver and Concord Sky in Toronto will also feature this amenity. Thousands of parking spots with EV chargers are under construction at Concord Pacific’s projects, Udzenija said.