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B.C. recently passed legislation that requires all new light-duty cars and trucks sold in the province to be zero-emission vehicles by 2040. Conventional hybrids don’t offer the level of emissions reductions required to meet that target, according to a statement from the ministry.

“Conventional hybrid vehicles essentially use the traditional combustion engine technology whereas plug-in hybrids (for which government offers rebates) are closer to being fully electric and only switch to the internal combustion engine component when the vehicle’s battery levels are inadequate to power the vehicle,” according to the ministry.

Charging a vehicle at home is not the only way to keep an electric vehicle running, but it is by far the most convenient. And as staff at the City of Vancouver found in a recent report, that’s a significant issue for many prospective green vehicle buyers.

“Access to home charging is a key enabler for switching to electric vehicles. Renters face a significant barrier to adding home charging if their building is not already equipped with charging infrastructure, and cost has been flagged as the greatest barrier to adding charging in multi-family buildings,” says the report.

Photo by Dharm Makwana / PNG

The Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association has called the lack of existing infrastructure in multi-unit residential buildings “one of the biggest impediments for prospective EV buyers in urban areas.” It can be expensive to retrofit charging infrastructure and some strata councils have resisted installation requests, according to VEVA.

“We would like to see the provincial government take aggressive action to improve this situation,” VEVA said in a call for substantial rebates for installing EV infrastructure.

The ministry has funded rebates toward the cost of EV charging equipment in multi-unit residences and single-family homes through its Charging Solutions and Incentives Program, but that program was fully subscribed as of last year, according to Plug In B.C. More than 100 apartment buildings or condos have taken advantage of that program to date, and around 300 more had received incentives through its earlier iterations, according to the ministry.