14 | BC B U S I N E SS OCTOB ER 2025 Marko Aliaksandr/Shutterstock
| BUSINESS CLIMATE
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W
hen Werner Antweiler bought his first
electric vehicle, he hedged his bets.
Rather than taking the leap into an
all-electric car, the UBC Sauder School
of Business associate professor—who is studying electric
vehicle charging infrastructure in urban areas—opted
for a plug-in hybrid that could run on battery or, when
needed, gasoline.
Antweiler lives in a townhouse, but without any
dedicated EV charging in his complex, he ran a
household extension cord from his basement door into
the parkade below to top up his car's battery overnight.
"At the time we said, 'We're not sure if this equipment is
going to work out, so at least we can still use gasoline.'
But it worked," says Antweiler with a laugh. "It actually
was sufficient power."
His complex has since adopted Level 2 chargers,
which charge an EV in roughly four to 10 hours. But
many EV drivers—as well as those thinking of making
the leap to electric—don't have the same reliable access
to charging. According to Antweiler, that roadblock is
among the key reasons EV sales are showing signs of
sputtering.
Single-family homes with off-street parking can install
EV chargers with relative ease. It's more problematic,
however, for car buyers who live in multi-unit condos or
townhouses, rental apartments or single-family homes
that only have street parking.
B.C. is one of the only provinces to introduce
legislation streamlining the approval process for EV
chargers in stratas—which included lowering the thresh-
old for votes about EV infrastructure from 75 to 50
percent. It also requires stratas to obtain an Electrical
Planning Report, which helps them plan for future
demands on electrical systems.
Antweiler applauds these moves but says far more
needs to be done in rental buildings where there is
little incentive for landlords to shoulder the added
expense and for homeowners who only have access
to street parking.
Meanwhile, he adds, private operators of electric
vehicle charging networks are struggling, with some
teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.
"It's a weak business model. It's expensive to put
in infrastructure, and then the chargers get used very
little. They also break down and they're expensive to
repair," says Antweiler. "So networks like ChargePoint
and FLO aren't doing well unless they're owned by big
companies like Shell, which is now running its own
system and trying to diversify into that domain."
Canada's Electric Vehicle Availability Standard,
which requires manufacturers and importers to meet
strict sales targets for zero-emission cars, SUVs and light
LEADING
THE CHARGE
The road to mass EV adoption is
blocked by charging gaps.
—
By Jennifer Van Evra
