Case Study
Quintessence
With the aim of giving all its residents access to electric vehicle charging at home, the Quintessence condo board opted for RVE technologies. In addition to standardizing the layout of the charging stations and electrical infrastructure, the installed products were able to minimize initial costs, which were shared fairly, and reduce the administrative management required to set up and maintain the installations. The project benefited from the expertise of engineering firm Carbonic, and that of the Lilco Électrique team for the installation, which took place in 2022.
Technical Specifications
Type of construction
existing building (retrofit)
Type of occupancy
condo
Building size
101 to 200 units
Number of floors
11 to 20
Number of parking spaces
101 to 200
Location of electricity meters
Location of parking spaces
indoor, covered
Type of parking spaces
assigned
Products Used
Challenge
Powering an electric vehicle charging infrastructure in a multi-unit building where the electric meters are located in the garage basement (accessible).
Solution
Using a homogenous solution was possible to power charging infrastructure between all units of this condo building and the EV chargers that were requested to be installed. Indeed, all meters are accessible, allowing the use of DCCs everywhere.
The charging stations installed were all limited to 20A to enable all residents to plug in their electric vehicles simultaneously, and thus protect the building’s electrical service entrance.
DCCs have been installed for all units in the building:
- DCC-9-BOX, DCC-9-BOX6 and DCC-11-BOX to provide charging infrastructure without installing chargers right away
- DCC-9 for units with an electrical panel of 125A and less wanting a charger now
- DCC-11 for units with an electrical panel of 200A and less wanting a charger now
A HUB by RVE has also been installed in the electrical room:
- The condo board wanted to have visibility over the building’s overall energy consumption, in order to understand how its electrical infrastructure was being used, and to be able to anticipate energy needs and offer the essential service of a full charge to all residents.
- Without the installation of the HUB in this multi-unit residential building, the main service entrance would have had to be upgraded for a capacity of 546 kW (equivalent to 71 charging stations at 7,7 kW each). The work would have cost over $500,000, according to Lilco Électrique, the master electrician specializing in the installation of charging stations who carried out the work. By contrast, the HUB costs around $20,000, representing a saving of $480,000.
“We looked at three options; first option was to provide a separate electrical entrance that would take care of every charging station in the building. The other one was to provide common charging stations for everyone where everyone could come and park their car and charge their car for the evening or for the night. The third one which is the one that we’ve opted for, was basically to make everyone fully independent and autonomous for the installation of [their] charging station. That was the cheapest option by far.“
Benoit Durand
Member of the association board of Quintessence Condominium
DCC-9-40A
DCC-9-BOX6
DCC-9-BOX
DCC-11
DCC-11-BOX
DCC-11
HUB
