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A high-rise project in Burnaby’s rapidly densifying Brentwood neighborhood is home to the world’s largest electric vehicle parking lot, developer Concord Pacific said.

While condo projects typically tout features like scenic views, luxury amenities or transit-friendly locations, Concord Pacific’s Concord Brentwood project boasts a unique — and record-breaking — feature: each of its 1,974 parking spaces is equipped with a fast electric vehicle. charging station.

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“We know that what we have here is not only the largest electric vehicle parking lot, but also the most robust,” said Peter Webb, Concord’s senior vice president of development. “This is not a shared burden situation.”

The parking lot is shared by four towers in the Hillside phase of the project. Its electrical infrastructure system has the capacity to power all Level 2 chargers simultaneously, should that ever occur.

About 20 percent of British Columbia municipalities have electric vehicle parking bylaws for new multi-unit developments. Typically, they only require parking spaces in new residential projects to be wired for later charger installation.

It’s still rare for new condo projects to provide charging stations or have one station per stand, said Grace Quan, Hillside East strata president.

“It’s a very unique building,” said Quan, who drives a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle but would choose an electric vehicle if his family needed a second vehicle later.

Many condos have dedicated electric vehicle parking spaces with charging stations shared by residents, she said. You’ll have to move your car once it’s finished charging or, if the spaces are full, “you’re out of luck and out of power.”

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Quan, who works in green energy, estimates that with each of the roughly 2,000 stations capable of charging at five kilowatts, the parking lot can consume 10 megawatts of energy, enough to power a small city.

The car park is designed around two elevator cores comprising 1,039 spaces under the west towers and 935 spaces under the east tower. It extends over nine floors (four above ground and five underground) with four vehicle entrances.

A month ago, about 280 charging stations, or 15 percent of all stations, were in regular use, although Concord expects that number to exceed 300 and rise further as more people move in.

Residents are billed based on the electricity they use rather than a flat rate.

This isn’t Concord Pacific’s first project with electric vehicle charging devices in every parking spot. The ARC condominium in downtown Vancouver has about 500 locations equipped with charging stations, while Avenue One in Vancouver’s Olympic Village has 249 such stands.

Concord Brentwood, however, is the largest. The company also said it is committed to installing electric vehicles in every parking space for future developments.

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While the move was part of Concord’s commitment to creating more sustainable communities, it was also intended to ensure that properties retained their value and remained competitive in the long term, Webb said. “As we build our projects, we want to do everything we can to protect their investment”

“Having electric vehicle ready stands as part of the project means that in 10 to 20 years, as attrition to an electric lifestyle increases, the value of the property remains,” especially as the Converting standard parking lots to electric-vehicle-ready facilities is costly and difficult, he added.

In talking with other residents, Quan said the charging stations are a selling point. “People love it. You can park in your station and just plug it in. It’s like everyone has their own elevator. It is an unprecedented luxury.

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