The Latest Info on the BC Hydro EV Charger Rebate Program
Electric vehicle ownership has continued to climb year over year, and nowhere is this more true than in British Columbia. BC surpassed 100,000 EVs on the road in 2023 and has even set a goal for 100% of new vehicles sold to be electric by 2035. One of the biggest reasons for this has been the BC Hydro EV charger rebate program, which helped countless property owners add EV chargers to their home or business.
After pausing funding earlier in 2023, the BC Hydro EV charger rebate has now been renewed, providing plentiful incentives for BC residents to install EV chargers once more. As EV charging experts, TCA Electric is always keeping up to date with developments when it comes to EV charging rebates that make this technology more readily accessible. In today’s post, we’re sharing more information about this green program, its benefits, and how to take advantage in 2024!
Renewed Rebates for Home EV Chargers
The BC Hydro EV charger rebate program offers incentives to buy and install electric vehicle charging stations in single-family homes. These rebates are intended to make at-home EV charging more affordable and accessible for homeowners.
What’s Staying the Same?
Just as before, the baseline rebate for BC homeowners is $350 to cover up to 50% of the cost to purchase and install a home EV charging device.
What’s New?
This rebate applies not just to freestanding single-family homes, but also to rowhomes, and duplexes. In addition, there is new top-up funding of up to $250 to homeowners who opt to install a smart charger.
The Return of EV Ready for Multifamily Properties & Townhome Complexes
A major development earlier this year was the discontinuation of the EV Ready program. This program provided funding not just for EV charging stations, but for the electrical infrastructure upgrades necessary to make these charging stations possible. The program has been fully renewed with additional funding and a higher project maximum ($120,000 vs. $80,000 previously).
EV Ready
Not every building is prepared to support EV charging capabilities, and so the BC Hydro rebate plan provides for this in a couple of ways. The first is the EV Ready plan rebate, which covers up to 75% of the costs of creating a professional document (from a licensed contractor) that outlines a plan for making a multifamily residential complex “EV Ready.” Creating this plan is a prerequisite for the EV Ready infrastructure rebate.
EV Ready infrastructure
To adequately prepare certain multifamily residential buildings to support EV charging stations, several upgrades may be necessary to the building’s wiring, service, and more. The EV Ready infrastructure rebate provides funds for these necessary upgrades, covering up to 50% of costs, up to a maximum of $600 per parking spot and $120,000 for the entire project.
EV charger
Similar to the rebates for home EV charging stations, rebates are available to cover the cost of purchasing and installing EV chargers at multifamily residential complexes. This rebate covers up to 50% of the cost of eligible EV chargers, to a maximum of $1,400 per charger and $14,000 per building for those who participate in the EV Ready program.
Those only requiring the standalone EV charger rebate can receive up to $2,000 per charger (also to a maximum of $14,000 per building).
Increased Rebates for Indigenous Communities
Those living in indigenous communities may enjoy enhanced rebates for single-family homes, multifamily complexes, and workplace rebates. Local governments and specific communities have various rebates and top-up funding that you can find listed here.
In addition, there are more general enhanced rebates available, including up to $750 for single-family chargers, up to $4,500 per charger for multifamily strata, and up to $4,000 per charger for workplaces.
Apply for a BC Hydro EV Charger Rebate Today!
BC Hydro’s various rebate programs have been instrumental in driving greater EV ownership and improving EV infrastructure throughout British Columbia. At TCA Electric, we’ve helped many homeowners, business owners, and multifamily community members achieve greater freedom as EV owners, and we look forward to helping you, too!
The BC Hydro rebate program now has renewed funding set to go through the remainder of 2023 and 2024. However, if we’ve learned anything from the past few years, it’s that these rebates are very popular and funding goes quickly. We recommend applying right away!
Reach out to our experts at TCA Electric if you need any assistance with the application process or to discuss EV charging options.