Summary#
Bill 52, the EV-Ready Homes Act (Electric Vehicle Charging), 2025, would amend Ontario’s Building Code Act, 1992 by adding a requirement for certain newly built houses. Its stated goal is to permit future installation of electric vehicle charging equipment; the bill does not require that charging equipment itself be installed.
- Builders of covered houses would have to install a panel board of at least 200 amps, a specified conduit, and a specified electrical outlet box.
- The requirement would apply only to houses subject to Part 9 of the building code, with a garage, carport or driveway, connected to a distribution system, and not used or intended as certain seasonal recreational buildings.
- The conduit and outlet box would have to provide an effective barrier against gas and exhaust fumes.
- The house would have to be built after the Act comes into force. The start date would be set later by order.
What it means for you#
- Builders: For each covered house built after the start date, you would have to ensure the listed electrical components are installed. The requirement is to prepare for future charging equipment, not to install a charger.
- Buyers of covered new houses: The house would have to include the specified electrical preparation, but the bill does not guarantee that a charging unit is installed or that one will meet your needs.
- Owners of existing houses: The bill would not directly require changes to houses already built before it comes into force.
- People building seasonal recreational houses: The requirement would not apply to houses described as seasonal recreational buildings under the building code provision named in the bill.
Money#
No cost estimate is in the available material.
- Builders would have to provide the required panel board, conduit and outlet box in covered houses. The materials do not say how much this would cost or whether the cost would be passed on to buyers.
- The bill does not provide public funding or require installation of the charging equipment itself.
What is unclear#
- The start date is not set; it would be named by a later order.
- The supplied material does not include the existing Building Code Act or building code. I could not verify what EV-ready requirements already apply or how this bill would interact with them.
- The bill does not set out a process for checking compliance or any added penalties. Those details may be addressed elsewhere in existing law, which was not supplied.
- The added section does not define “builder.” The supplied material does not establish whether another part of the law defines it.
- The bill does not explain how the specified electrical setup would meet different houses’ future charging needs.
Case for#
- A possible argument for the bill is that installing electrical capacity and wiring provisions during construction could make later installation of charging equipment easier.
- Setting minimum requirements in law would give builders of covered houses a common standard to follow.
- The bill requires physical preparation but does not require buyers to install or use charging equipment.
Case against#
- Builders would have to install the specified components even if the buyer does not plan to use an electric vehicle; the materials provide no estimate of the added cost.
- The bill does not require a charger, so the required preparation alone does not provide a place to charge a vehicle.
- The bill leaves the start date and some practical details to be settled elsewhere, while the supplied materials do not show how compliance would be checked.