Mark MacDonald co-founded Electric Avenue after learning firsthand what a bad EV charging vendor looks like. He came on the Atlantic Construction Podcast to give developers the number that changes the math: federal grants cover half the cost, and the clock on that money is running.
Less than two percent of vehicles on Canadian roads are electric. That figure is, paradoxically, the whole argument for installing EV charging infrastructure in your apartment building right now.
Mark MacDonald has made the case to multi-unit residential developers across Atlantic Canada. He runs Catalyst Sales and Marketing, an electrical manufacturers' representative agency covering the region, and he co-founded Electric Avenue Manufacturing, a Halifax-based company that makes smart EV charging hardware and the software that runs it. When those conversations stall, it is rarely because the economics don't work. It is usually because developers at 99.9% occupancy don't feel the urgency. MacDonald's answer to that is patient and methodical, and it starts with a number most developers haven't internalized yet.
The federal Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program — ZEVIP — and Nova Scotia's EV Boost program, administered through Clean Foundation, together cover 50% of total EV charging project costs: hardware, electrical labour, and engineering fees. That's not a rebate you apply for after the fact. It is grant money available now, and it covers the install from the first bolt to the last permit stamp. With charging revenue from tenants added in, MacDonald puts the ROI payback for a typical apartment building at under two years on the net cost. That math is verified: Natural Resources Canada's ZEVIP documentation confirms 50% of Total Project Costs for standard applicants, up to $2 million per project.
The catch is timing. As MacDonald puts it, "the funding is available now it may not be because once this thing moves from early adopters to early majority" — and subsidy programs follow adoption curves. When EV ownership tips into the mainstream, the grant rationale disappears.
The market structure most developers get wrong
The number that reframes the whole conversation is this: 90% of EV charging happens at the owner's destination — overwhelmingly, at home. MacDonald is direct about the implication: "90 somewhere close to 90 of the time you charge a electric you charge it at your destination" — roughly nine out of ten charges. Thirty-one percent of Canadians live in multi-unit housing. If an apartment dweller can't charge at home, the barrier to buying an electric vehicle is close to absolute.
That is why multi-unit residential is the priority deployment target — not highway fast-chargers, not destination charging at shopping centres. The infrastructure gap is in parkades, not in petrol stations.
Killam Apartment REIT, one of Canada's largest residential landlords and Atlantic Canada's biggest, understood this early. Catalyst deployed chargers across Killam's portfolio — 420 units using an earlier vendor — before MacDonald concluded that the hardware and software on the market weren't good enough. The experience taught him what the product needed to be, and Electric Avenue grew out of that.
The government's deployment logic runs ahead of actual EV ownership on purpose. "they want you to over deploy to make sure every tenant feels comfortable they can buy an electric vehicle" — the point is to shift perception before the adoption wave arrives, not after.
Six chargers on one circuit
For developers, the friction is usually not the charger cost — it is the electrical infrastructure to support them. Level 2 chargers (the standard for residential and commercial parkades; not DC fast chargers, which are overkill for a building where cars park overnight) draw enough current that wiring a parkade for dozens of them looks expensive on paper.
Load-sharing software changes that math. "we'll put up to six Chargers on one circuit and our software will load share them" — the system monitors real-time draw across all six and divides available capacity dynamically, so six vehicles charge simultaneously without overloading the circuit. The physical infrastructure cost shrinks substantially.
A related counter-intuition: older buildings often present the better retrofit opportunity. Years of efficiency upgrades — LED lighting, better HVAC controls — have freed up electrical capacity that newer, tightly-engineered buildings don't have headroom in. "in many instances it's easier to retrofit chargers right now in older then a brand new building" — MacDonald's words, not an exception. Electrical rooms in older stock also tend to have more physical space.
For new construction, the minimum move is to size the service for the EV load that will eventually arrive, even if no charger goes in today. "just size the service and size the electrical room accordingly you don't need to spend a hundred thousand dollar" — rough it in at framing, and the future install is straightforward. Wait until the tenant pool is demanding chargers and you are looking at a costly retrofit.
The app fragmentation problem — and what kills it
Anyone who has charged a rented EV at a public station knows the friction: each charging network requires its own app, its own account, its own payment method. A parkade with chargers from multiple vendors can mean three apps just to top up before a meeting.
Electric Avenue is building to the ISO 15118 standard, which enables automatic vehicle authentication — the car's own built-in payment credential does the work the moment you connect the cable. No app, no RFID card, no account. The car handles it. Tesla's closed ecosystem is currently the benchmark for that kind of frictionless experience; ISO 15118 is the open standard that extends it across the rest of the market.
For building owners, this matters because the tenant experience is part of the amenity proposition. A charger that requires three steps and a forgotten password is a charger tenants stop using.
The 60-year argument
The hardest version of the developer conversation is the one MacDonald has with a building that's running 99.9% occupancy. Why spend on infrastructure for a market need that hasn't arrived yet?
The answer is a lifecycle argument, not a current-market argument. "you're dealing with a building that's a product that has a 60-year life cycle" — and EV adoption doesn't need to reach majority for charger-equipped units to command a rent premium or make the difference at lease renewal for a tenant who drives electric. The building being delivered in 2025 will still be operating in 2065. Vancouver already mandates EV readiness in new construction; Atlantic Canada lags, but the regulatory direction is not ambiguous.
The grant window adds urgency the building lifecycle alone doesn't. The funding is generous precisely because adoption is pre-tipping-point. When it tips, the government rationale for subsidising private building infrastructure evaporates. Developers who act in the grant window pay half what those who wait will pay, and carry assets that will be in demand well before the building is retired.
Finding the funding — and the free help to get it
Electric Avenue does something unusual: they will help any Atlantic Canada developer work through a ZEVIP or EV Boost grant application at no charge, whether or not the developer ends up buying Electric Avenue hardware. MacDonald frames this as a relationship-builder. For the developer, it's a rare offer: operational grant-writing support from people who have already deployed at scale across the region, with no obligation attached.
The broader Catalyst model is worth understanding for anyone involved in commercial or residential electrical specification. Catalyst does not install — it represents electrical manufacturers into the distribution channel (Rexel, Wesco, the Eddy Group), and its value proposition to architects and engineers is being the upstream technical resource. The firm is explicit about its guiding mission: "we settled on we're just going to help others achieve environmental sustainability through electrification" — a mandate, not a tagline. That framing — a mission rather than a product catalogue — is what let Catalyst move from LED lighting to solar (nearly 2 MW deployed in Atlantic Canada) to EV charging as each market matured.
Electric Avenue Manufacturing makes the Watti Home (residential Level 2), Watti Pro (commercial and fleet Level 2), and Watti Direct (DC fast charging) lines, plus the load-sharing and pay-to-charge software platform. The hardware sells through electrical distribution across Atlantic Canada. goelectricave.com
Catalyst Sales and Marketing is the Atlantic Canada electrical manufacturers' representative, covering lighting, heating, automation, renewables, and EV charging lines. It sells through electrical wholesalers and specifies into commercial, industrial, and residential projects. catalystsales.ca
Killam Apartment REIT is Atlantic Canada's largest residential landlord, owning, operating, and developing apartment buildings across the country. killamreit.com
Guest: Mark MacDonald, co-founder & President, Electric Avenue Manufacturing Inc. and Principal, Catalyst Sales and Marketing. Atlantic Construction Podcast, Episode 53. Watch the full episode. ZEVIP grant details: Natural Resources Canada.