Under the plan approved Thursday, developers must include plug-ins for electric cars in at least 20 per cent of parking stalls in new condominium and apartment buildings, along with some city-owned parking lots. Council doubled the original proposal that would have required only 10 per cent of stalls to have the charging infrastructure.

David Ramslie of the City of Vancouver said the initiative is drawing direct support from car manufacturers like Nissan and Mitsubishi.

Developers are being given an 18-month grace period before the plug-ins are required.