B.C. to expand infrastructure for electric vehicles with 94 new charging stations

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B.C.’s 94 newest electric vehicle charging stations will be installed by the end of the year and will be a welcome addition to the infrastructure network for EV owners.

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“They’re DCFC (direct-current fast chargers), they’re high ampage, and they’re fast-charging,” said John Stonier, president of the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association. “It’s not quite as fast as (filling up on) gasoline, but it’s getting there.”

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About 80 per cent of the 55,000 EVs in B.C. are charged at home, which takes about one to three hours, depending on how depleted the battery is, Stonier said. A public DCFC can top a vehicle up in about an hour or so.

“That’s what these stations are, and they’re expensive to install and expensive to use,” he said. As of May, B.C. Hydro started charging for its stations, at 27 cents a minute, and Fortis charges 30 cents a minute for theirs, he said. A recharge typically costs around $10.

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Public chargers allow EV owners to travel farther away from home and the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association hopes to one day see a charger every 100 to 150 kms on every provincial road in the province.

“That’s our policy position, that chargers should be equally provided around the province, no matter what the population base is in an area,” he said.

Stonier said there are many DCFCs in populated urban areas, but “if you want to travel from Smithers to Deas Lake and the Alaska Highway,” the availability of charging stations is less certain.

B.C. has more than 2,500 public charging stations, including 205 public DCFCs. There are two levels lower than DCFC, Level 1 and 2, which take longer to recharge a battery.

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Tesla has its own network of 16 stations in B.C. for Tesla owners, but Teslas can be adapted to use public stations.

Stonier said more chargers are needed for the increasing number of EVs in B.C., where they represent 10 per cent of all car sales (15 per in Vancouver), one of the highest uptake rates in North America.

Thursday’s announcement includes plans for B.C. Hydro to install 65 chargers across B.C., the City of Coquitlam to install 21, and First Capital Asset Management to install eight. The federal government is providing partial funding to all three organizations, worth $470,000 in total.

B.C. Hydro didn’t return a request for comment about where the stations would be located.

Stonier said he would like to see every home, condo and apartment equipped with a plug for an electric car, much in the same way they have plugs for clothes dryers and ovens.

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Seventeen B.C. municipalities require new condo buildings to equip their parking stalls with EV plugs.

It is more difficult to retrofit older buildings because landlords or strata councils may balk at the costs, and legislation bringing in “right to charge rules” would likely be unpopular, said Stonier.

“You just can’t impose costs, not everyone has the money,” he said. He said B.C. does the “next best thing” by providing grants for installing chargers. For his condo building, for instance, about half of the $200,000 purchase and installation cost to equip 130 stalls with plugs is being covered by provincial rebates.

A Tesla could be plugged into a regular 110-volt outlet, but it takes about eight hours to recharge. And because the circuits aren’t designed for high loads, it would likely overload and flip the breaker.

But Stonier said the 40 per cent of British Columbians who live in multi-unit residential buildings can rely on public charging stations if they drive 50 kms a day, which is the North American average.

He said someone he knows is buying an EV with a 370-km range on one charge, which he said would give her a week and a half between charges.

“You’re going to pay a premium (charging) rate, but it’s still cheaper than gas,” he said.