OnRoute Charging Stations?

[mnx]

I wonder if the Ontario superchargers are still slated for 2013. I haven't even heard any rumors on official locations yet. I guess we'v e ruled out OnRoute however.

 

[mknox]

I had some meetings earlier in the year with a couple of other utilities and the Ministries of Transportation, Energy and Finance on how to promote EV adoption. I may reach out to my contacts there as well to see what they know about OnRoute.

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I wonder if the Ontario superchargers are still slated for 2013. I haven't even heard any rumors on official locations yet. I guess we'v e ruled out OnRoute however.

Not all of the 400-series highway stops are OnRoute (at least I think not). There is a service center on the westbound side of the 401 just east of London that has an Esso gas station and a different set of stores compared to OnRoute. There is a similar one on the southbound 400 north of Vaughan. Perhaps they might be candidates for Superchargers. The problem is they are only on one side of the highway.

 

[Doug_G]

So I wrote to the minister to ask about charging stations at On Route. I got a response "on his behalf" from an engineer at MTO.

Thank you for your recent email about the availability of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at Ontario’s Highway Service Centres branded as ONroute. The Honourable Glen Murray, Minister of Transportation, has asked me to respond to you on his behalf.

As you are aware, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has committed to supporting the deployment of electric vehicles by providing a purchase incentive and green licence plates since July 2010 and a home charging station incentive since January of this year. The Ministry also recognizes the importance of developing and implementing public alternative vehicle fuelling technologies such as electric vehicle charging.

To help inform future decisions regarding the needs and opportunities related to public EV charging infrastructure in the province, MTO issued a request for information (RFI). Many of the RFI responses identified that the near term role of the Ministry should be to focus on public education and demonstration/research projects. MTO is considering these responses as it evaluates its potential role in supporting public EV infrastructure.

In the meantime, Metrolinx is planning to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure at up to nine selected GO Transit stations in the near future.

Host Kilmer Service Centres (HKSC) Developments L.P. is the service provider operating and managing Ontario’s 23 Highway Service Centres on behalf of the Province. Electric vehicle charging stations were considered as part of the design at Ontario's service centres and conduit was installed in the ground to enable installation of charging station equipment in the future. As demand grows for electric vehicle recharging stations, HKSC will consider installing facilities in selected locations. They will continue to monitor the EV charging market and look at the best technology options to serve customers.

Once again, I appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention and thank you for your feedback and interest in Ontario's Highway Service Centres. I encourage you to monitor the MTO website (www.mto.gov.on.ca) for updates and opportunities related to EVs.

Sincerely,

 

[DRK]

Latest Tweet today from TM.....

We haven't forgotten about Canada! Superchargers are coming soon. Stay tuned...

Dave

 

[mknox]

So I wrote to the minister to ask about charging stations at On Route. I got a response "on his behalf" from an engineer at MTO.

Thanks, Doug.

I was at an all-day workshop in Toronto yesterday entitled "Building a World Class EV Infrastructure in Ontario" and it was attended by the MTO as well as other government and NGO types. The MTO seem genuinely dedicated to advancing EV adoption, and even claim some level of cooperation and coordination between Ministries. I did mention the ONroute conundrum and received a somewhat similar vague response.

 

[Spenny818]

I saw this sign at the Cambridge OnRoute today. Nobody seemed to know any further details on when chargers will be installed however.

 

[Doug_G]

I saw this sign at the Cambridge OnRoute today. Nobody seemed to know any further details on when chargers will be installed however.

What we need now is a picture of a Tesla parked in front of that sign, and to distribute that picture far and wide.

 

[nikita]

I saw this sign at the Cambridge OnRoute today. Nobody seemed to know any further details on when chargers will be installed however.

Thanks for sharing! Was it on the eastbound or the westbound side of 401?

 

[mnx]

What we need now is a picture of a Tesla parked in front of that sign, and to distribute that picture far and wide.

Agreed!

 

[Spenny818]

Nikita - it was on the 401 east, to the right of the gas bar booth. FYI - the pedestal in the photo is an air hose, not a charger :wink:

 

[dj905]

I think that these signs are in place at most (if not all) of the renovated OnRoute stations. They are usually somewhere slightly behind the gas station. I am not sure why they bothered putting them up, when they don't seem to be interested in doing anything.

 

[Doug_G]

It gives them "green cred" without actually having to do anything. Simple as that.

 

[mknox]

Agreed!

I'll try tomorrow. I drive by the Westbound Cambridge ONroute on my way to work and the eastbound one on the way home.

I did stop in and looked at those signs a week or so ago, but never thought to take a picture! The King City and Barrie ONroutes also have the same signs.

 

[mnx]

I'll try tomorrow. I drive by the Westbound Cambridge ONroute on my way to work and the eastbound one on the way home.

I did stop in and looked at those signs a week or so ago, but never thought to take a picture! The King City and Barrie ONroutes also have the same signs.

Maybe we should get several pictures... I might be going by the Barrie one within the next week.

 

[mknox]

I'll try tomorrow.

So, when I got there after work, I was ICE'd and there isn't even a charger there yet:

I hung around for a bit and eventually got the spot:

The sun was so bright and directly on the sign that it doesn't show up in the picture. Of course I had people come up to me to talk about the car, and it was about 20 minutes before I could get out of there.

If I'm not in too much of a hurry tomorrow morning, I'll try the westbound ONroute...

 

[nikita]

I too took a picture this morning:

Too bad there is room for only one car and it is next to garbage containers. Not serious.

 

[mnx]

I stopped at the King City (400 Northbound) OnRoute yesterday. I circled around and found no such sign there.

 

[mknox]

I stopped at the King City (400 Northbound) OnRoute yesterday. I circled around and found no such sign there.

It's on the north side kind of near the Tim Horton's drive thru area if I recall correctly. I Pointed it out to my buddy as we were walking back to where we had parked the car. It's not as close to the Gas+ area as it is in Cambridge. I noticed it a few weeks ago and, again, should have snapped a picture. (I gotta remember I have an iPhone camera in my pocket all the time!).

 

[Spenny818]

I too took a picture this morning:
View attachment 32006

Too bad there is room for only one car and it is next to garbage containers. Not serious.

Nikita - I'm loving the sign!

 

[notailpipe2112]

I really wish these would not just be 30 amp chargers, as I suspect they will be. I know this has been pointed out over and over again on these forums about how useless a 30 amp charger is on a road trip, but I'm finding it out first hand lately. In the process of doing some planning for some road trips I'll be doing next year from Toronto to the east coast of Canada and to NYC, I'm seeing how hard it is to make a road trip work with a 30 amp. All it takes is a few minutes of trip planning with a spreadsheet and Google maps and you start seeing how hard it is to do a full 12 hour day of road trip driving, and make it work if you only have 30 amp chargers available.

This is why Sun Country immediately jumps out at you in this 'not quite there yet' Supercharger world that we live in. If you want to do road trips that won't result in family frustration, you really need Sun Country and twin chargers. From what I can see, this will be the case in Canada for at least the next 3-5 years, even with the trickle of Superchargers that are coming. Sun Country are forward thinking.

So of course, for my car, I unfortunately didn't get the twin chargers, but I'm seriously considering adding them after the fact for this reason.

For OnRoute, I fear that they are going to take the cheezy 'good PR' route and put in or two 30 amp chargers at all their stops from Chargepoint, or whoever. Don't get me wrong, I love Chargepoint and I think their chargers are great as an end-point destination charger, but for a road trip charger on the side of a highway the only real option is 40+ amps, and lots of 'em.

I believe that, even as early adopters like we all are here, 1-2 hours is the most you can expect a family to wait, and when you run the numbers on a full day of driving, you really need 80 amps and a twin charger to make it work.