News Release Electric Vehicle Charging Available at GO Stations November 27, 2013 Ontario Government Supporting Green Transportation New electric vehicle charging stations are up and running at five GO stations in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to make it easier for drivers to use environmentally friendly transportation. Starting today, Aurora, Centennial, Lincolnville, Oakville and Whitby GO stations will offer charging stations for electric vehicles. Ajax, Burlington, Pickering, Erindale and Clarkson GO stations will open electric vehicle charging facilities in early 2014. Charging a car will be free for the first month; after that, each charging session will cost $2.50. Electric vehicle users can wave a credit card or a Chargepoint smart card over a card reader to pay for their electric vehicle charging access. Supporting sustainable, green transportation is part of the Ontario government's economic plan to invest in people, build modern infrastructure and support a dynamic and innovative business climate. QUICK FACTS These new stations are part of a three-year pilot program, which may be expanded depending on demand. Electric vehicles have a number of benefits compared to conventional vehicles, including lower operating and maintenance costs, less vehicle noise and reduced emissions of harmful air pollutants and greenhouse gases. With GO Transit’s 15-minute Service Guarantee, GO Train riders may get a credit if their arrival is delayed 15 minutes or more. Since 2003, Ontario has invested more than $19.3 billion in public transit in Ontario, including $9.1 billion in GO Transit. Newsroom : Electric Vehicle Charging Available at GO Stations
Seems reasonably priced if you're driving a Leaf to the GO station. It would be reasonably cost-effective if you're pushing the Leaf's range to get there... but a disaster if you arrive and all the plugs are occupied. If you're not pushing the range then it's probably not worth the money. I wonder what the uptake will be? Doesn't do anything for the rest of the province, of course. Toronto is once again the center of the world!
This even persists a bit in my meetings with the Ministries of Energy, Transportation and Finance when we meet on EV issues. I do my best to remind them that there is interest outside of Toronto. My struggle now is convincing of the need for higher power stations at stops where the duration of the stay is inherently short (i.e. ONroute Stations). The 40 amp ChargePoints are probably adequate for long duration parking at GO Stations. By the way, Doug, at my last meeting a few weeks ago, the Hydro Ottawa folks talked about having some sort of EV open house and said a guy with two Teslas showed up. Hmmm... I wonder who that could be
LOL yeah that was me. But there are at least a couple of other two-Tesla owners here in Ottawa... i.e. the two other Roadster owners.
I scouted the Whitby charge station last week - it was cordoned off with hazard tape and pylons, but it was done and ready to go. There was only 2 chargers/spaces that I could see. Might be a race to get there if there is, in fact, only two there. Most people will plug in for the day and be on their way. $2.50 is reasonable, for sure. As far as the OnRoute's go, I popped into the one near Odessa (Kingston) last week to ask about their supposed future station. The sign has almost been toppled over and they haven't painted the spot there at all. The gas manager told me to ask inside because he didn't have any information on it and didn't think it would be done anytime soon.
Don't expect anything to happen at OnRoute. I've made inquiries and it sounds like nothing will happen for years. That means that OnRoute has lost my business. I only go to places with chargers.
+1, same here... I think the GO station charge stations (even the wimpy ChargePoint ones) are better than nothing...my wife uses the GO to go to Toronto a couple of times a month thus these will be handy in the winter. Still, wondering about the financial long term health of charge station manufacturers / distributors, I fail to see why ChargePoint should be supported when they do not have any fast Level 2 chargers available...
To be fair, one of the issues with the ONroute stations has to do with their location. Since they're usually outside of town, a lot of them are out at the end of a utility's distribution feeder and there may not be enough capacity to add additional load. Most are propane heated (you can see the big white tanks hidden away on the site), and all of the electrical capacity is being used by the restaurant, fuel pumps and so forth. I should have realized this as a utility guy, but it was pointed out to me in one of the meetings I attended.
Never thought about it from that perspective. Site selection for high amp charging is more challenging than I imagined.
It can be. One of the principles the Ontario Energy Board (the utility regulator) imposes is that rates and costs don't result in one class of customer (or individual customer) subsidizing another. For facility expansion that benefits only one customer, that customer is expected to bear the cost of the expansion minus a factor for the additional revenue the utility will realize. When you think about it, that's fair. I don't think raising everyone's rate, even a tiny bit, for the benefit of one customer would go over well. What this means, however, is that these ONroute stations could potentially have to incur a huge cost for the electric utility to "beef up" infrastructure.
I stopped by to find the Oakville GO chargers and there they were on the ground level of the parking structure! Two of them with prime parking spots tucked out of site so there is less chance of ICEing.
Awesome. The ones in Whitby aren't out of site, but in a prime location to quickly get parked and to the trains. I wonder how often I'll get ICEd!
Any updated info on how these chargers are doing? Are they well used? Are the spots often full when people have dropped in to park and hit the train?
The Ministry responsible (can't remember if it's Finance, Energy or Transportation) is monitoring and is expected to report back to a Working Group I sit on. If I hear, I'll post.