Vancouver to set fees for city-owned & operated EV charging locations

[f-stop]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/electric-car-drivers-fees-charge-stations-1.4178795

FYI - City of Vancouver proposes fees at 16 existing city-owned and operated EV charging locations, starting some time summer 2017. These stations are all currently no-cost to charge (as are most of the dozens of other public stations around town on non-city property). Stated purposes of the change include encouraging turnover at the stations, encouraging charging at home, and recovering some costs, etc

Proposed fee is $2/hr at 7kW L2 stations, and $16/hr for the 50kW BC Hydro-owned station at Empire Fields. The charging fee is on top of existing meter/parking fees, if applicable. Note that charging fees won't apply to non-city operated EV chargers. They say there are ~250 public charging stations in the city, of which the city operates 75.

Details in the council report here, including usage statistics of the city chargers, and some data on costs/revenue for operating a typical L2 charger:
http://council.vancouver.ca/20170627/documents/rr1d.pdf

 

[hpartsch]

Seems quite pricey.

 

[Canuck]

I'm for it. There's too many people who use these chargers instead of charging at home so it will free them up for people who really need them, especially those with low range EVs.

Seems quite pricey.

I agree although it's Canadian dollars and our dollar is at about 75 cents to the US dollar. The price will make people think if they really need the charge or can wait until they get home -- and I bet we'll see a lot less Teslas at these charging stations.

 

[dasRad]

I'm for it as well. On recent trips to Vancouver it's been difficult to find an available charger, and it they remain free, it will become near impossible. $2/hr for a 6kW (not 7kW) is around twice the rate (taxes in) that is costs to charge at home, so that seems to be a good starting point. $16/hr for 50 kW works out about the same. It's almost like someone in government talked to actual users.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Excelent news. About time. And Good rates.

 

[CFinVancouver]

This change was due. I park in a parkade at work where there are 4 chargers supplied by the city, but owned by the parkade, and policed by the employer...two stalls have the same two cars parked there throughout working hours. All this with a 3 hour limit that is "strictly" enforced. These are non-telsa Ford and Porsche products. Any charge is better than nothing, keeps the "entitlement" down to a minimum, and forces people to install a charger at home. They could easily make the first 2 hours free, then charge people. Then people would get the idea. It may not be popular with some people, but it would be the practical thing to do.

 

[wayner]

This makes sense to me as well - I think it is silly to give people a financial incentive to charge during the day which adds to peak demand. Whenever possible EVs should be charged overnight to smooth out demand.

 

[f-stop]

I agree with the proposal too, I think it will ensure turnover of the charging spots so people don't hog them. The fees sound reasonable. I hope the city also also enforces when the charging spots are ICE'd, or when EVs are parked at a charger while not even plugged in or still plugged in hours after charging completed, too. I've seen lots of examples of those around town.

I do charge sometimes at some of these public L2 chargers if I have other reason to be in the area and am low (I only have 120V charging at home). While it's great that these chargers are currently free to charge and only pay the regular parking rate, there's more and more EVs on the streets here and it makes sense to have a reasonable fee for the electricity.

btw city council voted last night and approved the proposal.

p.s. the CBC article I referenced also mentioned a new "curbside charging pilot program". I haven't read that report yet and don't know details but it's aimed at providing charging to homeowners who don't have access to off-street parking for their EV, aka "garage orphans". Sounds like a good idea. I wonder if they've also thought of lamp post EV charging stations?