Does London need more fast-charging stations for electric vehicles?

When it comes to electric vehicles, Don Millar is an early and enthusiastic adopter.

As the president of London's Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA), the retired chiropractor has owned four EVs over the past eight years. For the six years before that, he drove a hybrid vehicle.

These days Millar owns a Tesla Model Y. With an $82,000 sticker price, the SUVis far from the cheapest EV available.

To help encourage other drivers to go electric, he likes to talk about EVs, answer questions about them and give people a ride in his Tesla. However, he alsofeels governments could be doing muchmore to help convert car buyers who are hesitant about moving away from gas-burning vehicles.

In a written submission to London city council last week about the city's proposed Climate Emergency Action Plan, Millar said a lack of Level 3 charging stations in London is a key barrier.

"If you drive just east of here and go to Ingersoll, the little old town of Ingersoll has a Level 3 charger right in its main square," he said. "Why doesn't London? London has no chargers in its main square."

Not all charging stations are equal

So what's the difference between a Level 2 and a Level 3 charger?

In most cases, Level 3 stations can charge a vehiclein about an hour, while Level 2 stations can take up to eight hours to do the job.

Rolf Maurer is with ChargerCrew Canada, a Woodstock, Ont., based company that installs vehicle chargers, including 20 new Level 2 ChargePoint chargers installed on city property last fall.

Maurersaid while Level 3 chargers do the job much faster, drivers pay a premium for that convenience: About25 cents per minute of charging versusabout two to three cents a minute for Level 2s.

Also, Level 3 chargers cost $100,000 to install versus about $10,000 for Level 2 chargers (although there is currently a rebate of up to $50,000 from the federal government for fast-chargers). Another important factor,Maurerpoints out that Level 3s need to be installed where they have direct access to a high-voltage power line, which limits where they can be located. Simply adding an outlet to an existing building doesn't work with Level 3s, which are also known as fast-chargers.

"In most cases, you need [Level 3s] in areas where people commute," said Maurer. "If you put them into shopping malls, they are completely underutilized. They're just too expensive to placein there."

Where are London's charging stations?

Sneha Madur is an engineer with the City of Londonand an EV owner herself.

She said London currently has just under 200 charging ports throughout the city at 67 different locations. She said about 74 per cent of those charging locations are Level 2s.

While more fast-chargers are expected to come to London, Madursaid the high cost is a factor.

"It's not like London is not going to install Level 3s, but a lot is going to fall on the private sector because of the cost," she said.

Millar disputes the 200 number for charging ports, saying many are located on private property and not available to the public.

Based on location information for London posted on EV charging websites, such as ChargeHub and PlugShare, almost all of London's Level 3 chargers are located at the south end of the city, near Highway 401. London's lone Level 3 charging station in the north end is located at Masonville Mall.

Millar says the lack of fast-chargers in the north end and downtown is a problem and he'd prefer to see more Level 3s in places where people stop for about an hour, so that they could fully charge their vehiclewhile shopping or having a meal.

In his submission to the city, Millar also points to stats that suggest EV uptake in London is below the national average. Statistics of vehicle types registered in the Cityof London up until the end of 2021 show that less thantwo per cent are hybrids or electrics while the nationwide average is about four per cent.

And while charging infrastructure is important, Millar says affordability remains the biggest barrier to EV uptake. EVs are more expensive than gas vehicles (see chart below). However, with gas prices in London now above$1.60 a litre, Millar says more electric skeptics are reaching a tipping point where they're ready to ditch gas.

The federal government provides a $5,000 rebate toward the purchase of most EVs up to a maximum sale price of $45,000, so a Teslasuch as Millar's isn't eligible.

In 2018, the Doug Ford governmentcancelled theElectric and Hydrogen Vehicle Incentive Programbrought inby the Liberals under Kathleen Wynne.The program offereddrivers between $5,000 to $14,000 to buy new environmentally-friendly vehicles from a range of auto manufacturers although the government capped the vehicle purchase price at $75,000.

In November, Ford said he couldn't justify providing subsides for vehicles that cost close to $100,000, and are beyond the reach of most Ontarians. Other Ontario parties, including the NDP, Greens and Liberals, have proposed bringing back various EV purchase subsidies, which you can read about here.

Millar said Ontario should bringback those subsidies, pointing to stats in London's Climate Change Action Plandocuments that state that transportation is responsible for almost half the city's greenhouse gas emissions.