City wants to build 18 electric vehicle charging stations
The City is applying for a provincial grant to cost-share the installation of 18 electric vehicle charging stations at public facilities across Surrey. If the full request is met, the province would pay $72,000 of the bill, while the City would foot the remaining $108,000. Each charging station costs $10,000. The City’s share would be paid for through carbon tax rebates it receives from the Province.
There are three types of charging stations on the market, each providing different voltages. Level 1, the cheapest available, takes an electric vehicle 12 to 20 hours to recharge. Level 2, the type the City is pursuing, can make a full charge in 4 to 6 hours. Level 3, which can cost upwards of $65,000 per station, can recharge the car in less than 30 minutes.
Levels 3 stations are being installed in Whistler, Squamish and at Science World as the Province’s commitment to the Green Highway, a network of fast charging stations from BC to California. Another 27 are planned for installation across the province, but locations have yet to be announced. Staff are examining the potential of a Level 3 charging station on Hwy 99.
The Community Energy Association expects that there will be 10,000 to 20,000 electric vehicles across Metro Vancouver by 2020, rising to 130,000 in another ten years. Based on these estimates, that could mean 2000 to 4000 electric vehicles in Surrey by 2020, reaching 26,000 by 2030.
The grant submission seeks to build 8 Level 2 charging stations at the new City Hall. Stations are also planned for:
- Guildford Recreation Centre
- Fraser Heights Recreation Centre
- Surrey Arts Centre
- Strawberry Hill Library
- Fleetwood Library
- Surrey Sport and Leisure Complex
- Cloverdale Recreation Centre
- Surrey Museum
- South Surrey Recreation Centre
- Ocean Park Library
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Who is going to be at a Rec Center or Library for 4-6 hours to get a full charge ??? A Level 2 station is a bad plan. Level 3 is the much better solution when only taking 30 minutes to charge. Users of these charging station will be in a library or rec center for on average one hour, therefore its poor planning to have a station tied up for up to 6 hours if your trying to encourage electric vehicles. You might get 2 cars charged a day (based on 12 hours availability) at a Level 2 station and you could expect up to 24 charged in the same period at a Level 3. Know which option I would be looking at even if they were to charge for using them only sounds practical to go with what recovers cost faster.
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Because of how the system works, I don’t believe people will be using this technology to get a full charge for their car, but instead it would be used mostly as a way to “top up” a cars battery and extend the range that a car could travel in one day.
I would think that people would be able to get a full charge in their cars directly from their homes which would reduce the need to use a public charging station for 6 hours at a time.
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We just bought a new condo in Whalley.
It would be nice to see these stations in the new buildings being built. -
Stupid! This type of fuel will be dead before it gets mainstream and all the suckers wasting money on these stations. Hydrogen will be the way of the future. Guaranteed! Electric is inefficient and slow and takes from the grid. Prices will skyrocket and problems will arise. But most people are too dense to see this.
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Electric cars are the way to go, for more reasons then one. Electric cars have problems but charge stations like this, and small developments to electricity infrastructure will make electric cars, and renewable energy possible.
The problem with electric cars is that they take a long time to charge, who does want to hang out at the rec center for 6 hours. The problem with renewable like solar and wind is that it is unreliable (solar power does not work at night) This means that to make it work you have to have a lot of energy storage which is expensive.
Put these two problems together and you solve both of them. Cars have huge energy storage in the form of batteries. You drive to work, and plug in at a station like these ones being installed, and solar cells charge your car up all day. You drive home and plug in, and your car powers your house all night. Both problems solved.
Surrey is living up to it’s motto “The city of the future”
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