Northern man charged up over lack of public sites to quickly power up electric cars

LaurentBoileauofSturgeon Falls, Ont.says the province isn't making good on its promise to install charging stations for electric vehicles in northern Ontario

Boileau owns two of these electric cars.

He says hisdecision to purchase them was because partly because he was interested in saving the environment, but he also thinks there will be a lot more people driving them in the future.

In 2016, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) said it would install 500 public stations to charge electric vehicles. That work was expected to be completed by March of this year.

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There are three ways to charge an electric vehicle:

• Level 1: 120 volts,using an ordinary house plug which takes 50 hours to charge the car
• Level 2: 240 volts, found at hotels and other private sites, takes 10 hours to charge the car
• Level 3: 480 volts, it can takebetween 30 minutes to onehour to charge the car, depending on the vehicle

The province's public charging stations wouldincludemore than 200 of the Level 3 fast chargers.

Just one of these Level 3 stations has been installed in northern Ontario. It is located in New Liskeard.

There are private charging stations available in the north, at places like hotels, but Boileau says those take moretime to charge a vehicle.

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"I can't travel. Basically, I can't travel up north. I can go south because there are some fast chargers there, but anywhere north, Ican't go anywhere."

The problem is in the northern part of the province there are hundreds of kilometres of roads with no access to a fast charging station for anyone who drives an electric vehicle, says Boileau.

Whereasin some of the southern Ontario locations chargers are within a few dozen kilometres of each other.

"A level two charger, which is a 220 volt power would take about 12 hours for my vehicle and I've got a range of about 400 kilometres. So in order to get toKenora[from Sturgeon Falls], let's say, it would probably take me 2-3 days."

Boileaualsonoticed recently onthe MTOwebsitethere arefewer charging stations planned for northern Ontario, than had originally been listed when the 500 sites were first announced last fall.

Ministry response

The Ministry of Transportation lists just 14 electric vehicle chargers (EVCO) sites for northern Ontario.

In an email to CBC news, ministry spokesperson Bob Nichols says the province is working withprivate and public sector program participants to install the Level 2 and Level 3 chargers as soon as possible.

He says all 500 stations will be in place by the fall. He addsthatthe ministry isplanning additional rounds of the EVCOprogram.

"While program details remain under development, MTO is seeking to address additional charging needs based on the feedback we have heard, including in northern Ontario. We look forward to having more to say on this once those program details are developed," says Nichols in his email.

No regrets

In the meantime, Boileau says he doesn't regret buying his two electric cars.However, he says he thinks it's time there wasmore service up north.

"I don't often travel in the north, however, I want to do a trip this summer. I want to go out west. Ican't do it."

"Basically I'd have to go through the States and Idon't want to do that. I want to go through Canada."

He says it would be possible to drive his electric car through the northern part of the province, but it would take him two months to get all the way to Vancouver and back because he would constantly be stopping to recharge hisvehicle at Level 2 chargers.

"The technology is there," Boileau adds, explaining that he has already driven hisTesla electric vehicle to Florida andCalifornia. He says the car travels as fast as any gas-powered vehicle.

"Idefinitely believe in electric vehicles. It's the future. Ibelieve 10, 15 years from now you'll see them everywhere, bythen the infrastructure will be there, but it isn't there now."