'Disappointing' usage of electric vehicle charging stations in 1st year

Afull year after they were installed, Ottawans appear slow to embracethe city's new fleet of public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations butusage is trending upward.

The City of Ottawainstalled a total of 24 EV charging stations across16 sites spread throughout the city(some sites havetwo chargers). It currently bills$2 an hour for the service, a price point it says is in line with othercities.

As of last Friday, each of thecity-ownedcharging stations had been in place for at leastoneyear. In that time, a clearer picture of how Ottawans are using the technologyhas emerged.

In all of 2022including six dates where not a singlecharging session at a city-owned station was recorded the chargers wereused an average of justunder 15times per day. That numberfalls well below one use per charging station each day.

Thestation at Ottawa city hall was usedthe most, with 908 charging sessions recordedin 2022. On the other end of the spectrum, a charging station located at 1551 Lyce Place, a shortside street near The Ottawa Hospital, was used just 65 times last year.

Total daily uses across the entire city ranged from47 at the peakto just zero atthe low end.

Raymond Leury, president of the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa,called last year'susage "disappointing,"but added the slow uptake is a "chicken and egg" problem.

"People don't have electric cars because there's notcharging available," he said. "So it might take some time after the charging stations have been deployed for them to start getting used a lot."

Usage trending upward

Mitchell House, a product manager with the city'sclimate change and resiliency unit, said Ottawa has recorded"some pretty good usage to date."

"We've seen a progressive growth in the usage of those stations over time," he said.

House said the city didn't set specific usage targets, instead hopingto use the datato get asense of which stations were being used most frequentlyand why.

That information, he said,will allow the citytoevaluate where to put futurestations, should itchoose to.

Lack of at-home charging station an 'obstacle'

Leury said public charging stations are mostuseful for two demographics: those who don't have a permanent charging locationat home, such as people who live in apartments or condos, or those who are visiting the city, such as tourists.

Many people are priced out of purchasing EVs, he added, because they don't have access to their owncharging station.

"We don't want that to be an obstacle," hesaid.

The City of Ottawahas opted for LevelII public charging stations, able to replenish somewhere between 30and 40kilometres of rangefor each hour of charging. By contrast, LevelIII fast charging stations can fill a battery in between 20 and 40 minutes.

House said the citychoseLevel II stations because their smaller profile is better suited to themostly residential locationswhere the current crop of chargers resides.

Hesaid the city is currently "evaluating" the type and amount of anychargers it may install in the future.

Despite the slow uptake,Leury said Ottawa needs "many, many more" fast chargers, but added local government can't solve the shortfall by itself.

"It shouldn't be something the municipal government is driving alone," he said. "Certainly the city has a role to play, but we're hoping to see some private players be much more active in Ottawa."