City looks to expand hubs for charging electric cars
Flicking the switch on a widespread electric vehicle-charging network throughout southern Alberta could be sparked by city efforts gauging its feasibility.
On Tuesday, city officials sent out an expression of interest notice to alert companies that might be willing to set up vehicle-powering stations that would extend the range of e-vehicles and lay the groundwork for a transportation revolution.
While slower-charging Level 2 power kiosks are now dotted throughout the city, and a powering capability for Tesla cars exists in the province’s south, the aim is to create 15-20 fast-charging hubs throughout the region for all e-vehicle makes, said Eric MacNaughton, transportation co-ordinator for the city’s climate program.
“Right now, it’s easy enough to get around the city but not to get to Banff or Lake Louise, so this closes that gap. It’s trying to take that barrier away,” said MacNaughton, adding the hope is to kick-start a program that eventually becomes a routine service. The notice is being sent in partnership with neighbouring regional economic development zones, with an eye to plugging a southern Alberta system into ones in southeastern B.C. and the northern U.S., said MacNaughton.
Five of the charging stations could exist in Calgary at locations enabling longer jaunts outside the city, he said.
“They’d be relatively close to the ring road, providing easy access for people coming in and out of the city,” said MacNaughton.
He conceded demand for such facilities is currently being driven in Calgary by 150 fully electric vehicles, a number calculated two years ago.
But with the cost of the vehicles’ batteries falling, MacNaughton said the forecast is for a flood of them by the early 2020s.
“We want to be in a position that we’re getting ahead of this trend,” he said. “You won’t get more electric vehicles unless you can drive comfortably in the province.”
The fast-charging stations could fuel up an e-vehicle to 80 per cent capacity in under 30 minutes, said MacNaughton, compared to hours at current, often complimentary electric kiosks.
A battery charge at one of the direct current stations would cost about a third of a gasoline fill-up, he said.
“Once you get past the initial vehicle purchase price, they’re actually much cheaper to operate and maintain,” said MacNaughton of e-vehicles.
The city and its partners are also seeking federal green grants that could power the genesis of a wider system, with larger energy companies and electricity generators eventually coming on board, he said.
But MacNaughton acknowledged these efforts have already borne fruit in other jurisdictions.
Last year, the Ontario government launched an ambitious plan with private sector partners to install nearly 500 charging stations throughout the province, with a forecast that five per cent of vehicles will be electric by 2020.
In 2011, B.C. launched a $6.5-million program to build a charging hub system that extends from the lower mainland into the interior.
Calgary’s move is a laudable effort that complements the provincial government’s green efforts on industrial emissions, said Gideon Forman, transportation policy analyst with the Suzuki Foundation.
“Alberta’s doing a great job in targeting electricity, and the next thing is transportation emissions, and this is just good on a whole lot of points,” he said. “This is a big piece of our pollution and climate solutions.”
Lessening driver anxiety over the range of the vehicles is one of the keys in accelerating the use of e-vehicles, said Forman.
If grants come through and private sector interest is shown in the proposal, some of those charging stations could be operating by 2019, said MacNaughton.