City of Powell River Council has approved an amendment to its fee bylaw that will provide for an hourly charge for recharging electric vehicles.
At the April 9 city council meeting, councillors unanimously carried the bylaw amendment that will provide for a $2 per hour fee for using the city’s electric vehicle charging stations.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman said the city landed on the fee of $2 per hour at city-owned, level-two charging stations with the thought that it will not only cover the cost of electricity, but will actually put a bit of extra money into a reserve account for other types of climate mitigation items.
“Everyone is onboard with it,” said Leishman. “It will give electric vehicles owners the incentive to move off of the charging stations once they are done using them, instead of leaving their vehicles on there too long.”
According to a staff report from sustainability planner Ana Lukyanova, the city installed its first electric vehicle charging stations at city hall and the north boat harbour parking lot in 2016. In 2018, additional charging stations were added at Powell River Public Library and Powell River Recreation Complex. Charging had been free to the public.
Lukyanova said since 2016, use of the stations has been growing exponentially. She added that it had been observed by staff that users often leave their vehicles plugged in for longer than they need to charge, limiting access for other users.
“This is becoming a problem as the stations get more and more use,” Lukyanova stated. “To address this, staff recommend introducing an hourly fee for electric vehicle charging to improve availability as the demand grows.”
The city currently has seven electric vehicle charging stations. City hall has a single station, the north boat harbour has a double station, the library has a double station and the recreation complex also has a double station.
In 2019, use of the stations grew to more than 2,500 charges. Lukyanova stated the stations, on average, were used 4.5 hours a day per location in 2019.
Statistics show that of the vehicles using the charging stations, they were plugged in without charging about 30 per cent of the time.
“Because charging is currently free, there is no incentive for electric vehicle owners to vacate the station,” Lukyanova stated in her report. “Staff have been in conversation with the electric vehicle charging station service provider FLO, and their recommendation was to introduce an hourly charge to incentivize users to only use the station for as long as they need to charge the vehicle.”
According to Lukyanova’s report, from January 1 to October 21, 2019, the stations were used for a total of 3,705 hours of charging. Based on the $2 an hour fee, there would be total fees of $7,411 collected, with electricity costs of $1,519, leaving revenue of $5,892 for the city.
