Electric vehicle charging station usage in BC doubled in the last year

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Is it a sign that more of you are driving electric vehicles? The number of charging sessions at EV charging stations across BC has jumped in the last year.
Out of the 550 electric vehicle charging stations around the province, 350 of the stations are able to track the amount of usage. The number of vehicle charging sessions doubled between August 2013 and August 2014, with over 40,000 charging sessions reported within the first year the network was active.

Project Engineer Jeff Turner with Powertech Labs, which is a subsidiary of BC Hydro, says more drivers could be juicing up because more of them have electric vehicles.
“I think that you could say that the usage increase that we’ve seen from these charging stations is driven by the fact that we’re seeing a lot more EVs on the road, but at the same time it’s probably a two-way relationship, where the number of charging stations out there in the field has encouraged people to adopt EVs with that kind of reassurance you’re getting.”

He says tracking usage will let engineers know what the current demand is; something which he expects will continue to grow in the future.
“Just this week I was at VanDusen Gardens and there was an EV charging station there, and already there was a lineup. There’s only one charging station there and I saw a second EV just waiting for the next one. They don’t always need a charge every place they go. But I definitely do see a few cases where businesses might be recognizing that they need to expand their installations and add more charging stations to support the demand we’re seeing.

Monitoring usage is not just for engineers, he says EV drivers can track their usage as well on evCloud which is a tool created by Powertech.
When it comes to cost, he adds the stations that charge in just half an hour can go up to tens of thousands of dollars; those that take more time to juice up are not as pricey.