Saint John utility adds 8 charging stations, expects electric vehicle demand to surge

Saint John Energy has added eight electric-vehicle charging stations across the city to prepare for an expected surge in demand.

Kevin Colvey, Saint John Energy's director of corporate development, said the eight stations are the first to be owned and operated by the utility.

The new locations are Level 2 "top up" stations, Colvey said, taking anywhere between one to three hours to bring a vehicle back to full charge. Each hour would cost $1.50.

"Basically, you're paying for parking and charging, and then you can go do what you need to do. Go have a coffee, go watch a movie and then you return to your car," Colvey told Information Morning Saint John.

Colvey said the eight new charging station locations are:

● TD Station 
● Market Square
● East Point Starbucks
● East Point near Indigo
● Moosehead Small Batch Brewery
● Simply for Life & UStation
● Saint John Energy head office
● Saint John Energy substation

The stations are faster than the level 1 residential chargers that plug into household outlets, which can take up to 12 hours for a full charge.

Depending on the vehicle, a full charge gives a range of between 120 and 500 kilometres. Level 3 stations could take 20 minutes to fully charge a vehicle, and the closest one is a Tesla-owned 8-plug station in Quispamsis.

Colvey said according to current projections, 20 per cent of cars on the road will be electric in the next five years. He said monitoring the stations will help verify if that number is accurate.

"We're not sure of any of that right now," he said, "Now that we own these stations and we put them up for public use, we can measure how often they're being used and how it's growing."

With climate change affecting all aspects of life, and volatile gas prices, electric vehicles have increasingly become a legitimate choice for consumers.

They are more reliable, cost less in the long run, and produce a fraction of greenhouse gas emissions. 

However, Colvey said people hesitate to make the switch because of the initial expense (vehicles haven't been manufactured for long enough to have affordable used options) and the fear of there not being enough charging stations for long trips.

Apartment dwellers also may not have access to a place to plug in their car overnight. 

Colvey said he hopes increasing the number of charging stations will alleviate those concerns.

"Just having these [stations] … around the city helps the confidence of the drivers," he said.

New Brunswick has the highest possible rebates for an electric vehicle in Canada, Colvey said. Federal and provincial rebates could be as much as $10,000 for new vehicles leased or purchased. The provincial government has a target of 20,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030.