Global Courant
Some electric vehicle drivers in northern Ontario say the charging network between Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie abandons those who don’t drive a Tesla.
CCS and CHAdeMO fast chargers in Marathon, White River and Wawa were out for most of June; the Ivy location in White River has been out of service since mid-April.
Tesla chargers in the region were still working, according to reports on the PlugShare forum, where drivers update each other on charger status, but they are not currently compatible with non-Tesla vehicles.
“June was a tough month for this area,” said Real Deschatelets, a volunteer with the Electric Vehicle Association of Northern Ontario (EVANO).
“There was a huge zone between Sault Ste. Marie and Terrace Bay where fast charging was not available. Even at level 2 there was almost nothing. … The biggest disappointment in owning an electric car is public charging – public fast charging.”
The federal government is promoting adoption of electric cars as a key pillar in the fight against climate change, offering incentives worth $5,000 off the purchase price of a vehicle.
Fewer Canadians are seriously considering EV purchases
Ottawa wants 20 percent of all new vehicles sold to be electric cars by 2026 and plans to phase out sales of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035.
But a new survey published last week by JD power found that only about a third of Canadians are considering electric cars as their next vehicle purchase, and that number is trending downwards. Those who reject EVs cite limited range and the lack of charging stations as the main reasons.
Ian McEwan’s experience illustrates their fears.
McEwan took off on a road trip to Halifax last month in his new Ford F-150 extended range vehicle.
He topped up his charge in Nipigon and Terrace Bay, but the Petro-Canada app listed the company’s chargers in Marathon in Wawa as out of service.
McEwan decided to charge his car at the Ivy Charger in White River instead. But when he got there, he found that the charger was dead as well.
“Do I go forward, where I have enough strength to come, but not beyond (Wawa)? Or do I go backward and hope I have enough (cargo) to return to Terrace Bay?” he asked.
Complicating the risk assessment was the fact that mobile phone service between towns in parts of the region is spotty, meaning that a person with a dead battery could easily be stranded on the side of the road with no way to call for help .
Ian McEwan charges his Ford F-150 Lightning on a trip to Nova Scotia last month. After charging his battery in Nipigon and Terrace Bay, the Petro-Canada app listed the company’s chargers in Marathon in Wawa as out of service. (Submitted by Ian McEwan)
Eventually, McEwan pushed through to Wawa, but couldn’t find a working charger.
So he booked a room at a hotel and arranged for a tow truck to take his vehicle to Sault Ste. Mary the next day.
“I talked to the tow truck driver and he said, ‘Oh, this happens a lot because it hasn’t worked for at least two months,'” he said.
Suncor Energy, owner of Petro-Canada, did not respond to CBC’s question about the outage of its charging stations.
Supply chain delays caused extended outages
However, drivers posting to PlugShare reported that the Wawa charger was back online on June 28.
On June 30, the Marathon loader was working again.
An Ivy spokesperson told CBC News that the White River charging station was not operating due to a damaged transformer, and “there are significant delays in obtaining transformers, which has resulted in an extended timeline to bring this station back online.”
A White River towing company and hotel operator said it is a “terrible inconvenience” when the loaders don’t work.
‘Dragged about half a dozen from White River’
“I think we towed about half a dozen out of White River,” said Angelo Bazzoni when asked how many drivers he had to rescue in June due to dead batteries.
“We put some of them in our motel, where…people spent the night and were able to slowly charge their vehicles and get into Thunder Bay.”
Deschatelets has emailed several MPs and met with Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu on the matter.
Hajdu told CBC she understands his frustration.
She said the government has spent more than $1 billion on charging infrastructure since 2015, but it doesn’t build chargers itself, relying instead on advocates to do so.
There are currently about 45,000 chargers across Canada, she added.
The goal is to have more than 84,000 by 2027.
In a statement to CBC News, Natural Resources Canada also reiterated the government’s work to fund charging infrastructure, adding that it tracks charging ports on an interactive map.
“The federal government recognizes the importance of a fully functional and reliable charging system,” the statement read. “Federal programs fund a fraction of project costs to ensure project proponents are committed to the long-term viability of their charging infrastructure, contributing to greater reliability. Reliability is also factored into application processes and funding requirements.”
Deschatelets said he has also spoken with Petro-Canada and Ivy, who serve the chargers in the northern region.
He said he hopes Tesla’s plans to open up its chargers to all electric cars will improve the situation for drivers.
“People would go crazy if gas stations all over this area went out – that’s the reality of electric cars right now.”
