An investigation by CBC's Marketplace has exposed a wide range in pricing as well as inconsistencies in performance and reliability at public electric vehicle charging stations.
Maryann Abela can relate. Last summer, she and her family were travelling in their new Nissan Leaf from London to Lion's Head, Ont., a 253-kilometre distance that should have taken them a little over three hours to drive.The Leaf's range is 342 km, but given the car wasn't fully charged, they were prepared to stop to charge along the way. Abela planned ahead, googling the locations of fast chargers along the route, never anticipating that none of them would be operational.
contacted the various providers, ChargePoint, Flo and Ivy all sent email statements explaining reliability is important to them. Due to a regulatory change last year, charging providers are now able to bill customers by kilowatt hour. This requires an application process that must be approved by Measurements Canada.
Kyriazis says it's the fairest way, and "moving towards this more standardized approach helps consumers more easily compare pricing across different, charging station providers."It also ensures consumers are consistently paying for the amount of energy their car receives from the charge and not penalizing those who have a vehicle that may take longer to charge.