The City of Vancouver last week announced that it is taking a different route than other communities, including Delta, when it comes to its on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging fees.
Starting Jan. 1, 2025, vehicles using on-street public charging stations will be charged for the amount of energy supplied to the car rather than the time plugged in, addressing the issue of different charging speeds for various EVs.
The city notes the change aligns with BC Hydro’s new pricing structure. The B.C. Utilities Commission earlier this year approved BC Hydro’s new rate fee.
It’s been almost three years since the City of Delta ended its days on having no fee for city-owned EV charging stations and implemented a fee in a cost recovery effort.
Aimed to be like other municipalities, the fee structure sees Level 2 stations charge $2 per hour for the first two hours and $5 per hour after that.
Delta did not have Level 3 stations at the time, but those would have an $8 per hour fee for 25 kW and $16 per hour for 50 kW.
Meanwhile, the City of Delta continues to ramp up the installation of additional public charging stations, part of its Electric Vehicle Strategy.
Heading into this year, the city owned and operated 30 public Level 2 charging stations at civic facilities.
Twenty more were to be installed this year, along with a DC fast charge station at the North Delta Recreation Centre.
Council also approved a licence agreement with BC Hydro for the use of nine parking stalls at the Sungod Recreation Centre for the installation of eight DC fast charge stations.
Council this year also approved another licence agreement with BC Hydro for the use of 11 parking stalls at the Delta Sports Development Complex in Ladner for the installation of 10 fast charge stations.
BC Hydro currently owns and operates four DC Fast Charge stations at South Delta Recreation Centre.
A Delta staff report notes that a study commissioned by Metro Vancouver in 2023 indicates that to meet future EV charging needs, Delta will require approximately 58 public DC fast charging stations by 2035.
The Metro board this year endorsed the regional district submitting several climate action resolutions to the Union of BC Municipalities including calling on the province for even more funding for EV charger deployment.
According to the regional district, it has identified that by 2035, up to 350,000 existing parking spots in multi-unit residential buildings in the region will be retrofitted to be EV charging ready, and 2,200-to-2,900 public DC fast charging ports and 32,000-to-47,000 public Level 2 ports will be needed to support anticipated demand for EV charging.
It will require significant capital investment in both public charging and multi-unit residential buildings retrofits totalling approximately $1.2 billion in Metro Vancouver alone by 2035.
