Due to permit restrictions, an electric car driver in Toronto cannot use the nearest charging station overnight

A Toronto Uber driver spends nearly half an hour most days walking between an electric vehicle (EV) charging station on the street and his home.

John Chen says he could shorten the walk to eight minutes each way if the city allowed him to use a closer charging station in his neighboring parking zone.

He cannot charge his electric vehicle at home because he does not have a designated parking space and has to rely on parking on the street.

Even though Chen lives on the edge of his own parking zone near Coxwell Avenue and Dundas Street, the city told him he could not get a permit for the other zone to use the closer charger overnight.

“I just think it’s stupid considering the city really wants people to get electric vehicles,” said Chen, who rents an electric vehicle. “It certainly doesn’t help them achieve their goals.”

The city’s net-zero emissions strategy calls for 30 per cent of registered vehicles in Toronto to be electric by 2030. But electric vehicle experts told CBC that the city must rapidly increase the pace and scale of electric vehicle infrastructure if it wants to meet its goals.

A recent report by the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA) found that charging capacity in Toronto is well below industry standards. If things continue at this rate, by 2040 there will only be one public charger for every 70 electric vehicles, according to the report, despite the International Energy Association recommending a ratio of one charger for every 10 electric vehicles.

WATCH | Electric car driver describes inconvenient walk to charge his vehicle in Toronto:

This electric car driver in Toronto is unable to use the nearest chargers due to parking zone restrictions

A Toronto Uber driver is demanding that the City of Toronto change the rules for electric vehicle drivers who rely on curbside parking. CBC’s Sarah Macmillan has more coverage.

The Atmospheric Fund (TAF), a climate agency in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, believes that all solutions must be put on the table.

“We need to invest more in expanding the network as quickly as possible so that people outside a permit zone can have new chargers within their permit zone,” said Ian Klesmer, director of strategy and grants at TAF.

“We need to think about how we can streamline the approval processes to make it as easy as possible for people to access existing infrastructure.”

Chen told CBC Toronto that he only puts up with the inconvenience of charging because, as a rideshare driver, the savings from not using gas are worth it.

He drives a Polestar 2. He says he drives an average of 300 kilometers a day for Uber and that the car’s battery range is between 300 and 400 kilometers, depending on how much he drives on the highway.

No parking permit exceptions for electric vehicles

To incentivize electric vehicles in the short term, Chen argues, the city should exempt electric vehicle charging stations from on-street parking restrictions or allow electric vehicle drivers to obtain parking permits for the zone where the charging station is closest to their home.

CBC Toronto asked the city why there are no parking exemptions or special permits for electric vehicle drivers. In a statement, a city spokesperson said parking permits are issued regardless of vehicle type so there is a “fair distribution” among all residents who rely on them.

Only about 60,000 vehicles – five per cent of all vehicles registered in Toronto – have resident parking permits on the street, according to the city. It is unclear how many of these vehicles are electric, as the city does not require residents applying for parking permits to indicate whether their vehicle is electric.

A strategic plan for public electric vehicles will be presented to the city’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee next month.

The city says the staff report is expected to lead to a better understanding of where electric vehicle drivers are in Toronto and where they are likely to be in the coming years. That information will then be used to decide where to put additional charging stations.

Maximum 5 minutes walk to recharge

Klesmer says that access to nearby charging stations is crucial for drivers who want to switch to electric.

“Who would be willing to walk half an hour there and back every day just to charge their car?” he said. “When we looked at it, people were willing to walk about five minutes, and that’s pretty much the maximum.”

According to Olivier Trescases, director of the Electric Vehicle Research Centre at the University of Toronto, the lack of publicly accessible charging infrastructure is one of the biggest obstacles to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

“It’s the eternal chicken-and-egg problem,” said Trescases. “We still have a long way to go.”

There are currently 97 public electric vehicle charging stations in Toronto at just over 50 street charging locations. The city also operates an additional 310 charging stations at 30 Green P parking lots through the TPA.

According to Klesmer, Toronto has a shortage of on-street charging stations compared to cities like Montreal, which has more than 800 street chargers.

According to the city, all current street charging stations in Toronto are Level 2 chargers, which take six to seven hours to fully charge a conventional electric vehicle.

Prioritize fast charging

Trescases believes the city should prioritize level 3 fast-charging stations in residential areas, which can charge a vehicle from empty to 80 percent in 30 to 45 minutes.

“If you don’t have access to an overnight charging facility, it makes a lot more sense to pay a little more and just get a longer range so you can charge maybe once a week at a fast charger,” he said.

Another alternative is to install chargers closer to where people live in other publicly accessible locations, such as grocery store parking lots, shopping malls, schools, libraries and stadiums, Klesmer said.

“If we can really expand charging options in these areas, we can ensure that every Toronto resident can walk to an electric vehicle charging station within five minutes,” he said.

Other options the city rejected last year included allowing private charging stations to be installed in front of residents’ homes and allowing electric vehicle charging by running a ramp-covered power cable across the sidewalk to a curbside parking spot. The electric vehicle cable is an approved option in Vancouver.

According to Statistics Canada, new registrations of battery-powered electric vehicles in Ontario increased from 0.4 percent of all new registrations in 2017 to 5.7 percent last year.

These figures are likely to continue to rise as the federal government has set a binding target that all newly sold light commercial vehicles and passenger cars must be emission-free by 2035.

“We are seeing a tsunami of electric vehicles coming our way,” said Klesmer. “We need more charging stations everywhere.”