Following on its installation of a 37-kW solar roof, Mid Island Co-op’s gas bar may also be first to bring an electric vehicle (EV) fast charger to Salt Spring, hoping to open theirs within weeks of the new year –– possibly before one planned at the island’s new fire hall comes online.
EV enthusiasts have been watching eagerly since May, when a federal program listed the fuel station’s Rainbow Road address among recipients for “zero-emission vehicle infrastructure” funding. Mid Island’s director of energy operations Bruce Buckingham teased the news during a recent Salt Spring Community Energy online forum, and confirmed to the Driftwood the co-op’s Salt Spring location was one of seven planned across its region.
Buckingham said Mid Island Co-op’s new electricity “dispenser” will be equipped with one CCS connector, compatible with most EVs, and one CHAdeMO-type connector –– primarily used by the popular Nissan Leaf. For now, Tesla drivers –– and those of other vehicles that have switched to the NACS standard –– will continue to need adapters to connect.
“We had hoped to include NACS connectors,” said Buckingham, “but they are not yet available to equipment manufacturers.”
The new chargers will be part of the FLO network and will operate at “Level 3” in terms of charging power –– at least 50 kW, according to Natural Resources Canada’s Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program funding documents. That translates to equipped vehicles charging an order of magnitude faster than they might at owners’ homes.
FLO, which maintains one of the largest EV charging networks in North America, currently operates just one public charger on Salt Spring: the 6.24-kW “Level 2” equipment at the Rainbow Recreation Centre. Basic home charging is often what’s known as “Level 1,” and is limited by power available to residential electrical outlets –– largely less than 2.4 kW.
Buckingham said FLO had committed to informing Mid Island Co-op of developing plans regarding NACS, whether by replacing the CHAdeMO connector with a NACS connector or by offering an integrated adapter solution at the station. A rate structure for EV charging at the new equipment has yet to be determined, although similar stations operated by BC Hydro on Vancouver Island charge $0.3479 per kWh plus GST, as well as a 40-cents-per-minute “idle fee” after a five-minute grace period.
“The goal is to energize the charging stations by the end of January,” said Buckingham, “but that is dependent on the number of [available] contractors and BC Hydro schedules.”