Manitoba's clean hydro power and abundant block heater outlets are often promoted as ideal for new enviro-friendly electric vehicles, but some on the vanguard of that automotive revolution say the province's plugs are not nearly enough.
Keith Billous bought a high-performance Tesla electric roadster last year, but found problems driving it around the province.
The issue? Slow charging times.
"It's ridiculously frustrating not being able to find any 220 or 440 volt plugs anywhere," Billous told CBC News.
He mostly charges his car at home with a "Level 2" charging station that runs on 220 volts — the same as what a washer or dryer uses. Electricians can easily wire such a plug into a garage or parking lot.
But when he drove to Brandon, for instance, he found none of the local hotels or businesses had these kinds of fast-charging outlets. That left him with just standard 110 volt outlets, and that left him stranded for hours.
"To move forward, that has to change," Bilous said Wednesday.
Jim Crone with the province's energy division said the long waits will be made longer in most commercial parking lots. That's where electricity is "cycled" — meaning the outlets are only on for 20 or 30 minutes each hour to save money.
However, that "Power Smart" move will double or triple already long charge times for electric car owners.
If half empty, a Mitsubishi i-MiEV car, for instance, can be recharged in 10 hours with a steady supply of 110-volt electricity. Using a "cycling" outlet, that balloons to 20 or 30 hours.
Worse, many outdoor parking lots cut off their electricity in the summer.
Manitoba Hydro's Ian Page chairs a steering committee looking into electric cars' needs.
"If we can get some of the parking lot owners to designate a few spots, and … let that power flow all the time, then that could can become a really useful part of the electric charging infrastructure," said Page.
He said there are only about 20 electric vehicles in the province right now, but Manitoba Hydro forecasts 10,000 will be on the road by 2024.
Ontario has similar aspirations for the zero-emission vehicles. The provincial government there has set a goal of getting one in 20 cars running on electricity by 2020.
Pushing the change is Winnipeg's ex-mayor, Glen Murray, who is now Ontario's minister of research and innovation.
"Building vehicle-charging infrastructure now will help Ontarians make the transition to the next generation of vehicles," Murray said in a statement last year.
Six cities — Toronto, Markham, Vaughan, Barrie, Bowmanville and Ajax — are now equipped with fast-charging stations, as part of a pilot project with company Better Place Canada.
So far, Manitoba Hydro has nixed that idea.
"We're looking at a minimum $70,000 for one of those fast-charging stations, and it's very hard to justify that kind of expenditure," said Page.
Page also said the research suggests Manitobans may not make use of those stations.
But Bilous disagrees. He hopes the utility will set up 220-volt stations in "strategic" locations, such as Gimli, Falcon Lake, and other points around Winnipeg.
"If Manitoba Hydro is not going to step up on this, who is going to?" he said.
One thing Hydro won't have too worry about is a massive demand on the power system. About 10,000 electric cars would draw just 0.05 per cent of the system's peak load, said Page.
"The amount of electricity [a typical electrical car] would use over the course of a year, would be less than what your water heater would use in your house," he added.
The provincial government hopes electric vehicles will reduce Manitoba's annual dependance on $2 billion to $3 billion in imported fossil fuels.
Every 20-cent increase at the pump equates to roughly $500 million "leaking" from the economy, according to a provincial brochure.
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