A recent visitor to Burns Lake had some good news and some bad news about the village’s electric vehicle (EV) charge station.
The good news is that it was the first time in months that the station successfully charged up an EV.
The bad news is that his experience ended with some frustration, a common occurrence with EV drivers using the village’s charge station.
“When we pulled up it was working but it was buried in snow. I was pleased that it worked but it was kind of slow for a public charger,” Matthew Ceaser, a teacher from Prince George told Lakes District News.
On Feb. 16 Ceaser left Prince George with his wife and young son for a trip to Smithers. His EV has a range of 500 kilometres but in cold weather the battery drains faster.
When he arrived in Burns Lake - the next place with a charger west of Prince George - he had only 100 km worth of electricity left in his car.
He wasn’t sure what to expect here after reading negative reviews of the charge station on PlugShare, one of several websites that rate user experiences at EV charge stations around the world.
“I understand why it wasn’t shoveled because I was probably the first person to use that charge spot in months. It’s a low-use scenario,” he said.
Chief Administrative Officer Sheryl Worthing said the snow in front of the charger was a one time occurrence and that the village crew normally clear the area very well after snow falls.
Ceaser stepped through the snow and charged his car, but at a pace that gave his EV 30 km of juice after one hour of charging. Most chargers, he said, give about 48 km after one hour in the plug.
“We ended up staying just long enough to press along to Houston and their charger worked a lot better,” he said, adding that Houston’s station is also free, compared to the one here that charges $2 an hour.
“The charger in Burns Lake is the only one I’ve found in British Columbia that charges money. I don’t mind paying a fair share for the service….But if you charge for electricity it should charge what it costs. Our 75 kilowatt tank should cost $6, or it would take 10 hours at my house, but at Burns Lake it would have taken 15 hours. Overall that’s going to be almost $30 for a full tank, but that’s not the norm. Would you stay in Burns Lake on one of your road trips for 15 hours?”
Ceaser left a review of his experience in Burns Lake online, becoming the 14th check-in to the charger since 2013, according to PlugShare, which gives the station a rating of 2.
“The location’s PlugScore - If a location has enough data to be scored this is a decimal number with 1 significant digit from 0.0 (worst) - 10.0 (best). Score is based on recency weighted reviews and may also be affected by cost, available power, and other factors,” said, Michael Stanyer, program coordinator with Plug In BC, an electric vehicle information program operated by the non-profit Fraser Basin Council.
Several other users left critical comments about the station and weren’t able to charge their vehicles.
“The station doesn’t work,” wrote Tmbb18. “I waited there for 6 hours today. Initially it worked for the payment but it did not charge for 6 hours. Extremely unimpressed. Station looks like it is working but nothing happens. It just messes with your vehicle settings.”
User Bolt 18 wrote, “My daughter tried to take the Bolt from Smithers to Prince George. The charger had worked for me in October, but it did not work for her. She got stuck for 5 hours and then limped back to Houston where there is an operational free charger. It’s galling that this is only charger that costs money, that it’s so unreliable.”
By contrast, the free charging station in Houston gets a score of 10 on PlugShare, with 10 checkins since 2016, and four positive reviews.
The charge station in Telkwa had one successful check-in but no rating or comments. Two of the three chargers in Smithers have had seven check-ins in total over the last three years, and one station has a score of 9, with all positive reviews.
“I want to emphasize I’m very thankful that the charger exists,” Ceaser said. “I was thankful that it worked after many users said it didn’t. But I would like it - if it does cost money - that the cost be more reflective of the cost of electricity and that it charges faster.”
Ceaser’s experience comes just after the Burns Lake village council announced it would contribute up to $5,000 towards a Community Energy Association (CEA) grant for a new, Level 2 EV charger.
READ MORE: Electric vehicle charge station might be replaced
In a village council meeting on Feb. 26, Dale Ross, Director of Public Works said the fee charged by the station goes to ChargePoint, a company based in Arizona that builds and services EVs and charge stations.
“The agreement we have with ChargePoint - anything under 20 users a year we don’t see any of that money. It goes directly to ChargePoint,” he explained.
Ross added that many of charger’s problems stem from its age, as it was installed in 2013.
“It wasn’t working for a couple years. We ended up replacing five different heads on it that they kept shipping up, we would install. They tried to get connectivity from Arizona, it wasn’t working…long story short, that unit that’s there now we can longer get parts for. It’s obsolete.”
The replacement station the village hopes to receive through the CEA grant will come with a new service agreement with a British Columbia-based company, Ross said.
The CEA is aiming to broaden the EV network into central and northern B.C, where there is far less EV vehicle ownership and infrastructure compared the southern part of the province.
The government’s CleanBC initiative seeks, under its Cleaner Transportation pillar to implement incentive programs to reduce the price of EVs, to more than double the number of direct charge fast charger units from 71 to 151, and to provide funding to local governments and First Nations for Level 2 charge stations.
Blair McBride
Multimedia reporter
Send Blair an email
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Blair McBride
Multimedia reporter
Send Blair an email
Like Lakes District News on Facebook