Toronto lighting the way for electric vehicle future

City staff call for installation of 14 on-street charge stations using existing electrical and street light poles.

Thestar.com
Oct. 15, 2017
By Gilbert Ngabo

Electric vehicle charging stations could soon be coming to a residential street near you.

City staff is calling for the installation of 14 on-street charge stations spread across Trinity-Spadina, Toronto-Danforth and the Beaches. The project would use existing Toronto Hydro electrical and street light poles for charge spots near parking spaces.

"Electric vehicles are becoming increasing popular and this technology presents a significant opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and emissions harmful to air quality," the city's acting director of transportation infrastructure management Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati wrote in an email to Metro.

"Toronto has an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to a low-carbon future by supporting broad-scale EV adoption locally."

As of 2016, there were more than 1,600 electric vehicles registered in Toronto, with the largest concentration of owners in Don Valley West. That number pales in comparison to other major metropolises - there are more than 41,000 registered in Shanghai and more than 23,000 in Los Angeles, according to a staff report prepared for council's public works and infrastructure committee.

The report adds that nearly 80 per cent of EV owners live in single-family houses with access to electrical outlets for charging, but many condo and highrise dwellers are left high and dry.

According to Toronto Parking Authority, the city has only nine publicly available charging stations at three locations - two units at 100 Queen St. W., two at 20 Dundas Square and five at 51 Dockside Dr. The majority of charging stations in the city are at private parking facilities, Gulati said.

The new on-street charging stations would be a pilot project and the first step in the city's broader strategy of transitioning into an electric vehicle system, which is part of the TransformTo initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050.

The initiative would go a long way in enabling people to adopt electric vehicles, said Cara Clairman, president and CEO of Plug'n Drive, a Toronto non-profit promoting the use of EVs.

"No one is going to buy an EV if they don't have anywhere to plug it in," she said.